Attorney: City council quorum met ‘in secret’ with assistant DA

Published 3:51 pm Thursday, March 28, 2019

THOMASVILLE — A Thomasville City Council quorum met with a Thomasville-based assistant district attorney to discuss removing the police chief from office and replacing him with a retired Thomas County Sheriff’s Office deputy, according to a  legal document filed Wednesday.

Moultrie attorney Robert D. Howell filed the 339-page amended complaint Wednesday.

Howell is representing Thomasville Police Chief Troy Rich and the Thomasville Police Department command staff in a damage claim against Mayor Greg Hobbs, Council members Terry Scott and David Hufstetler and Waylon Parker, a former TPD officer.

The amended complaint states that on April 16, 2018, Hobbs, Hufstetler and Scott, composing a council quorum, met with Assistant District Attorney Ray Auman — and possibly others in the district attorney’s Thomasville office — to discuss removing the police chief and replacing him with Bob Brettel, a retired sheriff’s office investigator.

“The meeting was not publicized, no minutes were taken and was conducted in secret amongst the participants,” the document states. “Although none of the defendants in attendance had any actual authority to fire plaintiff Rich under the city’s charter, this fact did not stop any of them from convening this secret meeting and discussing (Chief) Rich’s removal and replacement with representatives of the district attorney’s office.”

Texts obtained via open records requests — and attached to the complaint — confirm participants at the meeting, as well as its purpose, the document states.

Although none of the defendants in attendance had any actual authority to fire the chief, the fact did not stop participants from convening the secret meeting and discussing Rich’s removal and replacement with district attorney’s office representatives, Howell wrote.

The next day, April 17, 2018, a letter of no confidence in Rich and the police department was distributed by the district attorney’s office to the city manager, city attorney and city council members, according to the complaint, which added that text messages confirm some of the defendants in the damage suit worked with the district attorney’s office on drafting the letter.

An April 30, 2018, text states that the group’s plan was to make several changes in personnel who report directly to the city manager, including the chief.

On May 11, 2018, Hobbs and Hufstetler generated and shared a list of city employees they wanted fired, according to the document, and solicited support from community leaders to get council members behind their mission of unjustified terminations. The list included Rich, Assistant Chief Eric Hampton and other key TPD and city government employees.

The amended complaint states: Hobbs, Hufstetler and Scott conspired with each other to defame and injure plaintiffs’ reputations in an effort to accomplish an ultimate goal of getting plaintiffs fired from their jobs.

Hufstetler declined comment. He said he has not read the document.

Hobbs and Scott did not respond to requests for comments.

The amended complaint contains 33 pages of text messages. The document notes that the text messages were obtained through open records requests sent to the City of Thomasville.

“While these text messages are instructive, they are but a snapshot of the actual evidence which exists to substantiate and corroborate plaintiffs’ allegations. The open records responses obtained to date are woefully inadequate and incomplete, with much of the material produced having been redacted,” the amended complaint states.

Some defendants named in the damage suit, notably Hobbs, “have wholly failed to respond and produce text messages or emails in response to open records requests,” the document states.

The amended complaint points out that Hobbs is a defendant in a separate, pending lawsuit regarding his alleged violations of Georgia open records laws.

Hobbs was indicted in early February on six city-related counts. On Monday, Gov. Brian Kemp appointed a three-member commission to determine if Hobbs should be suspended.

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820