JONESBORO, Ga. — City leaders argued during a special meeting over the issue of whether to hire a firm to investigate how funds were used at this year’s Juneteenth festival.
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Jonesboro Mayor Donya Sartor says another investigation would cost taxpayers too much money, but Mayor Pro Tem Tracey Messick disagrees.
According to an investigation by the Jonesboro Downtown Development Authority, Mayor Sartor used DDA funds to pay for this year’s Juneteenth festival at Lee Street Park. The funds that the investigation revealed the DDA didn’t authorize.
Some members of the council want a new investigation into how that happened and that’s when the back and forth between the mayor and mayor pro tem began.
“Don’t get mad that poor planning on your part does not necessitate an emergency on mine,” Sartor told Messick during a Special Called Meeting.
The two continued to go back and forth.
“I’m not gonna continue to argue. There’s a motion on the floor,” Sartor interjected.
It all had to do with an investigation into how funds were spent on the 2025 Juneteenth celebration.
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Mayor Sartor says a law firm hired by the city halted its inquiry because it exceeded the scope of the investigation set forth by an ordinance passed by the council. Some members of the council want to reboot the investigation with a limited scope.
Mayor Sartor said the halted investigation costs taxpayers $20,000 and a new investigation could reach $100,000.
Sartor says that’s not money well spent: “So that’s $100,000. That’s one police officer.”
Mayor Pro Tem Messick says it won’t cost that much.
“I feel sure that the cost will come down considerably once (the) scope of investigation is narrowed,” Messick said.
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Then it came to a vote to authorize another investigation with a limited scope.
“All in favor,” the mayor said.
The vote ended in a tie, which means it died.
Timothy Vondell Jefferson, a Clayton County resident, didn’t like all the bickering.
“I would highly recommend that this could be discussed in executive session 14 without embarrassing the city any further,” Jefferson told Channel 2’s Tom Jones.
According to the DDA’s investigation, Mayor Sartor paid the money back months later after the matter became controversial. The mayor says there was no misuse of funds, and they were paid back after the money became available.
The mayor says the money wasn’t paid back. She says once the city received the funds from sponsors and learned it had not been returned to the DDA, it was then transferred. Sartor wanted to make it clear there were no misuse of funds.
She said this is a matter where some policies and procedures need to be cleaned up to prevent this from happening again.
Mayor Sartor objected to some council members wanting to pay for an investigation when three of them will be leaving in a couple of weeks, and three new council members will be sworn in.
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