Piedmont College is suing the City of Demorest and seven of its current and former officials. The nonprofit liberal arts college filed the lawsuit in Habersham County Superior Court. The suit alleges a host of illegal activities including fraud, conspiracy, theft by deception, extortion, and racketeering.
Piedmont College attorney Patrick McKee filed the lawsuit on behalf of the college on November 23. Other defendants include Demorest Mayor Rick Austin, former council members John Popham, Sean Moore, Florence Wikle, and Bruce Harkness, Demorest City Attorney Joey Homans, and Demorest Police Chief Robin Krockum. The college is suing all seven both individually and in their official capacities.
Noticeably absent from the list of defendants are Demorest City Treasurer Joely Mixon, City Manager Kim Simonds, and council members John Hendrix and Nathan Davis, all of whom the college threatened to sue back in August.
Piedmont claims it was “targeted”
In its lawsuit, Piedmont alleges the former council members and mayor “targeted the college” with a water and sewer rate hike in December 2018. That year the council revised its water rate structure to include a new category for private institutions inside the city. According to the lawsuit, Piedmont College is the only entity that suits that classification and the only consumer that was affected by that particular rate hike.
“Defendants conspired together to override the College’s federally recognized tax-exempt status through an irrational hike in water and sewage fees targeted solely at the College beginning in 2019,” the suit states. The college claims the mayor and council’s actions violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause.
Between January 2019 and September 2020, Piedmont says its water/sewer bill increased by $73,960. It blames the increase on the new rate and alleged “overcharges.” Piedmont contends the city is charging more than what the council approved in 2018.
City records appear to contradict that.
On December 18, 2018, the Demorest City Council approved a water rate of $7 for every 1,000 gallons used by private institutions in the city over 100,000 gallons. The council then voted to raise that rate. According to the approved meeting minutes, “A motion was made, based upon the recommendation of the City Manager, to increase this rate by 25% by Councilwoman Wikle and Councilman Harkness seconded the motion.” The motion passed unanimously.
That 25% increase over the $7 rate appears to constitute the extra $1.75 Piedmont claims it’s being overcharged.
“The City will investigate the claims about a calculation error in the water bills and make any adjustments deemed necessary,” says Dana Maine, the attorney representing Demorest in the lawsuit. She points out that the college did not have any representatives at the city’s “well-publicized public meetings” about raising the rates in December of 2018. “In fact, the College never complained about the City’s water rates prior to August 2020,” she says.
Additional allegations
Beyond water rates, Piedmont levels a series of other accusations against the defendants in its 38-page lawsuit. It accuses the chief of police of attempted extortion for allegedly trying to force the college into a private security agreement with the city.
“We began having several issues with the Campus Police in 2018 that I felt would cause the college a huge amount of liability. We did speak to them about these issues but absolutely never harassed or threatened anyone,” Demorest Police Chief Robin Krockum said, countering the college’s claim. “We felt that contracting services would remove all liability from the college by having Demorest Officers responding to calls at the college.”
The lawsuit also alleges city officials extorted property and money from the college when Piedmont was building its $10 million Music Conservatory. Piedmont claims it was pressured into giving the city 0.2 acres of property to expand Demorest Springs Park and pay an additional $290,000 for work and maintenance “beyond the scope of prior agreements.” Although the college agreed to those terms, it says city officials used stop work orders to get administrators to comply with the demands.
Maine argues the college is trying to litigate issues of damage Piedmont College caused to public property. She adds those issues “were resolved by written agreement more than a year ago.”
Aiming at Austin and a “vigorous” defense
Many of the accusations contained in the lawsuit are specifically aimed at Mayor Austin. Like the demand letter that preceded it three months ago, the suit seeks to remove Austin as mayor and from his job as a tenured professor at Piedmont College.
Piedmont maintains Austin used his position as mayor to “take punitive actions against the college to avenge…perceived slights.” Those “slights” reference back to Austin’s personal defense of a former colleague who was fired and issues involving a family member who attended Piedmont College.
Austin and others question this lawsuit’s timing since it was filed after Austin submitted an affidavit in federal court claiming Piedmont College President Dr. James Mellichamp sexually harassed and assaulted him. The affidavit was filed as part of an ongoing federal lawsuit over Piedmont’s firing of tenured biology professor Dr. Robert Wainberg.
Mellichamp has refused to comment publicly on pending litigation.
The college has asked for a jury trial and is seeking compensatory damages “jointly and severally” against all the defendants named in the Demorest lawsuit. Also, Piedmont is asking the court to award “triple damages and attorney fees” against the mayor, city attorney, and former council members. Piedmont is also asking the judge to remove Mayor Austin from office and issue a declaratory judgment that he breached his contract with the school, paving the way for his dismissal.
“The City and the individuals who have been sued intend to vigorously defend against the claims in the lawsuit,” says Maine. She adds they anticipate “a speedy dismissal of the entire lawsuit.”
