Council Member's Secret Meeting with Developer

At the March City Council Meeting, the City Council conducted a public hearing for case RZ-22-006 (66 townhouses and 12 single-family detached houses next to Warrenton and across from Arbor Clos). The City Council ultimately denied the request unanimously, after the Planning Commission had recommended denial a few weeks before.

After the denial by the Planning Commission, developer and realtor Patrick Bell apparently became concerned about the project's final hearing at the March City Council meeting. An Open Records Request (ORR) revealed that he sent separate emails to the Mayor, and City Council on February 27, requesting a "phone call, a Zoom call, or in-person meeting" to discuss the case privately before the official public meetings.

He didn't tell any of them that he had also contacted the rest, but they figured it out. Mayor Brandon Hembree forwarded his email to Taylor Anderson asking if he had received anything similar. Anderson replied that he had, except the salutation of the form email had not been customized and mentioned "Mr. Hicks." Anderson then forwarded the email to City Manager Paul Radford and Planning Director Kaipo Awana. Awana seems to have been Bell's primary point of contact with the City up to that point, as is reasonable and expected.

After I saw these emails, I submitted another ORR to see if any members of the Council had responded to Bell. There were no emails from elected officials (on the City servers) to answer Bell and discuss his case...except from Council Member Marc Cohen.

Cohen responded to Bell's request for a private meeting in a very speedy hour and a half. He initially asks Bell for a Zoom link. That evening, Bell sends him one, but there is no response from Cohen. A couple days later, Bell tries again, indicating he can meet by Zoom if Cohen is available. Cohen then responds a few days later, telling Bell to give him a call. Bell asks what number to call, and Cohen provides him with his personal number, not one of the official City of Sugar Hill numbers.

The email from Patrick Bell seems suspicious from the beginning and raised HUGE red flags for me. It apparently raised none for Council Member Marc Cohen. Bell specifically asks for communication that won't leave a record of the actual communication. He attempts to engage individuals separately, an excellent strategy to see who might be willing to "play ball." Bell mentions his own former political position, which should not have any bearing on the case. And, he concludes with a threat to put a Build-to-Rent subdivision on the property, in what seems like a threat designed to force communication. All of this should have been extremely off-putting for an elected official looking to protect his own reputation and maintain public trust.

I submitted another ORR to see if Cohen had perhaps contacted any other elected officials after his meeting with Bell. There were no emails from Cohen to the Mayor or other Council Members (on the City servers) in that time frame.

It is still possible that other elected officials also responded to Bell, but did so using personal phone numbers or email addresses. It's also possible that Cohen told them about his conversation with Bell, either in person or using personal phone numbers and email addresses.

All that anyone will ever know for sure is that there was communication between a developer and a City Council Member well in advance of a vote, and that it was all knowingly done in a way to keep the contents of the conversation away from the public eye. An honorable discussion would not have required that level of secrecy.

Cohen could have simply emailed Bell and told him that if he had any questions about his case, he could email back at that same address (the official City one), and CC the Planning Director. If Cohen had questions, he could have emailed the Planning Department. Cohen and Bell could have simply waited for the public hearing and figured it all out then, in view of the public, the way it should be.

Marc Cohen has been in office in Sugar Hill since 2004. How many other times in his 19-year career has he felt like he had to hide pre-vote discussions with developers from the public? Over these years, what has he been told or not told that influenced votes?

In the end, the Council Members all voted to deny the request. Denying a development outright is an extremely rare action for the Sugar Hill City Council these days. Yet, they all voted in the same, extremely rare way. There was never a clear and well-defined reason provided for the vote.

At the time of the vote, I am almost certain the Mayor and Council were aware of my ORRs digging into this topic, because the ORRs go through City Manager Paul Radford, the manager of all City employees, after I submit them to the City Clerk. I suspect he tells them what I'm looking into. I also suspect the elected officials also knew about the results of my request.

So, were they really opposed to the project all along? Were they all aware of whatever Bell told Cohen privately and had objections based on the content of that conversation? Or, did they all just want to avoid the stink of impropriety in an election year?