Ousted administrator puts county on notice: He’s suing for $5 million

ALBANY — Ousted Dougherty County Administrator Michael McCoy, through his attorney, Maurice Luther King, has sent members of the Dougherty County Commission an anti litem notice that he intends to sue the board for $5 million.

McCoy and King announced earlier in the week their plans to bring charges against the county board for conduct at a public hearing at which they said McCoy was not given the opportunity to fully express his complaints because hearing administrator, Mark Anthony Scott, a retired Superior Court judge with the Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit, illegally denied them the opportunity to do so.

The ante litem notice spells out specific charges against commission members and applicable local, state and federal laws that they say board members violated in voting to terminate McCoy after a 25-plus-year career with the county.

“The purpose of this letter is to inform you that our office has been retained to represent (McCoy) in proceedings to collect compensation for damages rising from violations of his state and federal constitutional rights in or around November 2022 through July 2023,” the notice, signed by King and addressed to Board Chairman Lorenzo Head with copies sent to Commissioners Ed Newsome, Victor Edwards, Clinton Johnson, Russell Gray, Gloria Gaines and Anthony Jones, said. “The actions alleged herein are continuing in nature as the discriminatory and retaliatory conflict against Mr. McCoy is continuing in nature. Accordingly, this letter will serve as an ante litem notice and is made persuant to (applicable Georgia law) and the provisions found therein.”

King listed in the notice claims McCoy had against the board, including breach of contract; retaliation for engaging in protected activity as a whistleblower; retaliation for engaging in protected activity; violation of rights to freedom of expression, speech and association in violation of the U.S. and Georgia constitutions; violation of liberty interest; failure to provide a workplace free of harassment and retaliation; defamation; libel; tortious interference with employment relationship; intentional inflection of emotional distress, and foreclosure of opportunity for future employment opportunities.

The notice also accused board members Gaines, Johnson, Edwards and Heard of discussing plans to fire McCoy outside any board meeting, a violation of state law and said that Heard illegally made the motion to fire McCoy because he had “disrespected the chair,” placing a “badge of infamy” on McCoy.

The ante litem notice said board members retaliated against McCoy when he protected employees who had been threatened by Edwards and when he addressed Johnson’s illegal use of a county credit card to pay for alcohol and a highly inflated hotel room (more than $800) while on a non-working trip to Atlanta. It also noted that when McCoy pointed out illegal use of the county credit card, Heard instructed McCoy to go ahead and pay the charges even though it violated county and state law.

The notice also pointed out that the impetus for McCoy’s ouster was his announcement that he’d hired a white person, Barry Brooks, as assistant county administrator even though that process was part of his job and came after interviews and ratings of candidates that McCoy had no part of.

King said McCoy would be filing charges of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and is asking for $5 million in damages, plus reinstatement to his position as county administrator.

King said McCoy would be willing to discuss the terms of the suit “in the spirit of compromise.”

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