Dunwoody City Council Preview: If You Attend, Call a Babysitter

The City Council meets Monday for its regular meeting, and there will be a lot on its plate.

First off - a city ethics investigation - which started simply enough in the spring, has become a confusing, legthy process, bringing up all sorts of legal issues.

The proceedings of the ethics board are quasi-judicial hearings. Strict, legal court-like evdence will likely be brought up before an untested city ethics board, which is meeting on a matter like this for the first time.

The proceeding was launched based on an investigative report commissioned by the city this winter after there had been accusations abut leaks surroundung "Project Renaissance," a 35-acre redvelopment on the city eastern Gateway and the city's biggest redevelopment to date.

Bonser and former attorney Brian Anderson were named in the report as the leakers of the project after their closed door meetings, which violates open meeting law. Bonser, specifically, is accused of talking publically through e-amils about the deal because she did not support turning parkland into a commercial venture..

There has been talk of hiring a hearing officer to rule on whether evidence is admissable in the ethics charges against all city council members so that ethics board members, who have varying degrees of legal expertise, can receive an outside, expert opinion.

Meanwhile, The City Council on Monday is being asked to authorize funding for a hearing officer for the upcoming proceedings of the ethics board, which is scheduled to meet in September to hear substantive evidence in ethics complaints against Councilwoman Adrian Bonser and the counter complaints by Bonser aimed at the rest of the council members.

Bonser in her counter complaints, allege that the fellow council members and former City Attorney Brian Anderson, engaged in a closed council session when it was not warranted under the state's open-meetings law.

The council will also discuss the bylaws for the ethics board, which were codified this week by the ethics board, but hadn't been created since the city was incorporated in late 2008. The bylaws would serve as a guiding framework for the ethics investigation.

There are a host of other other items on the city's agenda for Monday's meeting, which begins Monday at 7 p.m. A specially called executive session is also called.

As is the case for Dunwoody closed meetings, the agenda for the executive session only lists speific categories that would alow the public officials to meet behind closed doors - and no details of the soecific reason. So, there isn't any public information to suggest what they will be discussing.

Other items on Minday's agenda:

• The CVBD 2nd Quarter Report will be presented.
• A mid-year financial report through June 30 will be presented.
• A discussion of abandoned and vacant properties is on tap.
• An update of the Brook Run Dog Park, and the in-process Brook Run Trial that would run near the dog park, which could be facing a move based in the city's master-plan for the park.
• A discussion of seasonal concert series in the city.

.