CHRISTIAN GRANTHAM, Post Contributor
Posted: Thursday, August 26, 2010 4:54 pm

Rutherford County Mayor Ernest Burgess awaits the county ethics committee meeting. TMP/C. Grantham

The Rutherford County Ethics Committee met Wednesday at the Hisotric Courthouse to hear a public complaint.

The complaint was brought by the Rutherford Neighborhood Alliance (RNA) against Rutherford County Mayor Ernest Burgess.

"Our contention is he withheld information from the commission," RNA Treasurer Mike Linton said. "The mayor is asked specifically about the Sunshine Law and gives the impression he is reading the law in total and not in part."

What was not in the RNA complaint was a question of whether meetings about the county's legal services agreement were in violation of the Sunshine Law.

The RNA complaint, filed with the Ethics Committee in July, claims Burgess "may have misled one or more commissioners by omitting a key phrase of the law" when he read the state's Sunshine Law.

Burgess read the law in an Oct. 15, 2009 Rutherford County Commission meeting in response to complaints that meetings regarding the county's legal services agreement were not made open to the public.

A video of the mayor's October statements were played for the committee showing the mayor reading a portion of the law to the commission and encouraging people who disagree to file a complaint.

"For me, I tried to look back at the ethics part of that," Ethics Committee member Teb Batey said. "That seems to be our charge. Was there ethics violated or some profit made here?"

"It's easy to point a finger and say 'you violated the Sunshine Law.'" Committee member Dorris Jernigan said. "But that's not what we're about. I don't feel like anyone violated the law."

Members read from the county's code of ethics to determine if the mayor stood to make a financial gain by omitting part of the law or if he withheld information not available to the public.

"The commission was on notice when Mayor Burgess said 'I will read to you in part,'" Commissioner Robert Peay said. "The commission was aware they weren't getting the full text."

Before voting on a motion to dismiss the complaint, committee members gave both sides an opportunity to speak.

"I have nothing more to say," Burgess told the committee when given the chance to speak. "You have a copy of the code of ethics adopted by the commission, and I hope you make your decision appropriately."

The committee voted unanimously to dismiss the complaint.