Complaint Against Dunwoody Councilwoman Bonser Found Not Credible

The Dunwoody Ethics Board agreed with Hearing Officer Dennis Still’s findings, Thursday, in a complaint against Coucilwoman Adrian Bonser, and voted to recommend to City Council that an ethics complaint be dismissed.

Still’s report called the complaint by Stephen Chipka, “…Frivolous, unjustified, derogatory, disrespectful [and] condescending…”

The complaint against Bonser grew out of the Feb. 2011 arrest of Chipka for aggressive driving, and accused her of  “failing to investigate allegations of corruption and cover-ups within the City of Dunwoody Police Department.” The complaint also said Bonser abandoned her responsibilities to constituents in her district. 

Chipka challenged the validity of the arrest and eventually contacted Bonser. In June, the Ethics Board found that she violated the ethics code by sending a discourteous email to Chipka, but City Council dismissed that complaint. 

On Thursday, Bonser said of the most recent complaint, “Because this was frivolous, it never should have moved forward.”

She added, “[Mayor] Mike Davis accused me of responding to Mr. Chipka but he contacted me when I was in New Zealand. I didn’t know who he was. I’m his City Council representative in District 2.  I responded to him like I’d respond to any other constituent. And I wasn’t made aware of the whole situation until he started sending me volumes of emails while I was still in New Zealand.” 

Chipka left the Ethics Board meeting following the vote.

Still’s report recommended the Mayor and City Council issue a public reprimand against Chipka and require him to bear costs of the complaint. 

A previous version of this story misspelled the Councilwoman's last name and mentioned emails instead of a single email. We regret the error.