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Ethics allegations against Oliver dismissed

An ethics investigation into allegations that former Russellville mayor Troy Oliver used city employees for work on private property has been dismissed by the Alabama Ethics Commission. 

Oliver received written notice on April 24, 2015 from Hugh Evans, general counsel for the Ethics Commission, that the statute of limitations had expired on the matter and that neither the Ethics Commission nor the State of Alabama Attorney General's Office would be prosecuting him.

The letter, sent to Oliver's attorney, Christopher W. Weller, officially closes the ethics probe that began in 2011.

On May 13, 2011, the Alabama Ethics Commission received a complaint accusing Oliver of sending city employees to private property to perform work.  

The accusations centered around work performed on Jackson Avenue lake property owned by Oliver. Russellville city councilman Gary Cummings acknowledged that he filed the complaint against Oliver at that time. 

Oliver believes the ethics complaint, filed one year before 2012 Russellville municipal elections, was politically motivated.

“The origin and intent were to discourage me from running for a second term as mayor,” Oliver said. “Had these false charges resulted in my being removed from office, Councilman Cummings, who served as Mayor Pro-Tempore at the time he filed the complaint, would have taken over as mayor.”

David Grissom defeated Oliver in the August 2012 mayor's race. Oliver believes the allegations contributed to his defeat.

“A lot of people never believed this to begin with," he said. "But once a charge is made, the damage is done. But you keep fighting, and that’s what I did until I cleared my name."

Russellville municipal elections will take place in August of 2016. Oliver has not decided whether to pursue a second term as mayor.

The investigation was referred to Franklin County district attorney Joey Rushing in May of 2011. Rushing said he forwarded the matter to the Alabama Attorney General since it involved a sitting mayor in Franklin County. 

“Any potential ethics violation needed to be investigated by the attorney general due to a conflict of interest with this office,” Rushing said. “I do not know what happened from there. At some point it was sent back to the Ethics Commission attorney, Hugh Evans. There was a question as to whether it would be handled administratively or through criminal prosecution. In the end, it was not handled either way, and the case was dropped.” 

When contacted recently by the Free Press, Cummings said he was aware the matter had been closed. Cummings stands by his decision in 2011 to refer the matter to the Ethics Commission.

“As of the time the employees came to me and told me what happened, it was my obligation as a city councilman to do what I did,” Cummings said. “Had I not done it, I would have been guilty of wrongdoing for not reporting it.

“What was done with the complaint was up to other agencies after that point."

According to a letter Weller sent Oliver in February, Weller met with Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange and others in Strange's office on February 11, 2015. Weller said Strange told him his office would not prosecute based on there being “no credible evidence to establish a prosecutable offense under the Alabama Ethics Act.”

Weller went on to say Strange expressed “genuine concern that it had taken so long to dismiss a case that obviously had no factual support.”

The investigation involved two allegations. The first allegation was that Oliver used his official office for personal gain by using city employees and equipment to fill a test pit on his private property with concrete and other debris from a downtown streetscape project in 2010. The second dealt with a claim that Oliver used his office for personal gain by using city employees and equipment to remove roots and other debris from his private property in February of 2011. 

Oliver and his attorney presented statements from former and current city employees regarding the allegations. Those statements indicated that Oliver neither directed nor asked any city employee to place debris in his test pit or to perform any work or debris removal from his property.

The investigation was handled by an Ethics Commission investigator. Russellville police chief Chris Hargett said his department's only involvement in the matter was taking photos and “a few witness statements” at the request of the investigator.

Oliver questioned how the statements given by witnesses could lead to a sustainable charge to begin with. 

“Obviously, what we presented was more than enough to show there was no substance to the ethics complaint,” Oliver said. “It seems to me the investigation by law enforcement was obviously flawed or biased.”

While pleased the matter was dropped, Oliver realized the system sometimes requires an accused person to prove his innocence. 

“Both the district attorney and attorney general declined to prosecute this allegation," Oliver said. "After I got additional evidence together, it proved I did nothing wrong."

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