Subject: Service by County Commissioner on Callanwolde Fine Arts Center Board of Directors

Formal Advisory Opinion: 2025-1

Date: July 7, 2025

I. INTRODUCTION

This Advisory Opinion is issued in response to a request Commissioner Michelle Long Spears made as a current member of the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners (“Commissioner”) regarding the ethical implications of serving on the Board of Directors of the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center (“Callanwolde”), a nonprofit organization that receives substantial support from DeKalb County.

II. STATEMENT OF FACTS

• Callanwolde Fine Arts Center is a DeKalb County-owned facility operated by a nonprofit organization providing arts programming to the community.
• DeKalb County provides significant support to Callanwolde, including facilities maintenance, capital funding, and appropriations for programming.
• The Commissioner was appointed to the Callanwolde Board of Directors, succeeding a former Commissioner who previously held the seat.
• The Commissioner recuses herself from all Board of Commissioners (“BOC”) votes or deliberations involving Callanwolde.
• The Commissioner makes an annual personal donation to Callanwolde, not reimbursed by county or campaign funds, and does not solicit donations from others.
• The Commissioner does not participate in fundraising or solicitation activities for Callanwolde.
• The Commissioner discloses her board membership and recusal on the public record for all BOC matters involving Callanwolde.
• The Commissioner likewise does not participate in any deliberations or votes by the Callanwolde Board of Directors relating to DeKalb County matters.

III. RELEVANT LAW

DeKalb County Code of Ethics, Section 22A-4(a):

• “Public officials shall avoid participating in any official action in which they have a financial or personal interest that would impair their objectivity or independence of judgment.”

DeKalb County Code of Ethics, Section 22A-4(b):

• “No official or employee shall engage in any activity or transaction that is prohibited by law now existing or hereafter enacted which is applicable to him or her by virtue of his or her being an official or employee of DeKalb County.

IV. CONCLUSION

Accordingly, the Board of Ethics has concluded that, to avoid actual or perceived conflicts of interest, the Commissioner must recuse herself from all County matters involving Callanwolde, and reciprocally, must not participate in any Callanwolde Board decisions relating to DeKalb County. The Commissioner may continue to serve on the Callanwolde Board of Directors so long as she complies with these recusal requirements.