Bulloch County Commission Chairman Roy Thompson called two citizens to the podium during a meeting Monday night to inquire about how they spent the money from a settlement with another government entity received over First Amendment violations.
Thompson prefaced that he wanted to apologize for something, but first wanted to give Lawton Sack and Cassandra Mikell, co-founders of the Bulloch Action Coalition, the opportunity to speak about something.
“It was probably two or three meetings ago y’all were here and you wanted to address the lawsuit with the DSDA about the entertainment that they had and I think, actually, y’all sued and closed before it went to court. Y’all made a settlement, is that correct?” Thompson asked.
Background
Thompson was referring to the September 3 county commission meeting, during which citizen Marcus Toole brought up the legal matter between BAC and the Downtown Statesboro Development Authority (DSDA). Toole admonished BAC for ‘complaining’ about higher taxes while receiving a settlement. Toole omitted the information about the First Amendment concerns and erroneously stated that the settlement was $80,000 “plus whatever legal fees the Downtown Development Authority” incurred. He also erroneously stated the money came from hotel/motel taxes and was earmarked to be used ‘to promote commerce’ and to assist in generating sales tax for Bulloch County. Toole said they “drained $80,000 from the coffers,” when the settlement was actually paid from the DSDA’s insurance, as is standard with government entities.
His statements prompted Sack to respond during the same public comment period and correct what he said were false statements made by Toole. Sack’s appearance at the podium resulted in questions from three commissioners, including one of whom asked if Sack was a Muslim. You can view those comments here.
Discussion Between Thompson, Sack, and Mikell
During Monday night’s meeting, Sack replied that Thompson’s inquiry that it was not correct. “Correct me then,” Thompson said, prompting Sack to state that a lawsuit was never filed against the DSDA.
“We had asked the DSDA, their board and their attorney Andrew Lavoie, to sit down to discuss this and the next thing we know, we were getting a legal letter from Mr. Andrew Lavoie stating that we could not participate and that they would be ending all groups except for commercial vendors. At that time, after receiving that letter, we contacted our attorney and it proceeded from there,” Sack told Thompson.
Thompson explained that his purpose in calling the two up to the podium was because there has been so much negative talk. “I’m doing this for y’all,” he said. “I think there was a settlement for, what, $80,000 and you had told us that y’all paid the attorney $20,000, you paid taxes, and this is the part – that a question of asked of y’all and I don’t think the balance of it got, there was a question not ever asked I guess, or told, but what happened to the rest of the $40,000?”
Sack answered that as private individuals and with Bulloch Action Coalition as an organized 501(c)4, they are not required to answer how they spend their money, noting that they do file reports with the IRS on an annual basis.
“Like I said, I’m doing this for y’all’s sake,” Thompson said. “But you don’t have to answer that question?”
“No sir,” Sack replied.
“Anytime in the future?” Thompson asked
“No sir,” Sack replied.
“What happened to the other $40,000?”
“No sir,” Sack replied. “Just like we don’t ask y’all what you do with your salary.”
“But was that not taxpayer dollars that was spent?” Thompson pressed.
Sack answered the situation came about because their First Amendment rights were taken away. “That’s the bottom line. The DSDA made a decision not to hold First Fridays. We never asked for that to happen. We stood up for our rights as citizens. They’re the ones that made it legal. We asked for a sit down meeting, as we do here in Bulloch County, and they made the decision not to allow us to be out there. At that time, we had to retain an attorney and we had to pay that attorney. It was always our goal to be able to participate in First Friday and we as Americans have the right to participate in government activities whether people like it or not, whether they agree with the message or not. Those are tenants of the First Amendment and I’m not ashamed of standing up for our rights.”
Thompson answered that he wasn’t questioning any of that, but rather he wanted to know if he and Mikell had split the balance of the funds awarded to them in the settlement.
“When the insurance company heard the recording with Allen Muldrew and they saw the merits of this case, they said this was a textbook First Amendment right violation and they said ‘we want this over with,'” Sack said.
Mikell also addressed Thompson and stated that there would have been no settlement if the DSDA had followed the legal document they sent to BAC in February.
“I’m not questioning any of that. It was just out there that Lawton had gotten $20,000 and you had gotten $20,000 and we’ll end this conversation,” Thompson answered.
What Thompson wanted to apologize for, as stated in the beginning of the agenda item, was never made clear.
Thompson was defeated in the Republican primary this past May by challenger David Bennett. His term of office ends on December 31, 2024.
You can watch the full 9:24 clip below.
