At its first regular session of 2025, the Athens-Clarke County Commission voted to pass a resolution to settle a lawsuit filed by former Executive Director of the First Step homeless camp, Charles Hardy, back in February of last year.
Hardy, who was also the Executive Director of the now-dissolved Athens Alliance Coalition (AAC), alleged that he was denied access to the former homeless encampment to retrieve personal property amounting to nearly $10,000. He also claimed that, following several attempts to retrieve his property, he discovered that said items had been either stolen or destroyed.
The resolution, passed Tuesday evening, does not admit any liability or fault on behalf of the Athens Clarke-County Government and states that it is in the best interest of the county to settle the claim and avoid incurring any additional attorney’s fees, expenses or costs of litigation.
While Ovita Thornton of District 9 filed a motion for approval, it was challenged by a substitute motion to deny by District 1 Commissioner Patrick Davenport. Davenport called the settlement, “a slap in the face to our constituents who pay hard earned money through their property taxes.” The substitute motion failed, however, reverting to the original motion for approval, which passed 5-3. Davenport, Melissa Link (District 2) and Carol Myers (District 8) all voted against it, while Thornton, Tiffany Taylor (District 3), John Culpepper (District 7), Dexter Fisher (District 5), and Allison Wright (District 4) all voted to pass the resolution. District 6 Commissioner Stephanie Johnson abstained from voting.
Hardy was removed from both his positions at First Step and AAC by the AAC board in 2023 due to a physical altercation he had with a former First Step resident the year prior. Around that time, he was convicted with charges of one count of battery, two counts of simple battery, and one count of disorderly conduct.
