Milledgeville Mayor Mary Parham-Copelan has admitted she recently made a mistake. During a called city council work session Tuesday night, the city’s top political leader apologized.
The mayor said she received a telephone call from Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Scott Deason requesting her signature on a document regarding deputies running radar in the community.
“He then asked me if there was somewhere he could meet me so I could sign it,” Parham-Copelan told city officials at the meeting. “I told him he could bring it to my house because I am home.”
After Deason arrived, the mayor said she told him she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to sign it.
“He said it’s basically nothing, just something simple, just saying we do run radar in the city,” Parham-Copelan said. “This was probably like May 1 or May 2.”
The mayor said she later talked with Sheriff Bill Massee, City Manager Hank Griffeth and City Clerk Bo Danuser about what she had done.
She said she learned that such had never been done before.
She then asked Griffeth about a letter from the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT).
“Mr. Danuser received an email from GDOT that this be put on city letterhead, but that was the first time, at least for me, that I became aware of it,” Griffeth said.
Griffeth said the city clerk forwarded the letter to the Milledgeville Police Department, and later Chief Dray Swicord forwarded it to him.
“I told you and Mr. Danuser, because I asked Mr. Danuser was I supposed to sign it or not, and he said, ‘Well Mayor, I don’t think so,’” Parham-Copelan said.
She admitted she signed the paper that Deason presented her.
“You all know in my six years of sitting in this seat I’ve never signed anything without it coming through Bo or Hank,” Parham-Copelan said. “And…
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