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DeKalb County Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton, her two sons and two of her staff members have received free YMCA memberships for years, including during a time when Sutton voted for a deal between the county and the YMCA, according to Channel 2 Action News.
The value of the memberships, which began in 2010, exceeds $20,000, based on the full price of a $91 monthly family membership.
Sutton said the arrangement was “a policy and practice of the Y" of giving memberships to some supporters. She said she used the Wade Walker YMCA for activities related to a program she sponsors called Youth Leadership Academy.
“It is not a freebie,” Sutton told Channel 2. “It is legal.”
The YMCA suspended the free memberships after Channel 2 asked about them.
“The decision was made by a former executive, and in hindsight, it probably shouldn’t have been done,” said Metro Atlanta YMCA Chief Marketing Officer Russ Davis.
Sutton supported a 2011 partnership between DeKalb County and the Wade Walker Park Family YMCA near Stone Mountain.
Under the deal, the county built the $15 million Wade Walker YMCA facility using 2006 park bond funds. The YMCA is leasing the facility from the county for $1 a year, and the YMCA is responsible for operations and maintenance.
William Perry of Georgia Ethics Watchdogs said the arrangement with Sutton was a “clear violation” of conflict of interest rules in DeKalb’s Code of Ethics.
“Because the YMCA benefited from legislation considered and passed by the commission, I believe the Y violated state law by not registering a local lobbyist and reporting the membership as lobbyist expenditures (or gifts),” Perry wrote in a statement to Channel 2.
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