Public records on the inner workings of the Ethics Committee in the City of Reidsville show a mentality of prejudice amongst members and a concerning disregard for city ordinances and state law.
The complaints stem from the ongoing saga involving the now-terminated assistant chief of police – Jermaine Snell. Discovered in the documents provided by the city from an Open Records Request and other public records:
- A backdated complaint filed by Jermaine Snell against Mayor Vickie Nail
- A complaint against the city’s police chief, who is not subject to the city’s ethics ordinance
- Dismissals of complaints filed by the mayor against three council members for violating the Georgia Open Meetings Act, despite evidence and sworn statements that the meetings took place
- Evidence of one of the ethics committee members seen and heard on video expressing support for Snell when Snell addressed the city council on September 8.
Background on the City of Reidsville’s Ethics Committee
- Defined in the city code of ordinances , specifically Sec. 2-156 through 2-175.
- 3 member board approved by ⅘ vote by city council, which includes:
- Holly Sanborn Dyer, an attorney (at least one of the members must be an attorney)
- Mordena Richardson, the spouse of the individual who ran against Nail in the most recent mayoral election
- Greg Carr, on at least one occasion, is seen and heard on video expressing support for Snell when he addressed the city council on September 8.
- Serve 3 year terms and without compensation
- A functioning ethics committee is a requirement for membership of the Georgia Municipal Association if the city claims a designation of a ‘Certified City of Ethics,’ which it does.
A Backdated Complaint by Jermaine Snell against Mayor Vickie Nail
July 16, 2025 – Initial incident occurs at city hall with Mayor Nail, Chief Lynn, Officer Swanson, and Snell. (For background on that incident, read this article)
July 17, 2025 – Snell is placed on administrative leave with pay, pending the outcome of an investigation.
July 22, 2025
Jermaine Snell submits a sealed ethics complaint to the city clerk. It is dated 7/16/25, though two sworn affidavits from city employees will later attest that Snell did not request the form to file an ethics complaint until 7/17/25 – about fifteen minutes after being placed on leave and the day after the incident in the office with Chief Lynn, Mayor Nail, and Officer Swanson.
At the heart of Snell’s complaint, he says, is the fact that he was placed on administrative leave with pay because he brought forward issues within the police department between October 2024 and July 2025.
Snell writes that he dated his complaint July 16 and that any action by Nail after that date is retaliation for filing the ethics complaint. A noteworthy point, however, is that the eventual Ethics Committee Report states that Snell’s letter was ‘sealed to the City Clerk’ on July 22, so even if the complaint was written before Snell was placed on leave, it would be impossible for the mayor or chief of police to know that the complaint would be forthcoming five days after Snell was placed on leave on the 17th. Further, Snell cites an investigation and leave in his complaint on July 16, but neither matter came to fruition until the following day.
The complaint volleys from taking issue with how he was treated to claiming he has no idea why he is on leave to opposing an investigation into the incident involving Swanson.
In his complaint, which varies back and forth between first and third person, Snell also cited:
- His recollection of a December 9, 2024 meeting with Mayor Nail, of which there is no recording or evidence
- His recollection of an undated instance where the mayor asked Snell to ask an officer to reduce a citation and his fear of losing his job for (at least eight months) because he did not reduce the citation
- An incident where he disciplined another officer in writing for not wearing his vest. The officer contacted the chief, Snell’s superior, about the disciplinary matter and Snell reported it to the mayor. Snell wrote the mayor and chief did not want him to do his job.
- His concerns over the fact that he reportedly told the mayor he did not feel comfortable having one-on-one conversations with Chief Lynn, but even though he told the mayor this, when she was in the meetings, she “took Lynn’s side.” He took issue with the fact that Nail stated that Lynn is the Chief and he “should do as he [the chief] says.” He also wrote that he was told to “grow thicker skin.”
- His dissatisfaction with Officer Swanson being “allowed to disrespect” him during the termination meeting at city hall on July 16. Snell said Swanson asked if he could speak freely after Snell had accused him of breaking into his office to steal records.
He also contends that he was placed on administrative leave, but the allegations were not brought to his attention and he cannot “be held liable” for something he knows nothing about. “I don’t understand why Officer Swanson is still working a shift when he’s a party to the investigation at hand.”
Read the full complaint by Snell
A Complaint Against Chief Matt Lynn Who is Not Subject to the City’s Ethics Ordinance
In a complaint dated July 16, Snell submitted a complaint against Chief Lynn, alleging a number of things including hostility by Lynn, missing equipment, Snell’s issues with fellow officers, and a concern over the possible change of title from ‘Assistant Chief’ to ‘Deputy Chief.
In his complaint, Snell directed the committee to file Open Records Requests with the city to obtain information on the incidents he referenced in his complaint.
Worst of all, Snell accused the chief of ordering him to obtain criminal histories of individuals applying for city jobs when there was no lawful authority to do so. Snell stated that he did so under duress and even wrote that he told the employees at Tattnall 911 that he was ordered to do so. Snell’s claims were refuted by the city’s ability to provide signed consent forms by the applicants who had their criminal histories run as part of the employment process.
According to the city’s ethics ordinance, the ethics committee has absolutely no authority to investigate city employees. The ordinance lists only the mayor and council. The City Clerk should have declined to accept the ethics complaint against Lynn and it should not have been forwarded to the committee for consideration.
In Lynn’s response to Snell’s complaint, he refuted all of Snell’s claims with sworn affidavits, copies of city policies, and a paper trail of emails. You can read all of those documents here.
July 24, 2025
Snell submits a letter to members of council, except Councilman Dan Bennett, requesting the “appointment of a new investigator in police department,” alleging that Augusta-based investigator Douglas Parker was ‘personally selected by Mayor Vickie Nail.’
Snell writes that Nail selected Parker ‘while [Nail is] under investigation for allegations of ethical violations’ and then goes on to mention her being under investigation four more times in his two-and-a-half page document. The statement is patently false because, based on the report by the Ethics Committee, the complaint against Nail was not received until July 29, five days later.
Not mentioned in his letter is that it was the Tattnall County Sheriff’s Office that was asked to investigate, but due to the working relationship between agencies, Sheriff Kyle Sapp recommended Parker, a former agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Prior to beginning his investigation, Parker signed a sworn affidavit attesting that he had no knowledge of the case and no ties to Tattnall County other than a previous working relationship with Sheriff Sapp.
Read the request
July 29, 2025 – Ethics Committee begins investigation after Nail submits her response.
See Nail’s response to the ethics complaint on page 25-37.
August 4, 2025 – Snell is placed on administrative leave without pay, per the city personnel policy, after he failed to show up to three interviews for an internal investigation.
Snell, Councilwoman Verdie Williams, and Councilman Theron Harris met at City Hall regarding Snell’s placement on leave without pay. Though Snell was on leave, he was wearing his uniform at city hall.
According to a statement written by the city finance manager, Councilwoman Williams grabbed the arm of the clerk and said “He [Snell] will be paid!” before she looked at the finance manager and said “He [Snell] will be paid!”
The decision to place Snell on leave was overturned shortly thereafter in a meeting held in violation of an Open Meetings Act by council members Verdie Williams, Theron Harris, and Carolyn Blackshear. Mayor Vickie Nail was present, but objected to the meeting’s occurrence and refused to take part.
While Williams and Harris were present at city hall, Blackshear was on the phone. Under the Georgia Open Meetings Act, a person is permitted to vote by teleconference, but only if a quorum is present in person and only if the person participating by phone is not available 1) due to health reasons or 2) because they’re outside of the jurisdiction. See OCGA 50-14-1(g)(3). Blackshear, Harris, and Williams also failed to notify council members Dan Bennett and Donald Prestage of the meeting and proper notice was not offered to the public or the county’s legal organ.
According to a staff statement, Councilwoman Williams said “We can ask Donald and Dan later.” At some point during the exchange, Williams also told the mayor that the council could fire her and the police chief.
Still, the three voted to pay Snell while he is on leave. (If challenged to the Georgia Attorney General’s Office or in Tattnall County Superior Court, the meeting could be deemed improper and the vote would be invalidated. It is unclear what that would mean for the funds Snell was awarded during that time since they were not lawfully approved)
That night, according to written statements by staff, the same council members moved to go into an executive session once again, against the advice of the city attorney, the mayor, and councilman Donald Prestage. In that meeting, Snell’s failure to comply with the investigation was once again discussed.
Read the statements from staff.
August 4, 2025 – Snell files another ethics complaint against Mayor Nail and Chief Lynn.
Snell wrote that there were ‘serious ethical concerns’ about the involvement of Chief Lynn in initiating a GBI investigation’… “especially considering that Chief Lynn himself is under investigation for related ethics violations.”
The committee still has no authority to field an ethics complaint against the Chief. Further, the directive to contact the GBI originated from Councilwoman Verdie Williams who said Snell should be placed on leave, with pay, pending the outcome of a GBI investigation. That was at the heart of her vote earlier that day during the unlawful meeting.
Read Snell’s follow-up complaint.
August 20, 2025 – Mayor Nail submits three ethics complaints to the city clerk – against Carolyn Blackshear, Verdie Williams, and Theron Harris. The complaints allege violations of the city charter, the city personnel policy, and ethics pertaining to the unlawful meeting on July 17, 2025.
Read her complaints.
August 26, 2025 – Ethics Committee returns an 11-page report on Snell’s complaint against Nail.
Highlights from the report:
- The committee wrote that the mayor (sworn in 1/2/24) and Lynn (sworn in 12/16/24 with 20+ years in law enforcement) are ‘relatively new’ to their positions.
- The committee does not believe the mayor should have sought an independent investigator to evaluate the incident with Snell.
- The mayor’s actions “in her favor give the appearance of retaliation which in and of itself are an ethical violation.” Specifically, the report states that Snell was not given due process or a hearing, though Snell’s hearing occurred the same date the report was finalized by the committee. The hearing, before the judge of Snell’s choice, sustained every charge against him.
- “There is a breach of transparency in an employee’s fear of speaking up about concerns of misconduct. There is an erosion of trust within the organization and discourages transparency, hindering the ability to identify and address ethical breaches effectively…An employee may miss out on promotions, or it can be the cause of stress and anxiety. Citing general principles of Retaliation.”
- The report erroneously concludes that Snell’s complaint came before the initiation of the investigation.
- The mayor and the council previously stated that the Ethics Committee “knows what it is doing” and have “helped keep the City out of litigation,” and therefore the committee found it unfortunate that they could not complete their investigation before seeking outside sources.
- Instead of making recommendations as it is charged with doing, the committee “leaves the issue of recommendations of any action to be taken against [the mayor] to the elected city council members.”
- Snell also filed a complaint with the Georgia Bar Association against City Attorney DuAnn Davis.
The report also irrelevantly notes that the city hired an independent investigator to investigate Snell without notifying the committee. A municipal ethics committee in any city is not responsible for or privy to any internal affairs investigations, even if outsourced to a third party, as an ethics committee by definition is charged with reviewing conduct of elected officials.
Though the complaint by Snell was against the mayor, the committee outlined issues with their lack of knowledge about a request for assistance of the GBI by the police chief as well. The report states they were not provided with information on the GBI complaint.
With regard to state law, the report reads that the committee “has met on numerous occasions,” but those meetings were not advertised in accordance with the Georgia Open Meetings Act. (See page 6 of the report)
Their report also includes a disclaimer, in violation of the Georgia Open Records Act, that says the report cannot be shared or published online.
Read the 11-page report.
August 28, 2025 – Snell files another ethics complaint against Chief Lynn
Snell files another complaint against Lynn for “improperly influencing” the Georgia POST Council regarding Snell’s employment status. His claims are that Lynn notified POST that Snell had been suspended from his position. Snell wrote that this should not have occurred prior to the pre-termination hearing, despite the fact that the hearing was independent of the suspension. Though Snell had been on administrative leave since July 17, he wrote in his complaint that he was unaware of any suspension.
Lynn refuted Snell’s claims by citing POST rule 464-4.05, which requires that an agency notify POST any time an employee is suspended, demoted, discharged, or resigns in lieu of termination.
August 28, 2025 – Ethics Committee Finds Complaints by Mayor about Open Meeting Violations to Be ‘Curious, Frivolous, and Patently Unfounded’
The committee found that the council members did not violate the Open Meetings Act and did not have an ethical duty to recuse themselves. “These complaints are dismissed in their entirety as either or collectively unjustified, unfounded, and/or frivolous.”
Read the full 8-page report.
September 3, 2025 – Mayor Vickie Nail wrote a Rebuttal to the findings of the Ethics Committee regarding Snell’s complaint against her.
In it, Nail wrote that the committee ‘failed to address’ any of her responses and instead ‘provided opinions and incorporated responses that were not present in the original complaint or in my subsequent responses.’ Namely, Fountain noted:
- There was no contract entered into on her behalf with Investigator Parker
- The committee ignored the fact that Snell backdated his complaint
- Snell was placed on leave as outlined in the city personnel policy
- The committee’s conclusions were based on opinions, not the facts presented
Read the full Rebuttal by Nail.
As of September 18, 2025, the city of Reidville no longer has a functioning ethics committee because attorney Holly Sanborn Dyar resigned.
