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MEDIA CONTACT:
Joslyn Jackson, Esq
The Joslyn Jackson Law Firm, LLC
678.203.5295
[email protected]
11.29.23
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GBI INVESTIGATION REPORT CLEARS JONESBORO MAYOR DONYA SARTOR
Allegations Made By Two Jonesboro Police Staff Members Found "Insufficient", "No Evidence"
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JONESBORO, Georgia --
Upon receipt and review of the recommendations of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation after having conducted "a thorough and exhaustive review" of the criminal allegations against the Mayor of Jonesboro, Donya Sartor, District Attorney Tasha M. Mosley communicated in a Nov. 27th letter that the alleged criminal matter will not be presented to the Grand Jury.
Brian Busch, Chief Investigator at Clayton County District Attorney's Office states in the letter that, relating to the first complaint allegation, "there is insufficient evidence that she [Mayor Sartor] acted in a criminal manner." Investigator Busch goes on to add that there is no evidence to support the second complaint allegation.
With the request for the GBI investigation submitted on September 6th, 2023, Mayor Sartor -- having won re-election on Nov. 7, 2023 -- is asking city employees and the citizens of Jonesboro to put the incident behind them, and re-focus efforts on working together on the city's priorities.
"I welcome the outcome of the GBI investigation and the official communication from the District Attorney of Clayton County, and want Jonesboro citizens and those in metro Atlanta to understand the due process given to the allegations brought forward by Lt. Newsom and Mr. Carter.
"As elected officials, our actions and our deeds are public record, and we will continue to provide transparency and accountability to our citizens.
"I want to thank the citizens of Jonesboro for their commitment to leadership with integrity. As we move into this holiday season, I pray that we all bring our commitment to Jonesboro forward, especially for our children, our families, and our seniors, to ensure a bright future for all."
For more information, contact:
Joslyn Jackson, Esq. of the Joslyn Jackson Firm at [email protected], or 678.203.5295.
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Related coverage
10.30.23
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MAYOR DONYA SARTOR:
Standing For "The Common Good" In Jonesboro, Georgia
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JONESBORO, Georgia –
Entering into the final week before the Nov. 7th elections, citizens of municipalities across Georgia are deciding who is going to be their next mayor, and in some cases, who will sit on their city council and board of education. To be mayor of one of Georgia’s historic small towns or cities today requires the ability to deliver a clear vision and sustain that vision while a looming future is already swiftly accelerating towards them – a new and powerful dynamic that is definitely “beyond the usual”.
With Jonesboro’s additional layer of complexity as the county seat for Clayton County, where the world’s busiest airport Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is anchored – being mayor of Jonesboro in the 21st century takes something even greater than “beyond the usual”.
As Jonesboro’s 16th Mayor, Donya Sartor can attest to that.
Yet, it is the challenge and the demand of what’s at stake that calls her leadership into action, she says.
“We are at a critical cultural and economic juncture in Georgia,” shares Sartor, a former Clayton County Chamber of Commerce Ambassador.
“Our unique culture as Georgians is being valued as possibly one of our greatest economic development strengths. At the same time, like many other towns in Georgia, we in Jonesboro must increase our public input, to ensure our community can retain its small town charm. That public input is what will have us be competitive in Georgia’s emerging cultural villages economy, to draw down tourism, transportation, entertainment, and hospitality dollars.
“It’s our ‘Common Good’ in Jonesboro. It’s tied to our culture, and it’s precious, it’s uniquely ours. If we are going to be able to maintain/retain Jonesboro’s ‘Common Good’, it’s going to take a robust public input process – to have community-grown, small business economic development take place, starting right now, such that it becomes our economic bedrock foundation into the next decade.
“It’s going to take something greater, beyond the usual.”
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Approximately one year ago, while attending the Georgia Governor’s Tourism Conference on Jekyll Island, Governor Brian Kemp announced that 2022 had been a record-breaking year for Georgia’s tourism industry. Total economic impact for Georgia travel and tourism reached $73 billion in 2022 - a 13 percent year-over-year increase. Georgia maintained its No. 5 market share ranking for domestic overnight visitation among all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The tourism industry also generated a record $4.7 billion in state and local tax revenue, a 10.1 percent increase over the previous record year of 2021. The Governor gave thanks, in part, to “[Georgia’s] our great small towns with welcoming families.”
Bottom line: For Georgia’s scenic, largely rural historic towns, once economically supported by the railroads and agricultural produce, tourism is an economic lifeline, for both them and for Georgia. The question becomes, having come from a long-lasting agricultural age, then being slam-dunked into a 21st century communications age, how do towns like Jonesboro navigate that mammoth economic change?
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The starting place for every municipality and county in Georgia lies within its long-range (20 years out) comprehensive development plans. And the plans are built around public input at every level and phase of the local development. There are even specialized technical support programs such as Georgia Mainstreet (whose motto is “Growing Business, Preserving History”), and special tax incentives, such as the Rural Zone designation program. All require a pre-requisite amount of public input.
As Mayor Sartor urges: “It’s going to take something greater, beyond the usual.”
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Building Capacity, Creating A Bedrock Foundation | |
Although the challenges are real, and much is at stake, data shows there is an emergence of a cultural village eco-system taking hold in small towns and cities across Georgia. The Georgia Municipal Association is encouraging its members through a broad information and awareness approach, to take advantage of capacity-building opportunities, and to explore new communication/working together approaches. One of those initiatives – the Equity and Inclusion Council – supports municipalities “with tools and resources to create a foundation for sustainable and equitable economic prosperity for their cities and residents,” with a mission that includes advocating for community engagement.
Recently named to the GMA’s Equity and Inclusion Council, Mayor Sartor is clear that public input will require capacity-building of Jonesboro’s citizens, to take advantage of the economic potential Jonesboro possesses. Having started that work upon taking office, Mayor Sartor has understood from the beginning that her leadership in this critical area would take resilience on her part.
Although unable to share any details, due to legal proceedings underway, when asked how she views recent events reported in the news, the Mayor gave this response:
“It is just another attempt to dismantle public input for the Common Good in Jonesboro.”
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the common good
- the benefit or interests of all.
- "it is time our elected officials stood up for the common good"
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Pathway To The Common Good | |
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Sartor has been on a path to take a stand for expanded public input in Jonesboro, a place she has called home for 20 years. She first ran for Jonesboro City Council in 2007. After the race, she turned her energies toward different appointments and committee assignments to broaden her knowledge and experience of city government. During that time period, then-Mayor Joy Day appointed her to the Jonesboro Historic Commission, a key organization in the strategic planning process for Jonesboro's Main Street redevelopment.
Running again for City Council in 2019, Sartor was elected as the second African American Councilwoman to serve on Council. She undertook training through Leadership Clayton in 2021, became a board member of Arts Clayton, and began expanding her involvement in strategic planning and public input, in part through planning processes like Georgia Mainstreet, Blueprint Jonesboro, Clayton County Tourism Authority, and other comprehensive development planning. It is something she has pointed to as “citizen participation” and “engagement”.
“Education has always been important to Jonesboro,” emphasizes Sartor, a national education achievement specialist. “An aspect of citizen participation is learning there is more to participation than voting and that is what public input makes available – participation in the process that impacts our ability to maintain our Common Good – the part that gives Jonesboro its greatness. Voting is very important – but so is having input in the process.”
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Having obtained her PhD in Education from Georgia State University, grounded in the education profession for over 25 years, Mayor Sartor is known for her commitment to community and public service. She sees the pathway to Jonesboro’s community-oriented economic development through public input as merely a continuation of that long-standing commitment.
When asked what she’d liked to say to the citizens of Jonesboro and across Clayton County in this November 7th election season, she reflected briefly, and responded with the following:
“Coretta Scott King once said, ‘The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.’ In the days that lie ahead, it may take much compassion by many to move forward toward the future of our ‘Common Good’ that wants to be fulfilled here in Jonesboro. I just want the citizens of Jonesboro to know I remain steadfast in my stand for them – and for ‘The Common Good’.”
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Dr. Donya Sartor was elected Jonesboro’s first Black mayor this past Spring 2023, winning a special election to fill the term of previous Mayor Joy Day, who resigned in November of 2022 after serving 23 years. Day’s resignation was made public a few months before the opening of the new Jonesboro City Center.
According to Georgia Demographics, in 2021, 39.5% of Jonesboro’s families lived in poverty, compared to the national average of 12.6%. According to Data USA, in 2021, 61 % of the population in Jonesboro was African American. The largest Jonesboro demographic living below the poverty line was African American women.
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