Atlanta’s elected leaders approved a contract with a company that the Office of Inspector General recommended be barred from doing work with the city.
Inspector General Shannon Manigault in August raised red flags about potential ethical violations by Cloverhurst Strategies, a company operated by political insider Bernie Tokarz.
Manigault said her office’s investigation found that Tokarz, a well-connected lobbyist, didn’t disclose personal and financial ties with city employees and officials during the bidding process for a contract to provide security officers at city parks.
In her lengthy report, the inspector general pointed to connections Torkaz shared with council members Michael Julian Bond and Andrea Boone, although the watchdog office did not accuse the two of any wrongdoing.
The questionable $1.5 million contract was approved by council members Monday after months of closed-door deliberations over whether approving it would put council members in legal jeopardy.
The contract was initially set for $750,000 in 2022 and has received three add-ons since, affording the firm an additional $3 million in business the past two years.
The legislation passed 9-2 with council members Byron Amos and Alex Wan voting against it, and Bond abstaining. Three other council members were not present during the vote.
“I do not have a conflict of interest,” Bond said, adding that he sought counsel from the city’s ethics chief on the issue. He said that Atlanta Ethics Officer Jabu Sengova said that he should refrain from voting “out of an abundance of caution and to avoid the appearance of impropriety.”
Manigault disagreed in her report and said city dealings with Cloverhurst Strategies “raises concerns of cronyism and patronage.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported that Tokarz’s attorney, Stephen Katz, called the inspector general’s findings baseless and that they “border on slander.”
The battle between Manigault and the Dickens administration over how much authority her office should have during investigations coupled with shocking misconduct found within the city’s permitting process and contract compliance cast an even brighter spotlight on the company’s contract.
Council member Byron Amos voted against extending Cloverhurst Strategies’ work with the city.
“For me, morally and personally, (I) cannot stand on principle talking about how horrible our procurement process is, and then just ignore this,” he said. “We need to fix our procurement process so this stuff like this will cease to exist in the state of Atlanta.”
About the Author
