Case against Fulton County manager too weak to advance, ethics board finds

Board members at a preliminary hearing found a lack of `substantial evidence’ to support a `reasonable belief’ that Dick Anderson violated the county’s Code of Ethics.

| Post date: July 17, 2026

The Fulton County Board of Ethics declined to advance a complaint against County Manager Dick Anderson, concluding at a preliminary hearing that the complainants had not produced enough evidence to support a reasonable belief that he violated the county’s Code of Ethics. The complaint grew out of a dispute in a gated Fulton County subdivision and alleged that Anderson had used his position to prompt a follow-up police inquiry into a neighbor’s loose dogs. A police commander testified that the follow-up was prompted by deficiencies in the original report rather than by any direction from Anderson, and the police chief testified that Anderson was entitled to use county services as a resident. One board member reasoned that any benefit Anderson received did not amount to an actual conflict because no citation issued and the complainants suffered no concrete harm. A separate ethics complaint against Anderson was postponed.

Firm involvement: Chuck Boring represented County Manager Dick Anderson.

Summarized from reporting by Reed Williams, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 2026. Read the full article