The attorney representing Ron Collier, former chief financial officer for Bibb County schools, in a whistle-blower lawsuit against the system said Wednesday he will not oppose a local nonprofit agency from joining the case.
Collier’s lawsuit, initially filed in December and amended this month, contends he was demoted from his job after he asked questions about a $1 million dollar check for an invoice to the Central Georgia Partnership for Individual and Community Development.
The lawsuit was filed in Bibb County Superior Court.
In July, the partnership entered into a 10-year, $5.75 million lease agreement with the school system for half of the old Ballard-Hudson Middle School building -- which the system sold for $220,000 in 2009. The building is planned to host Macon Promise Neighborhood initiatives aimed at improving the lives of students and families living in the Unionville and Tindall Heights neighborhoods.
Monday, the partnership filed a motion to join the case in an effort to defend its stake in the lease with the school system.
Among other things, Collier’s lawsuit aims to stop the school system from making payments on the lease.
In its efforts to settle the case with Collier, the school system might not defend the lease, the partnership argued.
Collier’s attorney, Jerry Lumley, doesn’t think the partnership’s involvement in the lawsuit would hurt Collier’s case, since it wouldn’t change his client’s arguments or facts that have been presented.
“If they want to have a part in it, we certainly welcome them. There’s no reason to oppose them,” Lumley said Wednesday. “If they have something they feel needs to be said, I want to give them an opportunity to come forward and say it.”
School system spokesman Donald Porter said the district would not respond to questions about pending litigation.
On Tuesday, Bibb County Superior Court Judge Edgar Ennis gave the school system and Collier until Thursday to make arguments against the partnership’s involvement in the case.
A hearing for Collier’s lawsuit is scheduled Friday at 9:30 a.m., along with another case seeking to dismiss Superintendent Romain Dallemand’s employment contracts.
To contact writer Andrea Castillo, call 744-4331.
