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Rupert Sexton resigns from Cumming City Council
Says impeachment probe, insurance controversy weren't factors in decision to leave after 44 years
WEB Rupert Sexton

Previous articles

 

* Cumming asks Georgia’s attorney general to reconsider review.

 

* State AG declines to look into case.

 

* City of Cumming called before federal grand jury.

 

* Cumming seeks state AG’s review of impeachment case.

 

* Cumming’s response sends state AG to sidelines.

 

* Panel questions officials in impeachment case.

 

* Insurance flap draws attention of FBI.

 

 

 

 

Timeline

 

The following is a timeline of the city of Cumming’s impeachment and insurance controversy:

 

Dec 19 — The Forsyth County News reports that Cumming Councilman Rupert Sexton could be facing impeachment after a list of city employees’ insurance information appeared on social media. The list purportedly shows that City Attorney Dana Miles and Mayor H. Ford Gravitt’s girlfriend, Angie Mullinax, are receiving insurance.

 

Dec. 22 — At a special called meeting, the city council votes 4-1, with Sexton opposed, to move forward with the impeachment process. It appoints an investigatory panel consisting of City Attorney Dana Miles, Steve Page and former Forsyth County Commissioner Patrick Bell.

 

Dec. 24 — Georgia Assistant Attorney General Kelly Campanella sends a letter to Miles asking him to respond to allegations from Sexton that an illegal city meeting had occurred Dec. 16.

 

Jan. 8 — City Administrator Gerald Blackburn confirms that he and Phil Higgins, the city’s personnel director, and had been interviewed by an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the insurance situation of Miles and Mullinax.

 

Jan. 13 — At a meeting of the investigatory panel, Gravitt, Higgins and Councilmen Ralph Perry and Lewis Ledbetter are questioned. Higgins said he provided the insurance list to Sexton. The mayor and councilmen said they received a copy, but hadn’t distributed it.

 

Jan. 18 — In a letter to Sexton, Campanella said the attorney general’s office would no longer be looking into the possible meeting violation, due to a “a scenario of dueling factual accounts” between Sexton and Miles, who reported that an illegal meeting never happened.

 

Jan. 20 — With protests going on outside City Hall, the investigatory panel presents its findings to the Cumming City Council. The panel’s recommendation is to ask the Attorney General’s office to weigh in on the city’s impeachment process and whether the released information was in violation of the law.

 

Jan. 22 — The FCN reports that a federal grand jury has issued three subpoenas asking for information about Miles, Mullinax and Gravitt to the city, which had until Feb. 10 to comply.

 

 Feb. 9 — In a letter to City Attorney Dana Miles, Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens states his office is “unable to provide the requested review” sought by Miles and the other two members of the panel charged with exploring any possible wrongdoing by Councilman Rupert Sexton.

 

-- Kelly Whitmire

CUMMING — A long-serving Cumming official who was the focus of an impeachment investigation by his fellow councilmen earlier this year after a list of city employees’ personal insurance and financial information appeared on social media has resigned.

The decision Tuesday night by Rupert Sexton to step down, which takes effect at month’s end, will create the first vacancy on the city’s governing body since the early 1990s. It was not immediately clear when a special election would be held to fill the two-plus years remaining on his Post 1 term.

Sexton, who has held his position for more than four decades, mentioned his family’s history before making the announcement at the conclusion of the council’s monthly meeting.

“I’ll be 77 years old Saturday,” he said. “I was born in [the] Matt [community of northwest Forsyth] in a house whose log section was built in the 1770s and the frame part was built in 1817.

“I’m retiring from the Cumming City Council effective May 1, 2015, after 44 years and four months. I served 58 percent of my adult life to my employer, the citizens of Cumming.”

Sexton is a sixth-generation native of Cumming, a U.S. army veteran, retired insurance agent and 1957 graduate of what was then Forsyth County High School.

After the meeting, he said the controversy this past winter was not a factor in his decision to step down.

“No, nothing to do with that whatsoever,” Sexton said. “That’s another issue, but [it] didn’t affect my retirement.”

According to Sexton, his age was the main consideration.

“I toyed with it for quite some time,” he said. “I even toyed with the idea even before I ran for the last election [in 2013]. Everybody said, ‘Nah, don’t do that.’ So I did [run unopposed].’

“I’ve already retired in insurance, so I haven’t had time to do anything since I got out.”

Cumming Mayor H. Ford Gravitt has accused Sexton, alongside whom he has served since 1971, of releasing the employees’ information in December as retaliation for not being able to secure lifetime city health benefits for his wife and the other councilmen’s spouses.

The city’s position is that the list should not have been released. Sexton has denied leaking it, but maintains the information was a matter of public record and not as personal as others have portrayed it.

In January, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia issued three subpoenas to the city seeking information by Feb. 10 on Gravitt, his longtime girlfriend Angie Mullinax and City Attorney Dana Miles.

As the impeachment probe against Sexton has centered on the list of city employees’ personal insurance and financial information, the subpoenas requested several insurance-related documents, among other items.

The list reportedly showed that Miles, who is not an employee, and Mullinax, whose employment is disputed, receive insurance coverage through the city.

For his part, Miles has said his official role as city attorney qualifies him for coverage under the Georgia Municipal Association, or GMA.

Officials with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia could not confirm the status of the federal inquiry.

It also was not immediately clear if Sexton’s decision to retire effectively ends the impeachment matter.

The three-man panel charged by the city with investigating allegations of wrongdoing by Sexton had sought the opinion of Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens’ office on whether it was illegal to release employees’ insurance information.

The panel, which included Miles, also wanted him to review Cumming’s impeachment process.

In his response, Olens wrote that he was “unable to provide the requested review” due to a lack of knowledge of specific facts and local laws, as well as an ongoing federal investigation into the city’s insurance situation.

The city has since asked Olens to reconsider that stance.

In his remarks at the council meeting Tuesday night, Sexton thanked his colleagues and recalled Cumming’s numerous accomplishments during his tenure.

“I’ve had the honor of ribbon cutting on two new City Halls, two courthouses, city park, the first one in the county, the aquatic center, Lanier Tech [and] the University of North Georgia campuses [and a] state of the art National Guard armory,” he said.

“I was the first person in the county that was contacted by the Guard about locating in Cumming.”

The armory, aquatic center and UNG campus are located near each other off Pilgrim Mill Road by Ga. 400 at Exit 16.

Reached Wednesday, City Administrator Gerald Blackburn said Sexton has been “been a councilman a long time and been a part of a lot of changes in the city of Cumming.”

“His retirement, of course, that’s his choice and he didn’t share with me his reason or anything except for the statement that he made,” Blackburn said.

Crystal Ledford, public information assistant for the city, said there was no formal retirement letter, only that Sexton had signed the standard documents for a departing employee.

Tuesday night, Sexton noted that he would retain one municipal duty — his post on the Cumming Country Fair and Festival Authority — before expressing gratitude to the city’s employees.

“I want to thank all the city of Cumming employees on their hard work and dedication to the citizens of Cumming.”

The time frame to select Sexton’s successor remains unclear.

Barbara Luth, Forsyth County’s supervisor of voter registrations and elections, said she had not yet talked with city representatives, but that the county was willing to run the election.

“All of that is going to be determined by their city charter,” Luth said. “If they want county to do it, we will do it.”

There has been no contested election in Cumming, the county’s lone municipality, since 2003 when Gravitt faced an opponent. The councilmen have typically run unopposed for re-election.

Blackburn said that the city’s attorney was looking into a special election. An interim council member could be added, though he wasn’t aware of any possible candidates.

“The attorney is setting everything up,” Blackburn said. “There is a procedure for which someone will be appointed in the interim time, and then as soon as the law allows there will be an election to fill the unexpired term.”