DeKalb Superior Court Judge Robert J. Castellani ruled June 10 that DeKalb County acted properly in firing him for insubordination and improper use of county vehicles. Even if it hadn’t, Castellani ruled that Bolton took too long to respond to the county’s motion to dismiss his appeal.
Bolton, who was hired in December 2006, was fired from his $162,000-a-year position on Feb. 28, 2009.
Bill McKenney withdrew as Bolton’s attorney on April 13, a week before the response was due. Court records show that his new lawyer did not enter the case until three weeks later.
CEO Burrell Ellis said in a statement that “the county is pleased with the decision.”
Castellani wrote that Hearing Officer Phyllis R. Williams had plenty of evidence last summer when she heard Bolton’s case and supported the county’s decision to fire him.
Bolton also lost his bid to get unemployment in April; the Georgia Department of Labor’s Board of Review upheld a previous decision to deny him unemployment benefits.
Bolton was fired for misusing county property and misusing comp time. While he was police chief, he assigned himself seven vehicles — including two luxury cars seized from drug dealers — for his own use and ordered a subordinate not to record the vehicles in his cost center. In 2007 and 2008, Bolton took 80 days of comp time, including 56 unauthorized days after the CEO’s office told him it would stop approving the time off.
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