Friday, July 28, 2023–8:55 p.m.

John Bailey, Rome News-Tribune-

This story is possible because of a news-sharing agreement with the Rome News-Tribune. More information can be found at northwestgeorgianews.com.

An attorney who represented the City of Rome in an ethics investigation into Rome City Commissioner Mark Cochran, officially resigned this week and in a letter blasted commissioners calling their behavior “totally unacceptable, unprofessional and without justification.”

The letter from that attorney Chris Balch cites a series of heated arguments concerning the ethics investigation during the city commission pre-meeting caucus on both July 10 and May 22.

That letter was obtained Friday by the Rome News-Tribune through an Open Records Request filed this week.

Accusations flew during both of those meetings and it appeared that battle lines were drawn among city commission members along racial and political divisions.

Despite what appeared to be an attempt at reconciliation after the May meeting, those rifts appeared to widen at the July 10 meeting.

In one instance City Commissioner Bonny Askew repeatedly shouted “bullsh-” on a couple of instances during that July meeting. Askew later said, in an apology read during the July 24 City Commission meeting, that he regretted using that language but also said his statements were true.

Askew said a letter signed by four city commissioners — Craig McDaniel, Jamie Doss, Randy Quick, and Jim Bojo — that said accepting a settlement in the Cochran case would compromise their integrity was untrue. Each of those four commissioners has stated they did not agree to pursue a settlement. 

Balch addressed that incident as well as several others in a July 20 letter to city commissioners and members of the Ethics Investigating Panel in the Cochran case. 

“It is not acceptable to repeatedly scream “bullsh–” at each other or when your lawyer provides a response to a question, particularly when that answer defines their ethical responsibilities to the City of Rome — i.e., my client,” Balch wrote. “It is not appropriate to scream at each other….It is not acceptable that members of the commission insist on participating in matters in which they have even the appearance of a conflict of interest.”

During the May 22 caucus meeting, Balch directly accused City Commissioner Bill Collins of contacting a member of the Ethics Investigating Panel — Adairsville Mayor Kenneth Carson — and stated that the appearance of an attempt to influence the process was unacceptable. 

Collins denied the accusation and Collins also refused a request from the attorney to remove himself from the discussions concerning the investigation.

At that point, Commissioner Craig McDaniel stepped into the exchange.

“This isn’t about Bill Collins, this is about Mark Cochran,” McDaniel said. “The (ethics) process would have worked if everybody would have stayed out of it… It became a little game to make this go away because Mr. Cochran is the valued fifth vote.”

With the nine-person commission often split along political and racial lines, Cochran has been seen as the fifth, and deciding vote.

In that same letter, Balch also attacked Rome’s current ethics policy.

“It is not acceptable that 20 years ago it was the apparent intent of some members of the city commission to rig the ethics ordinance so that no ethics charge would ever proceed,” he wrote.

On top of that the attorney addressed the behavior by current commissioners regarding the investigation. The process, which was expected to be resolved in June, has dragged on since the initial complaint was filed in March. It now awaits a challenge in Floyd County Superior Court on August 21.

The attorney also called out members of the city commission who have voiced support for Cochran during the investigative process and Balch addressed the accusation in the complaint directly. 

“It is not acceptable to support and defend a member of the commission who has used his role to advocate for benefits for applicants or builders in the community who are either him personally or who are clients of his private business,” Balch wrote. “In other words to line his own pockets at the expense of the ordinances of the city, he took an oath to defend.”

Accusation and investigation

The initial complaint filed by Rome Human Resources Director Kirsty Shephard stems from a Jan. 23 meeting.

During that meeting, Cochran challenged the procedures used by the Rome engineering department stating that he felt those procedures had led to the delay of a development project. He also alluded to other past issues regarding the planning department during that exchange.

Part of that meeting included a terse exchange between Cochran and City Manager Sammy Rich, in which Rich stated that the City Commission meeting wasn’t the appropriate venue for that discussion.

Shortly thereafter members of the planning department filed complaints regarding Cochran’s accusations and produced email evidence that showed his assertion that the department had not done its job was not factual. 

The city enlisted David Archer at Archer and Lovell P.C. to begin conducting an independent investigation on Feb. 6. 

The findings in that report state that Cochran’s statements on Jan. 23 “were untrue, exceeded his authority as a city commissioner, as provided in the city charter…”

Other findings stemming from the investigation determined that Cochran was not outside the scope of his role as a commissioner to inquire into financial and purchasing policies as well as that there is no city ordinance concerning a city commissioner criticizing a particular staff member or department.

Shephard filed an ethics complaint on March 26 citing the Jan. 23 meeting as an example of a toxic environment for city employees.

“Regrettably, I believe we have reached unprecedented times in my tenure at the City of Rome where civility has been disregarded,” Shephard wrote in the complaint.

At that point, the city began assembling an Ethics Investigating Panel. The three members of the Ethics Investigating Committee were chosen at random from a list of other GMA cities of ethics in District One. Bremen Mayor Sharon Sewell, Summerville Mayor Harry Harvey as well as Carson agreed to serve on the panel.

The panel was expected to take part in a quasi-judicial process to determine Cochran’s guilt or innocence. However, the panel was not designed to have any actual power to enforce any form of punishment. Any suggestions of punishment or censure given by the panel would be taken before the City Commission. 

The panel held an initial hearing where they determined that the process should go forward, however, it appeared at least two of the members had made a determination prior to any hearing taking place.

Cochran challenged the process in Floyd County Superior Court. A motion stated the process was “fatally flawed” and after a hearing, Floyd County Superior Court Chief Judge John “Jack” Niedrach stopped the panel’s process pending a hearing. 

“I am not here to determine whether Commissioner Cochran violated a code of ethics or a city ordinance or anything else,” Niedrach said during the May 12 hearing.. “This proceeding is to determine if there have been flaws in the process, which I have the ability and authority to do something about.”

One of the items that came out in that court hearing, was Balch indicated that he had been given the go-ahead by the city commission to explore a settlement in the case.

The hearing in Superior Court was originally scheduled for June 19, but at the request of both parties, was put off to August 21 at 9 a.m.

Since then, after two contentious and accusation-filled meetings between the City Commissioners and Balch, he declared that he will resign. He filed official paperwork in Superior Court to remove himself from the case on Thursday.

As of Friday afternoon, the city was actively seeking legal representation in the case. 

“All of you have participated in behavior that is inappropriate, unprofessional, and unworthy of your roles as leaders in the City of Rome,” Balch wrote in the June 20 letter. “This communication is not directed at any one of you or with any one group of you. It is to all of you because you have all brought shame on your city. You behaved like toddlers who do not possess self-control. Each of you has behaved as though only you know right from wrong, which is a self-delusion so far from the truth as to be yet to be discovered by the James Webb Telescope.”