Read Part 1 – Interview with Commissioner Ray Davis
Read Part 2 – Interview with Clay & Megen Conner, owners of Sand Creek Land Construction
Months after an investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation into Bulloch County’s Public Works department over Hurricane Helene-related invoices was opened and then later closed, the complete case file has been released under the Georgia Open Records Act.
The file, which includes copies of the invoices and a number of interviews with public officials and business owners, indicates that GBI agents determined there were discrepancies with the invoices submitted by Sand Creek Land Construction which is owned by Clay Conner, brother of Commissioner Toby Conner. While some of the discrepancies were attributed to what Conner said was an ‘industry standard’ for 8-hour minimums on truck rentals and hauling that were not reflected as line items on invoices, other discrepancies were eventually determined to be ‘simple miscalculations’ on the invoices. According to the case file, Conner was paid upwards of half a million dollars in the wake of the 2024 storm recovery.
In July 2025, Clay Conner and his attorney met with the GBI, after all parties signed a proffer agreeing that anything Conner offered in the interview could not be used against him in a criminal or civil proceeding by the GBI or Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia (PAC). The recorded interview reflects a repeated assertion by Conner that he did nothing wrong, that the investigation was politically motivated, and a clear acknowledgement of the miscalculations. It was noted in another recorded interview with another party that Clay Conner had since taken efforts to upgrade “how they do things” and have “since put things in place” in the business practices.
Given the volume of information in the case file and the number of recorded interviews, the information will be released in a series of articles. A number of interviews include no data on their date of occurrence. A follow-up has been submitted to the GBI, but has not been provided. If/when additional details of interview dates are submitted, they will be included in the forthcoming parts.
A complete list of documents and interviews conducted, all of which will eventually be published, can be viewed in the timeline below.
Case Timeline
Friday, February 28, 2025 – Commissioner Ray Davis contacts District Attorney Robert Busbee.
Friday, February 28, 2025 – District Attorney Robert Busbee requests assistance from the GBI after receiving information from a concerned resident. The letter says Busbee was notified of concerns regarding 1) bidding, and 2) an unnamed county commissioner, and) a county employee named “Dink Butler.”
Tuesday, March 4, 2025 – Bulloch County Commissioners hold their regular meeting. The issue of invoices and Sand Creek Land Construction are discussed during the public comment portion of the meeting. Meeting can be viewed here.
Wednesday, March 5, 2025 – 8:45 a.m – GBI Interviews Commissioner Ray Davis. Listen to his interview here.
Wednesday, March 5, 2025 – 1:31 p.m. – GBI Interviews Clay & Megen Conner Listen to the interview here.
Thursday, March 6, 2025 – 8:53 a.m. – GBI Interviews Public Works Director Dink Butler & Asst. Public Works Director Robert Seamans.
Chairman David Bennett [Interview date not listed on audio recording or in case file. Interview time is 11:15 a.m. (based on interview end time)]
Commissioner Nick Newkirk [Interview date not listed on audio recording or in case file. Time ~8:25 a.m. (based on interview end time)]
Commissioner Anthony Simmons [Interview date not listed on audio recording or in case file. Time ~12:00 p.m. (based on interview end time)]
GBI Interviews Commissioner Ray Mosley [Interview date not listed on audio recording or in case file. Time 9:53 p.m. (based on interview end time)]
GBI Interviews Commissioner Timmy Rushing – [Interview date not listed on audio recording or in case file. Time 10:14 a.m. ]
Monday, March 10, 2025 – GriceConnect breaks the news that there is a GBI investigation. TheGeorgiaVirtue also notes an active GBI investigation in an article about the ethical concerns about Commissioner Toby Conner voting on the approval of funding for work completed by his brother.
GBI Interviews Commissioner Toby Conner [date not listed but comments from agent in the audio indicate it occurred after the month of March]. Time 10:06 a.m (based on interview end time) ]
No one else was interviewed by the GBI, but in July, the GBI does interview Clay Conner a second time.
April 11, 2025 – The District Attorney’s Office notifies PAC that the GBI investigation, which is still ongoing, will create a conflict for his office. The DA’s office did not formally ‘conflict out’ because the office did not receive the case file since Busbee notified PAC while the investigation was ongoing. The GBI does not forward its eventual findings to the Ogeechee Circuit DA’s office and instead consults with PAC.
Monday, July 14, 2025 – Clay Conner and his attorney submit a proffer to the GBI and Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia which prohibits the use of the content of Conner’s interview in any criminal or civil proceeding against him so long as the content is truthful and complete. The fact that the proffer has been made is also prohibited from being used in any criminal or civil proceeding against Clay Conner. Read the proffer. A copy of the document signed by the prosecutor in the case is available here.
Tuesday, August 19, 2025 – Conner and his attorney appear at the Bulloch County Commission meeting. Conner’s attorney, Jim Durham, tells the commissioners his client has been treated unfairly and that Conner voluntarily sat down with the GBI with all of the information about his business. Read the story.
Wednesday, Aug 20, 2025 – The Executive Director of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council signs an order appointing a District Attorney Pro Tem to handle the case. (Note: This is when the order was signed, but PAC was handling the case prior to this date because the PAC prosecutor is referenced in the case file prior to this date and Busbee notified PAC of the potential conflict on April 11, 2025.)
Wednesday, Aug 20, 2025 – The Prosecuting Attorney’s Council pens a letter to the GBI stating, “Based on your findings and our analysis of the case, there is no readily provable criminal intent, and the case is declined.” Read the story.
Thursday, Aug 21, 2025 – TheGeorgiaVirtue filed an Open Records Request for the complete case file. The GBI replies the same day to report that the case is still open and pending and, therefore, the records are not available. View the email response from the GBI indicating that the file was not subject to release.
Tuesday, Aug 26, 2025 – TheGeorgiaVirtue again files an Open Records Request for the complete case file. [Documented in response from GBI here]
Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025 – The GBI replies with the cost estimate for the case file and states the file will be ready on or before November 19, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. (Not a typo on the part of TGV, the GBI invoice lists the completion date as more than one year from the date of request. View the email response from the GBI.)
Friday, Oct. 3, 2025 – The GBI file is provided to TheGeorgiaVirtue. It notes that some personally identifiable information was redacted during preparation of the file, as is permitted under the Georgia Open Records Act.[View the email dated October 3 indicating that the case file is available for download]
Interview with Public Works Director Dink Butler & Assistant Public Works Director Robert Seamans
Issues with audio quality in the first four and a half minutes are due to the GBI agent’s recording device.
2:15 – Agent Jones explains to Butler and Seamans why he’s there to ask questions. “We learned that there may be contract work without bidding, # 2 was regarding the invoices associated with Sand Creek Construction, and billable hours that weren’t mathematically possible.
3:45 – Butler addresses the billable hours not being possible.
“I think the point that some people are missing is they’re looking at Sand Creek and what vehicles he owns. But he has some leased vehicles that are part of this operation as well and he bills for those vehicles…” Butler says the daily log sheets are for both owned and leased trucks and that they (the county) match the daily log sheets to the invoices when they’re sent over from Sand Creek.
5:00 – Agent Jones begins to ask Butler a question about specific invoices, but the question is inaudible because Butler is talking over him.
5:15 – Agent Jones asks Butler if the details (of the invoices) were withheld or if they simply weren’t attached. Butler responds that the commission meeting agendas are ‘already several hundred pages long’ and that the financial department has never asked for the supporting documentation.
“We justify it and then send it over for payment.”
5:50 – Butler says if there were concerns about the lacking documentation, the internal financial department would have questioned it. He then goes on to share that he has changed the process and he now includes the documentation with every invoice that’s sent in.
“It just didn’t seem realistic to do that up front because we knew what we were doing, we knew it was justified.”
6:42 – Butler asks Agent Jones if the investigation was prompted Wednesday morning. Jones replied that it was not. Butler goes on to say that he had the same conversation with one of the newly elected commissioners. “Same subject to the detail,” Butler said. “So I know where this is coming from.” Butler then goes on to say there is an alliance between Davis, his wife, and the Bulloch Action Coalition.
7:45 – Butler says he got into a confrontation with Commissioner Ray Davis when he called him back to give him an explanation to the questions he asked because Davis “was mad because his name got associated with the questions being asked.”
8:55 – Butler tells Agent Jones he’s not worried about one thing that will be found in the investigation. He goes on to say “It bothers me that there’s a group of people out there that are always looking for the negative. And they get to make these implications and when they’re proven wrong, there’s no stance. They don’t, they get to walk away from it, but the stain is on everybody else.”
9:52 – Butler asks how long it will take to make the determination regarding the investigation and who will make that decision.
10:30 – Butler asks if, once Agent Jones completes his investigation and makes his determination, if he can communicate that to the county employees.
12:30 – Assistant Public Works Director Robert Seamans, after sharing his experience in law enforcement, says “These people throwin’ all this stuff out there, his integrity, my integrity, I mean, we hold that sacred. Here we are, years into this stuff, and they’re questioning this stuff.”
The discussion then turns to Butler’s experience in law enforcement, how he ran for Sheriff in Bryan County in 1995 before working for a private security company in Richmond Hill, and then his father’s service as a judge in Bryan County.
14:37 – “It just really bothers me, as Robert said, for us to be, our integrity, for everything that we’ve done to try to benefit and serve the citizens of this county and to have a group of people that are so negative and so focused on trying to [inaudible] somebody [inaudible] that is, that is very frustrating and it is very [inaudible] to have to go through this,” Butler said.
15:25 – Butler says people don’t realize the sacrifices they make to do their jobs.
16:05 – “It just really troubles me that we try to recoup as much money as we possibly can back to Bulloch County to benefit the citizens of Bulloch County and we’ve got people out there who are literally trying to tear you down,”
16:40 – Butler says he had other job offers and he could take his retirement, but he doesn’t want to leave because he doesn’t want it to look like he’s running from something.
17:00 – Agent Jones asks Butler about the no bid process. He also talks about how the county has 8 dump trucks, but not enough manpower to run them all.
17:45 – “I’m paying the same hourly rate to these truck rentals as these truck rentals get from other companies whether that’s an asphalt company that pays them $105/hour or another construction company that pays them $105/hour to come haul for them. We’re paying $105 an hour for the trucks,” Butler said.
20:40 – The discussion moves to the companies that were contacted regarding the work and Butler says he called Ellis Wood and Derriso and Sand Creek Land Construction were the first two to step up. He then notes that there have been other companies since then.
“There’s days that we need ’em [the trucks] and can’t get ’em and there’s probably days that we get ’em and we…[pause pause] make the best we can out of it,” Butler said.
22:50 – Butler says “[P]eople want to talk about biddin’ or whatever but when you can’t define what you’re wanting to bid for and you’re just scrambling to get help, you rent what you can when you can.”
23:30 – The conversation shifts to county policies and emergency conditions. Seamans says they’re not circumventing anything on the paperwork.
26:50 – Seamans says the commissioners haven’t pushed back on any of the paperwork so far. He also says someone from Bulloch Action Coalition requested “all kinds of other paperwork” the day prior. “They’re getting utterly ridiculous in the amount of stuff they’re wanting.” He said they’re impacting county employees ‘every day’ coming up with all kinds of stuff, all kinds of requests.
28:30 – Agent Jones asks for a copy of the policy as it pertains to the scope of the investigation.
29:10 – Butler says “Is any of us above a mistake? Absolutely not. If you done a forensic audit on all of our paperwork over there would you find an hour somewhere? You may, but there is nothing intentionally wrong and there’s nothing outside of the operational policies.”
29:48 – Jones asks if there are any ‘under-dealings’ with any of the staff or commissioners.
30:15 – Butler asks Agent Jones if the investigation is “specifically for the invoices that were mentioned in the meeting the other night.” Jones answers him and Butler directs him to paperwork stacked on a table.
Public Works Policy
Listen to the full audio file below
