Money for nothing? Atlanta’s $910K clerk contract still a mystery

Apply at Atlanta City Hall.

That’s the arrangement that former City Clerk Foris Webb received, a contract that paid him for 26 months — at $35,000 per — and provided him a $910,000 windfall.

Webb’s deal was cut out of desperation.

Back in the summer of 2023, opponents of the controversial Public Safety Training Center wanted to have a referendum to try and stop construction of the project, which was already well underway. The opponents, a motivated, vociferous and sometimes destructive crowd, said they had gathered 116,000 signatures to demand such a referendum.

City officials pushed back and hired Webb, who was recently retired at the time. Webb was to oversee the vetting of the signatures and manage the process. He would, according to the contract, “shepherd” the time-sensitive operation on behalf of the city and advise officials at City Hall.

Credit: Atlanta City Council Communications

Credit: Atlanta City Council Communications

However, that process was halted by the courts that fall. So, it turned out, the city’s shepherd didn’t have any sheep to look after.

But that didn’t matter. Webb continued receiving his $35,000 checks month after month, even though there was little going on.

The deal, uncovered by AJC city hall reporter Riley Bunch this month, has been a nagging mystery that has confounded the mayor’s office and City Council members.

Bunch, as reporters will do, will sometimes file open records requests to get info from the city. In January, she asked how much has been spent defending the training center, which is now up and running.

She found Atlanta has spent more than $2.8 million, “with about one-third of that money going to a consultant to help with a signature verification process that never even began.”

That consultant was Webb.

In fact, the retired clerk made even more than Robbie Ashe, the city’s go-to legal eagle who has made about $840,000 so far in the effort. But at least he was filing briefs and making the city’s case before judges.

It’s not certain what Webb was doing for the taxpayer money. In fact, his contract calls for him to earn $1,166 per day if not working a full month. That means he has missed just a handful of days over that 26 months — even working weekends and holidays like Christmas — doing whatever he did.

I’ve called, texted and emailed Webb, who has maintained a low profile since this news splashed across the internet.

Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS

City officials I’ve spoken to say the 33-year employee was well-respected.

As an employee, he was also well paid — his last salary I can find was $173,000 in 2022. And he no doubt receives a healthy pension.

The $910,000 question is: What did he actually do during all those months for that remuneration?

Councilwoman Liliana Bakhtiari seemed most interested in this subject at a recent council meeting.

“If this individual was billing us every month ... we have a major problem,” she said, adding: “Who signed off on this?

“Quite frankly, we have no understanding how this was done. And it’s also very confusing, given that we are constantly talking about the budget and how strapped we are.”

You could fill lots of potholes with $910,000.

Later, Bakhtiari told me that incidents like this damage public trust in government — that they “have a far bigger impact.”

Webb’s contract was inked in August 2023 by Nina Hickson, who was two city attorneys ago. Interestingly, the last invoice submitted on Webb’s behalf was in October and he was paid in November, just weeks before the new city attorney, Marquetta Bryan, came in.

Bryan told the council she knew nothing of Webb’s arrangement until the AJC asked about it. She added she has put measures in place so this sort of thing does not happen again.

Mayor Andre Dickens’ office sent a letter on Tuesday to council members essentially saying: “It wasn’t us!”

That is a bit puzzling because the mayor was largely the field marshal in charge of the referendum fight. But I’ll give him this, there are lots of nooks and crannies in the city’s $3 billion annual budget, and $910,000 sometimes has a way of getting lost.

In his letter, the mayor noted the city was in a tough spot in 2023 with the threat of a referendum. At the time, the city had an interim clerk, so they brought back the recently retired one to help with a complex job.

Dickens noted Webb’s hiring was “publicly disclosed,” and it was.

The mayor added he did not authorize Webb to perform any work other than that related to the referendum, including “any work he may have performed for the office of the clerk.”

Officials believe Webb might have helped the new clerk on some non-referendum issues, which then allowed him to keep billing the city.

Dickens noted the mayor’s office does not manage the clerk’s operations and said he became aware of this boondoggle only after the AJC’s record request.

I may note the AJC has at least twice before detailed Webb’s arrangement.

In fact, in September 2024, the AJC documented that even though the referendum was tied up in the court, Webb had received 11 checks, totaling $385,000 in payments. So, it was out there hanging in the open.

I might just note that it would be a good thing for City Hall to read the AJC.

Just call me. I can hook you up with a subscription.