I have filed a formal complaint with the Georgia Attorney General to ask that he investigate the actions of the school board to determine of they violated Georgia's open meetings law. GCPS issued a statement that included:

"In response to the Chamber’s invitation, CEO/Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks approached the Gwinnett County Board of Education about the district appropriately joining the Partnership Gwinnett initiative. The Board agreed with the benefits outlined and the funding approach identified. The Board insisted that the funding be done on an annual basis and that the benefits of the district’s involvement be evaluated each year."

GCPS has admitted that there are no minutes of any board meeting where this was discussed and no vote was ever taken. It is estimated that the amount of education funds given to the chamber now totals approximately $900,000. I look forward to the Attorney General's determination of whether or not the school board violated the open meetings law.

Hi Annette: Thank you for taking an active role in learning about the actions of the school board that led to these payments being made to the chamber. When I get a response from the Georgia Department of Education on their effort to look into these payments, I will be glad to share that information.

Still haven't received an answer to my question. When will that be coming?

Hi Floyd: Gee. You followed me over here. Are you stalking me? Do you have a thing for wrinkly old grandmas? How funny! You need to get a hobby.

Hi Floyd: I still stand behind my support of Mike Korom. He was a newcomer who was willing to throw his hat in the ring and spend his time and money campaigning for office because he believes the county is on the wrong track. Whether people supported him or not, how many people in Gwinnett can honestly say they have been proud of the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners in the past few years? Mike was willing to get involved to make changes. I respect and admire him for that. As for your contention that it was irresponsible of me to support him, that is laughable. The ethics violations that you seem to think are so important were technicalities that are so minor, he has not even received official notification of them. No one cares about this but you. Mike was, and is, an ethical member of the community. One other thing about Mike Korom: He did not write ethics rules to exempt himself from an ethics investigation until after the election. For the record, I do not believe that Mike Beaudreau cheated on his expense report. What I find striking is how incredibly tone deaf it was of him to create a special exemption for sitting commissioners in an ethics policy that was touted as a way to restore public trust in local government after all of the BOC scandals. All he accomplished with this exemption was to further increase voter distrust and cynicism.
OK. Now, I guess we can all sit back and watch as poor Floyd once again begins his obsessive attacks.

Speaking of special exemptions: The GCPS board cannot find a way to help the math teacher at South Gwinnett High School whose wife is now a quadruple amputee due to a devastating flesh eating infection. They said “doing so would be a possible breach of policy and unfair to others employed by GCPS.” They somehow found a way to help Wilbanks in 2010 by writing a new policy for his sick leave.

A 2010 article in the AJC detailed the sick leave policy that Gwinnett’s school board created for Superintendent Wilbanks: “That includes payments twice a year for unused leave time, a perk that's unusual among superintendents in metro Atlanta and unavailable to most teachers, at least until they retire. In July, Wilbanks was paid for being healthy. He received $176.15 an hour for about a dozen unused sick days, adding up to $18,143. This month, he is eligible for another $28,360 payout for 20 unused vacation days. In addition, he received a retirement supplement of $42,000, a reimbursement for his contribution to his own retirement plan of $17,077 and a monthly expense allowance of $2,700 to cover transportation and business costs. And when his two-year contract was re-negotiated in 2009, the board agreed to allow Wilbanks to spend 10 days each year telecommuting. "I've never seen a more hard-working individual in charge of 22,500 employees," said Mary Kay Murphy, school board chair. "It is something that he requested and it seemed reasonable."

Folks don’t let this get off focus.., as I affectionately refer to “Pink” FLOYD himself posts the GCPS and BoC have NO business relations…

EXCEPT they just share your pocket...

From Floyd: "I'm just trying to help her clean this up. A simple explaination like "I just didn't see it and I should have" would have ended this long ago. Again...you'd think that someone heading a group wanting RESPONSIBLE government would want to clear that up."
Floyd: If it makes you feel better to call me irresponsible, go ahead. I’ll be irresponsible and you be the responsible one, OK? While you’re being responsible, please tell us how GCPS gets $6 million by paying chamber salaries. Please explain where we can get that list of the280 businesses the chamber brought to Gwinnett, the companies that hired the 12,000 employees, and the methodology used to determine the chamber generated $800 million of economic activity. After all, it would be irresponsible for your friend on the BOC to give money to the chamber for services that cannot be substantiated, right? We’re waiting for a responsible answer from you now that you are the responsible one.

Floyd wrote: "Something else I find humorus here is that I have already answered your question and in your haste you complete missed it."

Yes, I'm so irresponsible that I missed your answer. Could you please post it again? We have been looking for a long time for that list of 280 businesses the chamber brought to Gwinnett, the companies that hired the 12,000 jobs created by the chamber and the methodology used to determine that the chamber generated $800 million in economic activity. This should be simple for a data analyst, and it would be grealty appreciated since we have spent so much time searching for it.

Hi Floyd: OK. If it is too hard to answer my original question, just tell me how the school board determined that they got $6 million in return for paying chamber salaries. GCPS would not have paid the chamber unless there was proof of the $6 million, right? Surely GCPS would not tell a reporter they got $6 million unless it is true.

I can understand that the "return on investment" for Gwinnett County is a valid "business" consideration, especially when looking at the Chamber's performance. However, my complaint is that my school superintendent has signed $900,000 in checks to pay chamber salaries with no public vote or even notice. If GCPS has directly benefited exponentially from this "investment" I would expect cost of living increases for our teachers, smaller class sizes, increased benefits, etc. Meanwhile, one person at GCPS (also on the Chamber Board) seems to be benefiting financially.

Hi Annette: I agree. This should have been done in the sunshine. If that had occurred, it never would have reached the point that $900,000 had been spent before anyone even asked if it was worthwhile. It has to be tough for teachers to read about this, because they certainly don't feel any benefit from the unproven claim of $6 million, yet I am sure every one of them could create a list of worthwhile expenditures that could have been made with that $900,000 that would have a direct impact on the classroom.

Floyd wrote: "August 22nd. Make sure you are here. Don't run and hide"

How funny that you are hiding your so-called answer until August 22nd. FYI: I won't need your answer then and I don't need your answer now. I already have my answer and have had it for quite some time. It's just funny to see you squirming around, trying to avoid the facts.

I will take this one "R" ..........Mawgawd ...Sabrina ... if that is your real name ... thank you for pointing out the fact that Commissioner Beaudreau does not like to play hide and seek and feels threatened that you even mentioned this . You also wrote "It's just funny to see you squirming around, trying to avoid the facts " pure hate on your part , no squirming here , oh wait ...... i got to go potty .

I think i just graduated from sophomore humor all the way down to kindergarten . Wooo Hoooo !

Area 51 ........ we may never know .

Someone mention Homeland Security?

"U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss will speak at the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce's public policy luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 22 at the Atlanta Marriott-Gwinnett Place, 1775 Pleasant Hill Road, Duluth."

Floyd wrote: "Sabrina...I told you we'd discuss this august 22nd...if you still wanted to do so...see I'm not even remotely convinced that you are not just looking for something to throw at Mike Beaudreau."

Floyd: How sad that you completely miss the point of citizens who only want to learn more about their local government. We never have and never will look for something just to throw at someone, or go after anyone. We simply gather information based upon the FACTS, so that we can educate ourselves on the actions of local government. We typically work very quietly and without fanfare, as there is nothing newsworthy about digging through documents and educating ourselves. It’s usually pretty boring, but that’s OK because we are pretty boring people. We only speak up if we come across something that raises a red flag, and then we do not run out and have a press conference unless we are continuously, month after month, refused answers to our questions. Our first step is to contact the agencies and ask questions so that we can have a better understanding of what we are researching. We usually get great cooperation and easily have our questions answered, which allows us to go back to our quiet research. Quite honestly, we have not run into the kind of resistance we are experiencing now since we were looking at the land deals when Bannister and Kenerly were still in office. That raises a red flag for us and we contacted the press as a last resort.

We have been accused of bringing this up because of the TSPLOST referendum or because of the BOC race. We don’t care if people like you try to attach some ulterior motive to what we do. Along with many others, we are interested in those issues and have strong opinions about them, but we follow the Dragnet method of research: Just the Facts, Ma’am. We started asking our questions back in February, not the day before the election. We expected to get quick answers so we could move on to other research. Six months later, we have more questions than answers.
Floyd, even though you and I might not agree on the issues, I know in your heart of hearts you do not support back room deals that take advantage of taxpayers. Because of your maniacal, blind support of your candidate, I will not ask you to comment on anything related to him. Let’s not even discuss the BOC. I WILL ask you, though, if you were researching payments made to the Gwinnett Chamber by government entities, what you would do if you came across this?

1. Gwinnett County Public Schools has been paying the salaries of Gwinnett Chamber employees since 2007.
2. The payments now appear to total approximately $900,000, but there is no contract to outline what the chamber is doing in return for the payments.
3. Superintendent Wilbanks sits on the board of the chamber.
4. GCPS issued a statement claiming they received $6 million in return for making those payments, but admit they have never asked the chamber to explain their wild claim of generating $800 million in economic activity with 2 employees.
5. GCPS said Superintendent Wilbanks met with the board to discuss this and got their approval. The board requested annual reviews to determine the benefits. There are no minutes to memorialize this meeting and no review was ever done to determine the benefits. Board members have refused to answer any questions.
Floyd, can you honestly tell me if you came across the above-mentioned issues, you would have just dropped it without attempting to learn more? I can answer that question for you. I know you would have continued to ask questions, just as we have done.

"Quite honestly, we have not run into the kind of resistance we are experiencing now since we were looking at the land deals when Bannister and Kenerly were still in office. That raises a red flag for us and we contacted the press as a last resort."

And isn't assisting in the REMOVAL of this type of "resistance" one of the FUNCTIONS of our elected officials? I recall reading that in a handbook somewhere...

Isn't THAT assistance itself what "ethics" really look like in action?

And as an update on Chamber funding campaign activities this seemed interesting
Pushback on charter schools: Gwinnett Chamber flips to neutral, Georgia PTA under pressure
5:38 pm August 28, 2012, by jgalloway

http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2012/08/28/pushback-on-charter-schools-gwinnett-chamber-flips-to-neutral-georgia-pta-under-pressure/

One of the biggest opponents to the November ballot issue to re-establish state authority to license charter schools in local systems has been pushed into neutrality. Another may quickly follow.

This afternoon, my AJC colleague Nancy Badertscher obtained the following memo sent out by Gwinnett Chamber CEO Jim Maran to the organization’s board of directors and other parties (emphasis is mine):

We have had recent conversations with members of the Chamber’s Board of Directors and Gwinnett’s Legislative Delegation regarding state-controlled charter schools and the related constitutional amendment referendum.

With respect to all parties engaged in the issue, the Executive Committee of the Board has decided the Chamber shall remain neutral on this subject. As such, the September 5 event has been cancelled.

The Sept. 5 event was a fund-raiser for opponents of the measure.

Hi Ed: In all seriousness, I have been asking for answers for over 6 months. I believe it is completely reasonable to ask what taxpayers are getting in return for payments to the chamber. Our elected officials should have been able to answer that question the minute it was asked. If they didn't know exactly what they were getting, why did they make the payments to the chamber in the first place? Why did I have to go the Georgia Attorney General and the Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission for help? Didn't our local elected officials promise to be more open and transparent in order to restore trust in government? Gwinnett County has a 67% graduation rate. Can the school board members explain why paying chamber salaries is more important than spending that money to directly benefit students? All Gwinnett residents deserve an answer to that question.

Well it was announced that Chairwoman Nash has resumed the 500K from the BoC.

So Sabrina, have you been able to obtain the rationale for the value the county gets? Being a recent agenda item, it seems those answers should be right at the fingertips, if you will.

Hi R: I know Chairman Nash told a reporter that she planned to resume payments to Partnership Gwinnett, but I did not know it had been placed on the agenda for a vote. Do you have a link with details?

...and, no, I don’t have any more information today than I had 6 months ago to explain the $800 million in economic activity, the 280 businesses brought to Gwinnett by the chamber, and the companies that hired the 12,000 employees.