GBI search warrant asks for emails from four Douglas County elected officials
The GBI has questions over how a company got the contract to clean the Douglas County Government Annex.
DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. - The Georgia Bureau of Investigation asked for emails from three current Douglas County commissioners and the tax commissioner as part of a criminal investigation into a cleaning contract.
S&A Express was hired four years ago to clean the government annex building. It originally cost Douglas County taxpayers $2100 each month, later expanding to $4160 each month. The contract was approved in 2018 with three commissioners voting yes and two abstaining.
Two other companies clean the main courthouse and the historic courthouse.
Last month, a GBI search warrant asked for emails from Tax Commissioner Greg Baker, Chairperson Romona Jackson Jones, Commissioner Henry Mitchell and Commissioner Kelly Robinson as part of an investigation into "conspiracy in restraint of free and open competition in transactions with state or political subdivisions."
The search warrant names Georgia statute 16-10-22, also known as bid rigging.
Commission chairperson Dr. Romona Jackson Jones
Commissioner Henry Mitchell
Commissioner Kelly Robinson
Tax Commissioner Greg Baker
The FOX 5 I-Team has learned a special grand jury was impaneled in 2019 to investigate the contract. Some elected officials were questioned at that time, but the pandemic temporarily suspended the panel’s work.
A review of the video from that 2018 meeting shows commissioners being asked to approve a contract with S&A Express to clean the annex building, even though a contract had already been signed with the company and the work started.
"I'm just concerned we did put the cart before the horse," pointed out commissioner Ann Jones Guider. "I assume that's legal?"
"It will be if you approve it," answered Bill Peacock, county purchasing director at the time. He no longer works for Douglas County.
A few months before, the county had finished accepting bids to clean the soon-to-be-opened annex, but someone complained, according to Peacock.
"So that slowed the process down," explained Peacock. "We thought we had a decision made."
So they started again.
Purchasing Director Bill Peacock admitted the county had "put the cart before the horse" by signing a contract without getting Board approval. The contract is now under GBI scrutiny.
"Based on the recommendation from the county administrator and from the tax commissioner, we requested additional quotes," he said. "New quotes."
The low quote was $2100 a month.
"We had two firms actually that quoted that amount," said Peacock. "The decision was to award that contract to S&A Express. A local firm here in Douglasville."
The GBI search warrant asked for "any and all emails" from the four elected officials with keywords like S&A Express and Sharon and Anthony Knight, the owners of the company.
The offices for Tax Commissioner Baker make up most of the Annex building.
No one from S&A Express responded to an email request for comment.
Speaking for the elected leaders named in the search warrant, Douglas County attorney Michael Coleman said, "We are responding to the warrant and fully cooperating. No further comments at this time."