CUMMING — At the request of a Cumming elected official, the Georgia Attorney General’s Office is looking into whether the city’s governing body may have held an illegal meeting earlier this month.

On Christmas Eve, Assistant Attorney General Kelly Campanella sent a letter to City Attorney Dana Miles requesting information about a potentially illegal meeting that may have occurred Dec. 16 between the city’s regular council meeting and a public hearing on Comcast service issues.

The letter, a copy of which the office provided to the Forsyth County News, comes after Campanella received a complaint from Councilman Rupert Sexton.

Sexton currently faces impeachment for allegedly releasing a list of city employees’ insurance and financial information.

According to the Sexton’s complaint, during the break between the meeting and public hearing, Mayor H. Ford Gravitt and Councilmen John Pugh, Lewis Ledbetter and Quincy Holton continued a discussion on employee and spousal benefits that had previously been brought up in an executive session.

According to Sexton’s complaint, during the break he walked by Gravitt’s office and heard they mayor say, “Had it not been for Rupert and [Sexton’s wife] Dana, we would not be in this mess.” Sexton wrote that he estimated the meeting lasted 10 to 12 minutes.

In Campanella’s letter, she gave Miles 10 days to respond to the allegations. If it’s determined that a meeting was illegally held, it could result in a moratorium of understanding or a letter of reprimand for the city.

When asked for comment on the letter, Sexton said he had nothing to add.

The city has directed that all inquiries on the Sexton issue go to City Attorney Dana Miles, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

On Dec. 23, the council voted 4-1 to move forward with Sexton’s possible impeachment. His was the only vote against.

The next step in the process is for an investigatory panel — made up of Miles, Steve Page and Patrick Bell — to gather information and produce a report for council to review.

If the council votes to impeach Sexton, a trial would be set before it on specific charges.

Miles has previously said the case stems from a Dec. 16 executive session, and a list of purported documents containing financial and insurance information of city employees.

“At that executive session, Councilman Sexton presented a proposal … [to add] council members’ wives as employees with no designated job duties, but for the purpose of getting paid city health insurance benefits for their lifetime,” he said.

Miles noted that the proposal would have been a “very significant cost” for the city, and was not “proper purpose” for the closed-door session.

“The executive session was immediately adjourned,” he said. “Councilman Sexton did not seek to add this proposal to a regular meeting agenda, but instead remarked twice, that he was now going to quote, ‘Do what he had to do.’”

According to Miles, information about city employees’ insurance coverage first appeared on a social media site after the meeting, and that Sexton had originally requested the information.

Sexton has denied releasing the documents and contends they are public information.

“I’ve served the citizens of Cumming for the past 44 years with the utmost integrity. I’ve done nothing illegal, immoral or unethical,” he said last week. “I’ve not released to any media source any list or records.”