BOC files restraining order over property in Whitepath
News March 17, 2022
GILMER COUNTY, Ga. – A restraining order has been filed with the Superior Court with the Gilmer County Board of Commissioners being the entity to file. Approved after an executive session during the commissioners regular meeting on March 10, 2022, the complaint was filed the following day, March 11, 2022.
The restraining order was filed against Daniel and Linda Holmer in the Buckhorn subdivision, a portion of the Whitepath Golf Course. According to the complaint on behalf of the BOC, Art Wlochowski, Director of Code and Regulatory Enforcement, went to the property in August and September of 2021 to discuss a deck with the residents. The Holmers have allegedly built a deck illegally, being that it is on the lake of the property. According to reports, the unnamed lake is not to be built on without approved requests.
However, the complaint, according to the county, is not because of the deck itself, but rather, due to repeated interactions with the residents culminating in alleged “threats to employees.”
According to the complaint, Holmer left a voicemail on Wlochowski’s phone saying, “Yes, if this is Art… uh… what’s his name from the Gilmer County Code and Regulation Commission… Compliance, just want to let you know if you come to my property you better bring the (Expletive) with you.”
Additionally, noted in the complaint, on October 15, 2021, officers of the Gilmer Sheriff’s Office went to the location to inform the residents of the surveying crew operations. It is stated that Holmer told Captain Brian Crump that he would defend his property against Captain Brian Crump or any other County employee or agent.
Exercising rights to inspect their own property, the county was encouraged to get a court order before continuing operations. Now, this filed complaint, filed by County Attorney David Clark, states, “…unless Defendants are immediately restrained from interfering from Mr. Wlochowski’s inspection of the County Parcel and Mr. Vick and his crew from surveying the County Parcel, Plaintiff will suffer immediate and irreparable injury in that it remains deprived of conducting all lawful and legal activities on its County Parcel.”
With the complaint mainly focusing on access to the county’s property and performing operations at that location, the problem seems to arise that the county cannot reach the location it needs to be at without passing over a portion of the Holmers’ land. According to the filed paperwork, the Holmers have 30 days from the date of filing, March 11, 2022, to respond.
Teacher’s arrest causes tension as BOE considers resignation
News September 20, 2020
ELLIJAY, Ga. – Last week’s news of a teacher’s arrest on charges of allegedly carrying out an inappropriate relationship with a student resulted in the following day a letter of resignation submitted to the Gilmer County Board of Education.
This culminated at the Board’s meeting when voting on personnel. Nathan Sutton’s, the teacher in question, resignation was a part of the agenda item.
Board member Ronald Watkins asked to vote on Sutton’s resignation separate from the other personnel changes. While the general personnel passed without issue, Sutton’s resignation was questioned.
Watkins said he wanted the Board to not accept his resignation as it allows him to part from the school board with a letter of resignation rather than being fired for the incident. Watkins referenced another recent resignation, saying it was similarly a situation of allowing a resignation before an investigation could prove any improper behavior.
While the Board was originally split with Board member Tom Ocobock saying he agreed that he wanted it to say on record that he was fired. Ocobock also indicated that he didn’t want Sutton “let off” with a resignation after the alleged incident. This was stressed even further as they both noted Sutton’s alleged confession.
Gilmer County Board of Education, Board Member Ronald Watkins
However, Superintendent Dr. Shanna Downs suggested to the board that the school system would proceed with whatever they voted, she counseled them to accept the resignation on the grounds that the if the Board wished to proceed with firing him instead, they would reject the resignation and continue paying Sutton as a teacher and keeping him as an employee, at least on paper, until the proceeding could go forward with the schools firing policy. With the investigation and the school board’s process to fire him. It could take up to a couple months or even 90 days was suggested as an extreme possibility.
Some of the complicating factors revolved around the victim not being a student anymore, new policy updates for Title 9 with the schools, and proceeding with the termination in face of a resignation letter.
Downs said that she has already filed paperwork with the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC) for an ethics complaint on record regarding the incident, and that the police would be moving forward with their investigation. The complaint with the GaPSC also requested to pull Sutton’s certificate for education.
According to the GaPSC website:
Title 20, Education, of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.), outlines the legal guidelines, which govern the state education program.
Title 20 creates the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC) and assigns it responsibility for providing a regulatory system for “certifying and classifying” professional employees in public schools. Title 20 also requires the professional employees of all Georgia public schools to hold state certification.
Downs added that the resignation allows the board to separate from Sutton immediately without the full process of investigating themselves and firing Sutton on those grounds. She said that as far as him going to another school or getting another job, there was little difference in firing Sutton or accepting the resignation. The difference was in paying him until they could fire him or terminating the contract now.
Gilmer County Board of Education, Board Member Tom Ocobock
Ocobock said that he still wanted him fired, but with Downs saying she had filed the complaint and as long as he could not go to another school for a job, he was okay with the resignation path of separation.
However, Watkins still pushed for the official process saying that he was really discouraged that he has had two people know that will be allowed to resign instead of being fired. He stated, “I want to know how bad something has got to be to where I can fire someone.”
Indeed, with a motion on the floor to accept the resignation, Watkins made his official motion to proceed with the firing process. The motion did not receive a second and died. However, the Board then proceeded with approving the motion to accept Sutton’s resignation 4-0 with Watkins abstaining.
Watkins did make one comment saying he felt he was appearing like “the bad guy” because he abstained from the resignation, but was reassured by other Board members. Ocobock told him he wasn’t the bad guy saying, “You’ve got to think about what it’s going to cost the school and the disruption in the high school where now we’ve got to find another teacher to replace him.”