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Changes at Chatham Area Transit continued this week as the vice chair of the board, Clinton Edminster, was voted out during the board s monthly meeting. Edminster had served as vice chair for about nine months. He remains on the board as a member. Chatham County Commissioner Helen Stone, who was nominated by Michael O Halloran, was selected to replace Edminster by a 6-3 vote. Edminster has been an outspoken critic of the CAT board s handling of former CEO and executive director Bacarra Mauldin s termination earlier this year. He was one of three board members to vote against the firing and has called for her reinstatement. ....
“And it is also going to allow the CAT organization to go forward in an orderly manner.” Mauldin was fired by the board on Jan. 26 in a 6-3 vote. Savannah Alderman Detric Leggett, Gertrude Robinson and Clinton Edminster voted against the termination. The six who voted to fire Mauldin were Board Chairman Deidrick Cody, former Board Chair Michael O Halloran, former Chatham Commissioner Tabitha Odell and Chatham Commissioners Kenneth Adams, Bobby Lockett and Helen Stone. The whistleblower violation allegations stem from Mauldin s findings related to a legal services request for proposals (RFP). According to a Notice of Solicitation Decision available on CAT s website, the board of directors awarded a contract for legal services to Bouhan Falligant LLP on Nov. 17, 2020, after putting out an RFP in August. ....
Ahead of a scheduled Friday Superior Court hearing, an attorney for Chatham Area Transit has filed a motion seeking to disqualify the attorney and law firm representing former CAT CEO and executive director Bacarra Mauldin. The motion also asks the court to consider tossing Mauldin’s request to be reinstated through a motion for preliminary injunction. Filed Wednesday night by attorney John Bennett with Freeman Mathis & Gary, LLP, the motion alleges that representatives from Buckley Beal LLP, which Mauldin has retained for counsel, have been communicating with CAT board of directors Vice Chairman Clinton Edminster. Bennett says this communication violates the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct 4.2, which is an anti-contact rule. He is seeking to disqualify the firm as a whole and attorney Edward Buckley, whom Mauldin has retained as representation. ....
Chatham Area Transit has enlisted the help of an Atlanta-based public relations and strategy firm to manage the fallout from last month s abrupt termination of former CEO Bacarra Mauldin. Detailed during Tuesday’s CAT authority board meeting, the agency has contracted with Ohio River South for $9,000 a month to provide crisis management services. The company will also provide other media services such as drafting press releases, responding to inbound requests for information and researching requests for information and public records. The contract, which was posted online by the board s Vice Chairman Clinton Edminster prior to the meeting, is for no less than six months. The initial contract is good for six months and gives CAT the option to renew as many times as they see fit. ....
Editorial Page Editor Adam Van Brimmer blogs on local topics of interest most weekday mornings in the “Savannah’s Town Square” Facebook group. The following is an excerpt from one of those posts. Join the group at Facebook.com by searching Savannah s Town Square. Chatham Commission Chairman Chester Ellis is in midst of his first leadership test, and he s proving woefully under-prepared. Last Friday s commission meeting, just the second of his tenure as chairman, devolved into a kangaroo court, with Ellis quasi-bullying his fellow commissioners over an unorthodox appointment of a former commissioner to the Chatham Area Transit board. Even worse, Ellis cut off public comment on the appointment of Tabitha Odell, who is a key player in the recent controversial firing of CAT s CEO. The situation has met with public uproar, and Ellis behavior did nothing to temper the outrage. ....