The South Fulton mayor’s wages will be garnished to pay back the city more than $5,000 for a large, vinyl mural installed in the mayoral suite at City Hall.
The City Council determined that Mayor khalid kamau, who does not capitalize his first or last name, did not go through the proper purchasing protocols and must pay for it himself.
Kamau already was facing accusations of unauthorized spending on his city-issued purchasing card and has been under scrutiny for the extent of his travel at taxpayer expense.
Earlier this year, the City Council called for a forensic audit of his spending, temporarily barred him from city buildings and seized some items that they allege he purchased improperly — including an $1,830 pool table for the same suite in which the mural was installed.
The council also previously stripped kamau of access to the mayoral budget.
On Tuesday, the council unanimously voted to pay AlphaGraphics, the company that installed the mural, $5,283 out of the mayor’s budget and then garnish that amount from the mayor’s paychecks between now and the end of this year. His annual city salary is about $47,000.
Credit: Courtesy of city of South Fulton
Credit: Courtesy of city of South Fulton
Kamau could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Jose Jimenez, who owns AlphaGraphics locations in East Point and Sandy Springs, declined to comment. But he confirmed that his company installed a vinyl wall graphic of a world map in the mayoral suite in February.
Jimenez said the mural is about 10 feet wide, more than 8 feet tall and spans one wall and part of another. It took about three weeks of “intense work” to finish it, he said.
In a March 21 letter to AlphaGraphics, City Manager Sharon Subadan wrote that no purchase order had been requested, created or approved prior to installation of the mural. Subadan also wrote that the transaction was not routed through the Procurement Department for compliance review, and no formal contract or agreement was in place at the time the service was rendered.
She added that the city requires a minimum of three written quotes for transactions that cost more than $5,000, along with her approval.
City spokesman Shaheen Solomon confirmed Wednesday that kamau did not get the required three quotes for the mural.
According to spending statements obtained through Georgia’s Open Records Act, kamau spent $77,032 on his P-card last year, an amount surpassed by only three other people with city-issued P-cards. That spending included travel to Washington, D.C., for a conference; two trips to Colombia; Rwanda for a business trip; Paris, France, for the Olympics; D.C. again for a Pride event; Canada for the Toronto Film Festival; and Ghana, in western Africa, for a 21-day trip.
He has previously characterized visits to Colombia and Ghana as trade missions.
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Councilwoman Helen Willis said it was important for the city to take action to ensure that AlphaGraphics gets paid for its work.
“I apologize if I feel a little frustrated,” Willis said. “But I’m tired of us trying to save face when we are constantly being confronted by mishaps and financial misdeeds being done to the taxpayers of this city.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Councilman Jaceey Sebastian said he was disappointed that a violation of city policy had put the council in the position of having to take action.
“It’s not a good place to be at all because most of us just want to get on and do the people’s business,” Sebastian said. “But we’re being pushed into the middle of this because of the actions that are continuing to happen, without seemingly any regard for the policies and procedures of this city.”
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