Days after Atlanta’s inspector general released a report alleging bribery of officials within the department of city planning, she defended her efforts to uncover corruption during a meeting of a task force reviewing operations of her office’s and the city’s Ethics Office.
Responding to critics who say employees’ rights are being trampled during her investigations, Inspector General Shannon Manigault on Monday told the task force she wanted to “correct the record and dispel some falsehoods that have been fostering fear mongering surrounding employee rights.”
She accused the mayor’s office of setting up a system that promotes the unmasking of both witnesses and targets of her probes. As an example, she said a request for a personnel file was sent to one city employee in August and “that request was then forwarded and forwarded and forwarded again by email so that ultimately an additional 19 individuals were included in that request, including the subject of the investigation. This system of disclosure is absolutely not in the protection of employee rights.”
“We, in the Office of Inspector General, hope to protect employees and investigations by keeping the circle of those who know about investigation as small as possible,” Manigault said during the second of three scheduled meetings of the task force.
Critics of Manigault’s methods, however, spoke forcefully during Monday’s meeting at City Hall.
Raynard Burrell of the Federation of Public Service Employees said his organization represents 500 city employees. He accused Manigault’s office of conducting “willy-nilly” investigations and operating without a clearly defined process.
He asked the task force to ensure that the inspector general’s office tells employees whether they are a target of an investigation, or a witness. If they are a target, they should be told they can have a representative accompany them for an interview, he said.
“We do not believe the OIG is the FBI, the GBI or even the APD,” Burrell said. “Actual law enforcement and criminal investigative agencies have specific guardrails, and the OIG should as well.”
Calvin Blackburn, the city’s interim human resources commissioner, told the task force that some employees think their rights have been infringed upon, adding that it’s his understanding some employees’ city-owned phones were confiscated.
Manigault said her office has “never denied an employee a personal attorney for an interview” and never has “searched any employee’s personal equipment, cellphones or bags.”
Of all the interviews her office has conducted since 2021, Manigault said she believes that it only has approached two employees for interviews at their homes. In both cases, it was during regular business hours while the employees were working from home, she said.
The task force — made up of top Atlanta lawyers — was established by City Council in early September amid a heated debate over the top watchdog offices’ level of authority. Mayor Andre Dickens administration and Manigault have been at odds over when and how investigations should be conducted.
The task force was given only 45 days to craft recommended changes for how the two agencies operate, but its chairwoman said Monday that she thinks it can get more time if it is needed.
The chairwoman, Leah Ward Sears, also said after Monday’s meeting that the task force has no intention of “trying to get rid of the OIG’s office.”
“I actually chaired the commission that made a recommendation that the city of Atlanta hire an inspector general, so it is absolutely not our goal to undo that,” she said in an interview. “But you can see there are gaps. It needs to continue to evolve so that everybody is happy.”
The city’s Office of Inspector General was created in 2020, in the wake of a yearslong federal Department of Justice corruption investigation at City Hall, and independently investigates within Atlanta’s government. The office was “empowered to root out fraud, waste, abuse, corruption, and misconduct,” according to legislation.
Last week, a new report by the OIG found that two former permit technicians and their supervisor within the Light Commercial Division of the Department of City Planning Office of Buildings accepted payments ranging from $50 to $1,200 in return for faster permit approval.
Earlier this year, Atlanta’s former head of human resources was fired after a report by the inspector general found that she abused her authority by creating a staff position for her daughter.
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