Mayor asks sheriff to investigate information shared from Columbus finance department

The Columbus mayor has asked the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the release of some personal information from the city’s finance department.

Reports of the requested probe sparked fears that city administrators were trying to ferret out whistleblowers who reported problems in the city’s revenue collections. Those whistleblower reports triggered an internal audit and a private investigation commissioned by city councilors.

Mayor Skip Henderson said he asked for the probe because someone in the city government released personal tax information related to City Manager Isaiah Hugley, who owned a janitorial service called Hugley’s Facility Management.

A resident filed an open records request related to that business, and was provided information that should not have been disclosed, the mayor said, adding, “We can’t do that.”

The information later was posted online, he said.

The resident requesting that information was Nathan Smith, a frequent critic of the city government who occasionally speaks on council’s public agenda, during meetings.

Smith said he asked for the information in December, intending to check whether the city manager had a license for the business and if so, whether he was paying the appropriate taxes. Though he questioned some of information he received, it did show the business was licensed and paying taxes, he said.

He sent some of it in emails to city councilors, but he did not post it online, he said, and he saw nothing that appeared to be sensitive, personal information that wasn’t subject to public disclosure.

He had not been contacted by a sheriff’s investigator, he said Friday.

Sheriff confirms probe

“We protect whistleblowers,” said Henderson, insisting the sheriff’s probe was not targeting those individuals.

City workers, who wanted to remain anonymous because they felt threatened, said Finance Director Angelica Alexander sent her employees an email this week notifying them of the sheriff’s investigation.

Sheriff Greg Countryman initially declined comment, but on Friday confirmed he’d been asked to conduct an “administrative investigation” of the finance department.

Contacted by phone Thursday, the city manager referred inquiries to the mayor.

Henderson said the results of Countryman’s investigation would be sent to him, to the city manager, and to City Attorney Clifton Fay.

Citywide Councilor Judy Thomas said she had heard about the requested investigation, and did not know why it would be needed.

Millions in business license revenue at stake

The city council was presented a report on city revenue collections Tuesday night from an attorney councilors hired independently to investigate a backlog in collections. It followed an internal audit into the same matter.

City administrators responded immediately to each report, disputing both the attorney’s and the auditor’s estimates of the funds the city has not collected.

The internal auditor had an estimate of $45.1 million, and attorney Charlie Peeler of the Atlanta firm Troutman Pepper gave an estimate of $20.1 million to $26.9 million, in the time span of Jan. 1, 2016, through September 2023.

Neither Peeler nor internal auditor Donna McGinnis found any evidence crimes had been committed in the finance department’s revenue division.

Thomas said that with no evidence of any crime, a law enforcement investigation was not warranted, and could conflict with the whistleblower protection offered workers reporting problems in the finance department.

Because whistleblowers are guaranteed anonymity, using law enforcement to determine or disclose their names would be “a complete violation of that policy,” Thomas said.

Sources within the city government, speaking confidentially, said the whistleblowers still felt threatened, regardless of the investigation’s stated purpose.

How it started

Councilors over the summer requested a finance department audit after hearing reports that business and alcoholic beverage license collections were backlogged, and that the revenue office was in disarray, with unopened mail and other documents piling up.

Without involving the mayor or city manager, the council hired Peeler to investigate, and to report back to the council, not the administration.

Peeler’s probe cost the city $400,000, but councilors Tuesday night said it was worth the price to secure a city revenue stream that typically produces more than $15 million a year.

Finance Director Alexander and Deputy City Manager Pam Hodge disputed Peeler’s estimate of the revenue backlog, saying he used faulty data and counted as delinquent businesses that no longer were in operation.

They said in December that the uncollected revenue was less than $3 million, but gave no updated estimate Tuesday.

They similarly disputed McGinnis’ estimate, presented to council in December, and said she also used flawed data.