It may be a while before the ethics case involving Waycross District 3 Commissioner Katrena Felder makes it on the docket in Waycross Municipal Court.
Both the court’s judge and solicitor have informed the city they have recused themselves from involvement in the case. Judge Douglas Gibson and Solicitor Joseph Johnson each cited their appointments and subsequent contracts with the city to conduct Municipal Court business as the reason.
The appointments and contracts of both Douglas and Johnson are voted on by the city commission. Each informed Interim City Attorney Huey Spearman last week of their decisions.
Each is appointed in January for one year. Douglas has a yearto year contract while Johnson’s is annual with a three-year renewal.
Spearman updated city commissioners last week at their planning and information session of the status of the case involving the recusals. The snag of the situation is finding replacements for each man.
“The State and Superior Courts have defined rules. (on replacing lawyers and judges for recusals). The city court does not,” Spearman said.
He said when the procedure is defined, a judge will be appointed who then will appoint a solicitor to prosecute the case. In the meantime, there’s no date to hear the action.
Carla Nipper of the Waycross Police Department who serves as the Municipal Court Clerk, said last week the prosecutor and judge would handle the date for the ethics case. She said she only schedules the court’s traffic issues.
Contacted to confirm his recusal, Johnson said he’d done everything he could do at this point to have the case ready for his and Gibson’s replacements.
Also contacted last week, Gibson said he didn’t feel it was appropriate for him to comment.
Spearman said he filed Clayton Nelson v. Katrena Felder with the city court Tuesday, February 24. Nelson filed his complaint September 2, 2024. It alleged Felder misused her city-issued credit card and also attended a partisan event, prohibited for city commissioners.
Spearman said the binder delivered to the court contained approximately 1,000 pages. Among the pages are 31 exhibits, transcripts and orders related to the meetings, hearings and finding of the Citizen Ethics Board empaneled to hear the case, he said.
The ethics board, after nearly a dozen meetings and hearings to consider the complaint, voted 3-2 of violations having occurred. It voted December 13 by the same split to recommend the penalty of prosecution to the commission.
The commission accepted the board’s recommendation and an addendum from Commissioner Alvin Nelson by a 3-1 vote January 7. Nelson added the request of Waycross Police Chief Tommy Cox notifying the GBI to examine the evidence including all credit card transactions (by Felder) in the last three years to validate and determine if any criminal actions had occurred.
