Ethics board determines Guyton councilman committed 'technical violation of the ordinance'

Theodore Hamby will maintain his post on city council in Guyton.

The announcement was made during a special called meeting Thursday night following an investigation into an ethics complaint made in May. The two-man ethics board, which consists of Reginald Stanmar and Robert Hunter, determined Hamby committed a technical violation. Mayor Andy Harville read a statement from the ethics board which reads in part, “There was a technical violation of the ordinance…the violation occurs due to the language involved in the ordinance. A city official shall not use his or her position in any way to coerce or give the appearance towards another person to provide any financial benefit.”

Councilman Jeremiah Chancey said he would like to see more accountability for council members and a smoother process regarding how future hearings are held.

“It's our first experience with the ethics policy,” said Chancey. “It's clear the process doesn't work. It needs revision. There’s got to be stricter guidelines for us. There has to be a better framework for the Ethics Committee themselves. They need some kind of structure for how hearings should be conducted. We can do better than this.”

The board later determined that a written reprimand and public apology would suffice.

Here is how it all got started.

Justin Hitt, campaign manager for Kelly Hoffner, who lost in a tight run-off contest for the Republican nomination for the Effingham County Tax Commissioner position, lodged an ethics complaint against Hamby for "soliciting money from candidates running in the tax commissioner’s race."

The Savannah Morning News obtained from the City of Guyton, via an open records request, Hitt's eight-page written complaint plus two separate recordings of phone conversations between Hitt and Hamby in which Hamby admits to signing a contract and receiving $625 up front and another $625 for a win from Daniel Rodewolt, Hoffner's opponent, in exchange for Hamby’s services as Rodewolt’s campaign manager.

The phone conversations were recorded by Hitt on May 26. Hitt spoke with Hamby via speaker phone and recorded the conversation using another cell phone, capturing Hamby's profile photo and name on the recordings. Hoffner was present during at least one of those conversations.

Hitt confirmed via text message that he never informed Hamby that their phone conversations were being recorded. According to Georgia law, O.C.G.A. 16-11-66, an individual can record a telephone conversation in Georgia if that individual is a party to the conversation.

In the complaint, Hitt alleges Hamby agreed to “support Rodewolt as his campaign manager” after, according to the phone conversation, publicly supporting Hoffner in the months prior to signing a contract with Rodewolt.

The complaint was referred to both the City of Guyton's Board of Ethics and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The GBI determined that information provided in the complaint "did not rise to the level of a GBI investigation," according to Nelly Miles, director of Office of Public & Governmental Affairs for GBI.

Latrice Williams is a general assignment reporter covering Bryan and Effingham County. She can be reached at lwilliams6@gannett.com.