Could 15, 2025
South Fulton, Georgia’s outgoing mayor has had questionable practices with the town’s assets since 2022, in line with emails
Mayor Khalid Kamau’s misuse of metropolis gear was introduced up in South Fulton, Georgia’s Could 13’s council assembly, main Kamau to stroll out of the assembly.
Councilmember Helen Willis stated the problem has been ongoing and isn’t restricted to the mayor.
“We’d like clear pointers, and we’d like to verify when individuals use our metropolis autos, they’re solely used for metropolis use and never private use,” she stated.
In February, Kamau was stripped of his city-issued automobile attributable to alleged misuse.
Emails from 2022 reveal that former finance director Karen Slaton-Dixon raised issues in regards to the mayor’s request to make use of a metropolis automobile for a retreat, noting it could possibly be thought-about “double dipping” since he already obtained a month-to-month automotive allowance supposed for private automobile use on metropolis enterprise.
The council is now contemplating proposals to determine complete insurance policies to make sure metropolis autos are used appropriately for business-related journeys.
The outgoing mayor has confronted vital scrutiny over his monetary practices throughout his tenure. A metropolis council audit revealed that Kamau spent roughly $26,000 on worldwide journey to locations comparable to Ghana, Colombia, and France, in addition to on workplace furnishings, together with a $1,800 pool desk.
Kamau defended these bills as efforts to advertise South Fulton to the worldwide diaspora, aiming to draw financial improvement to the town.
“We’ve been chasing these Fortune 500 corporations, attempting to get them to put money into our metropolis, and all we get are warehouses and knowledge facilities. Once I began speaking about us being the blackest metropolis in America, we began getting invites from everywhere in the world.”
Regardless of his justifications, the town council took motion, stripping him of most of his privileges, together with entry to the mayoral funds and metropolis buildings.
Moreover, Kamau’s wages have been garnished after he didn’t pay a neighborhood small enterprise for an unauthorized mural in his workplace. Going through mounting controversies and monetary challenges, Kamau introduced he wouldn’t search re-election. His time period ends this 12 months.
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