VALDOSTA – Valdosta City Council picked two members of a board to review an ethics complaint against Mayor Scott James Matheson.

Mayor Pro-Tem Tim Carroll nominated Robert Jefferson whom council approved while Matheson selected former Southern Circuit Judge Jim Tunison Thursday evening during the regular Valdosta City Council meeting.

As per the city code of ethics, City Council selects one member of a three-member ethics complaint board and the mayor appoints a member.

Jefferson and Tunison will pick the third member, a legal representative who is in good standing with the State Bar of Georgia.

A coalition of four groups – the Concerned Clergies of Valdosta, Mary Turner Project, NAACP Lowndes Chapter and Valdosta-Lowndes Community Alliance – filed the ethics complaint against Matheson Feb. 15.

The complaint claims Matheson has used his radio show as a political pulpit under the guise of being mayor to disseminate inaccurate, divisive and inflammatory comments. The group has called for Matheson’s ouster as mayor.

It also alleges he’s violated six policies under the Code of Ethics.

City Manager Mark Barber said once deliberations begin, the board can request interviews and documentation regarding the complaint.

“The city is providing information but they can go outside of those parameters as well and get any information they deem necessary to make their decision,” Barber said.

Once board membership is finalized, a hearing must be held within 60 days. Once a decision is made on the ethics complaint, the board has a week to bring a decision before the mayor and City Council.

The board could decide there isn’t enough evidence to validate the ethics complaint, Barber said.

Or the board could decide evidence validates a request for the resignation of the mayor.

“As a council, you can publicly reprimand the mayor (and) that would be in the form of ‘We don’t have confidence in the mayor right now,’” Barber said. “Or the council does have the option to request the resignation of the mayor.”

Emphasis was placed on “request” as Barber said City Council can’t force the resignation of the mayor.

The third appointee is expected to be announced in the coming week. 

Barber, in his city manager’s report, said the city will open its buildings March 1; they have been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

All other items on the agenda were approved which include bids for multiple pieces of equipment and vehicles for the engineering, utilities, public works and police departments.

Public Works’ bid for a $162,162 grapple truck, a $34,450 utility tractor with a tri-deck motor, a $220,067 truck with a vacuum leaf collector dump body, and a $232,173 air street sweeper were approved.

Utilities submitted bids for a $56,639.83 mini excavator and engineering submitted a bid for a $182,400 mini motor grader. The Valdosta Police Department requested the declaration of 12 conducted electrical weapons as surplus property and a bid for a $40,012.51 lease agreement for in-car computers.

The City of Valdosta will be getting two emergency standby generators for the Gornto Master Lift Station and the Mud Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant for $1.3 million.

To build the equipment needed to house the generators, a bid was made for $336,725. A consideration for the city’s audit services was bid and approved.