ATLANTA – Atlanta’s Inspector General warns legislation introduced this week will gut her office and turn the clock back on attempts to weed out corruption, fraud and misconduct at City Hall.

The independent watchdog agency has come under fire by city employees for alleged tactics and procedures. 

Even Mayor Andre Dickens’s office has found itself at odds with the IG.

The legislation is sponsored by longtime Council member Howard Shook and six of his colleagues.

The IG says if it passes, it will rip the teeth out of her office.

“We have had delays. We’ve had obstruction. We’ve had disclosure of our requests,” said Atlanta Inspector General Shannon Manigault. 

She is disappointed in legislation introduced Monday by Shook to limit the authority of the independent office in its effort to hold city employees and officials accountable.

Currently, stakeholder organizations nominate board members to oversee the IG, but Shook’s legislation would change the charter.

“It takes the additional step of creating a mayoral board, so right now the board of the inspector general and the language in the charter says the board is there to ensure the independence of the office. That model, which is a great one, and one that had been lauded by other cities,” Shannon Manigault affirmed.

That could soon go away. The IG believes all Atlantans should be alarmed by this.

Another new aspect, the new board would appoint an inspector general, which could leave Manigault searching for a new job.

“Always what is important is what’s best for the institution. It’s not about Shannon Manigault. It’s about the citizens of Atlanta having trust in this office that’s supposed to build trust in city government,” the IG said.

Manigault says the proposed legislation also does away with the IG getting immediate access to employee documents.

“Rather than have immediate access of records, we need to root out fraud, waste, and corruption in the city. We have to go to employees, and it’s voluntary as to whether those employees are gonna provide city records and city property. That’s unheard of,” the top attorney explained.

The legislation was introduced Monday.

There will be an opportunity to make changes to it next week during the finance committee meeting.

The Chrisley family is facing more legal headwinds. This time, middle son Chase Chrisley is the subject of police concerns.

The “Chrisley Knows Best” star was named as a suspect in a “simple assault” incident at Twin Peaks sport bar in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood on Monday night, according to a police report obtained by USA TODAY and confirmed by the Atlanta Police Department on Wednesday.

USA TODAY reached out to reps for Chrisley for comment.

Police say that the alleged victim claimed Chrisley “became really drunk” inside the restaurant and bar franchise, which boasts locations around the U.S., and “started to act very disrespectful and belligerent.”

Todd Chrisley ordered to pay $755K for defamatory statements while serving prison sentence

After he was allegedly asked by the victim to leave the location “multiple times,” the police report says Chrisley “slapped him in the face twice” after he previously “refused to leave and started acting more belligerent.”

According to the report, the alleged victim was not injured in the incident and “refused medical attention.”

Chrisley was the star of USA Network’s “Chrisley Knows Best,” which aired for 10 seasons, with its most recent episode broadcast in March of 2024. The spinoff, “Growing Up Chrisley,” which followed his life with sister Savannah Chrisley, aired for four seasons between 2019 and 2022.

The Chrisley family, once ratings gold, has faced legal trouble in recent years

After a rapid rise to fame for TV’s Chrisley family with ratings gold, their swift downfall followed.

Chrisley’s parents — family matriarch and patriarch — Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley, who portrayed themselves as real estate tycoons in the South on their USA Network shows, are both serving prison sentences after a jury in June 2022 found them guilty of conspiring to defraud community banks in Atlanta out of more than $36 million in fraudulent loans, defraud the IRS and commit tax evasion.

In September, a federal judge ordered Julie Chrisley to continue to serve her seven-year prison sentence for tax evasion and bank fraud, upholding her own 2022 ruling.

The couple’s children — Chase, Savannah and Grayson, as well as granddaughter Chloe and Todd’s mother, Faye Chrisley — were slated to return to television with a new unscripted docuseries, according to an August 2023 press release obtained by Variety and Deadline.

The show, which has yet to be released, would follow the family as they adjust to life with their parents behind bars.

At this summer’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, youngest daughter Savannah Chrisley received criticism after arguing that her parents’ separate sentences were a case for criminal justice reform throughout the country.

Contributing: Charles Trepany, KiMi Robinson

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – For nearly 40 years, Marion Mims has served customers at Atlanta’s iconic Mary Mac’s Tea Room.

She has waited on a number of celebrities over the years, but none bigger than former President Jimmy Carter.

“When he came in and I waited on him, I almost started crying. I said I get a chance to wait on Jimmy Carter,” Mims said.

It’s a moment in time, Mims will not soon forget considering she waited on him many times. She remembers it like it was yesterday.

Mims said Carter would sit at a round table back in the day when it was in the middle of the Atlanta dining room next to The Carter Center mural on the wall.

“He loved it. He loved the picture,” Mims said.

Carter also loved to order the fried chicken and vegetable plate with a side of Southern hospitality.

“I put my hand on his shoulder, and I said what can I get you to drink baby. I called him baby. I call all my customer’s baby,” Mims said. “He loved that. He just smiled.”

Mims said all the servers wanted to wait on Carter when he came in and not just because he was a gentleman, but because he was a good tipper.

“I think the first time, I got $50, and the bill wasn’t that high, and I think one of the other servers got like $100 from him,” Mims said.

Perhaps the real reason Carter loved to dine at Mary Mac’s was his special recipe for “Carter Custard,” which he gave the restaurant. And in his honor, it’s back on the menu this week only.

“It’s real peanuty, really, really peanuty,” Customer Crystal King said.

And just about as unique as Carter’s custard is on the menu at Mary Mac’s Tea Room are the number of photographs of the former president on the wall. He takes up more room than any other celebrity or dignitary and in one, he left a personal note.

“Thanks for putting the custard on the menu. This will be a great boost to my campaign. Love, Jimmy” the note dated February 1976 reads.

“He was really down to Earth, he was real down to Earth,” Mims said.

The Carter legacy will live on at Mary Mac’s and Mims is just grateful to have been a part of it.

“He’s really going to be missed. He’s really going to be missed,” Mims said.

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