Former Johns Creek Police Chief Chris Byers received a lump sum payment of $325,000 in a settlement agreement related to his resignation on Aug. 10, according to documents released by Johns Creek city officials.
An outside attorney who investigated Byers’ behavior for the police department concluded the former chief violated the city and police department’s sexual harassment and conduct policies.
Byers earned an annual salary of $130,000. Before his resignation, he had been under investigation for nearly two months for an incident in which he made a sexually explicit remark to another police department employee. According to records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the incident took place in December 2019 when Byers served as a major in the department. It was resolved without the involvement or knowledge of then-Chief Ed Densmore, a statement said.
Densmore, who is now city manager of Johns Creek, launched an investigation in June, after learning about the incident from police officers.
Tracy Glanton, an attorney with the law firm Elarbee, Thompson, Sapp and Wilson, was asked on June 23 to look into what took place.
Glanton found that Byers and the police employee to whom he made the remark both said they would sometimes exchange sexual banter in the presence of coworkers. The employee, whose identity was redacted in the report released to the AJC, became “humiliated and embarrassed” during one exchange when Byers used a vulgar slang for a sex act, according to the summary report.
At the time of the incident, Byers and Major John Clifton were both being considered for the police chief position that would become open when Densmore became city manager.
The employee told their supervisor, Clifton, about the incident and he advised them to report it to the human resources department, the summary said. However, the employee didn’t feel supported by the human resources director or Densmore in the past, the summary said, and decided not to discuss the situation with them.
Clifton later resolved the situation himself after talking to Byers and making sure the employee was satisfied with the result, Glanton said. Byers apologized to the employee for his comment in January.
Glanton’s investigation concluded that Byers, in his leadership role, created an inappropriate workplace environment by making sexual banter commonplace.
Byers was promoted to police chief on March 23. Controversy began to swirl around Byers on June 7 after he wrote a long negative commentary against the Black Lives Matter movement on his personal Facebook page. Eight days later, Mayor Mike Bodker announced Byers was suspended from duty with pay and under investigation for a separate matter.
The agreement between Byers and the department was a compromise on any disputes between Byers and the city of Johns Creek, according to the language of the settlement. Byers agreed to confidentiality as well as to not sue the city unless there is a breach of the agreement.
Byers’ attorney Darryl B. Cohen said the settlement amount shows that the former chief was highly regarded but was in a losing situation as controversy around him grew. If he had been able to stay in the position, there would always be a group of people who would be displeased regardless of what he did, Cohen added.
Calling Johns Creek “a soap opera,” Cohen said Byers was not deserving of blame in the incident with the employee because they had engaged in regular sexual banter previously.
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