CAIRO — The Grady County Board of Commissioners will look into creating a citizen oversight committee on spending following their meeting Tuesday.

Cairo resident Linda Aycock, who attended the meeting at the request of South Georgia Circuit District Attorney Joe Mulholland, asked the commissioners to form the committee.

Aycock said the proposed committee would provide a check on financial advice the county may receive as well as working to rebuild public trust.

“The citizens of this county are very concerned, as you are, about the misappropriation of funds,” Aycock said. “There’s lack of trust in the county that the citizens have in what’s going on in our county on so many levels.”

Aycock was the foreman of a September grand jury that was convened to review allegations of misappropriations of taxpayer funds that ultimately did not find any criminal wrongdoing in its investigations.

Following the conclusion of testimony, Aycock said the members of the grand jury convened with Mulholland to discuss possible courses of preventative action.

“The only thing we found that really, really concerned us were two things,” Aycock said. “One, blame was being placed instead of taking responsibility. Secondly, for whatever reason that we could never get a good answer on, there was just simply terrible advice being given and followed with no checks and balances.”

Aycock said the members of the grand jury concluded that the county needed an additional body to provide oversight to prevent complacency.

“Somewhere along the line the advice that was being given was not being followed through and checked to see if this was good, solid advice,” Aycock said.

The committee would ideally consist of four to five citizens and two members of the board of commissioners, Aycock said.

Of interest to Aycock was which citizens and commissioners would be a part of the proposed committee as well as their method of selection.

County Administrator Buddy Johnson said the commission would look into creating a framework for the group which could be set in place in time for the next commission meeting Jan. 22.

Commissioner Ray Prince was receptive to the idea, saying he believed the proposal would be something positive.

“We’re in the process of making a lot of changes,” Prince said. “(The committee is) going to correct this problem.”

Johnson said he was in favor of the idea and wanted the right people in place.

“I think an oversight committee is always good, especially when you’re involving two entities which is community involvement,” Johnson said. “That’s what we want.”