Cole resigns from Liberty County Development Authority

UPDATED Feb. 10, 9:40 p.m.: ADDS redacted suspension, resignation documents

The Liberty County Development Authority says it accepted the Jan. 31 resignation of Chief Operating Officer Carmen Cole, retroactive to Jan. 20, after Cole admitted to spending public funds on personal expenses. Cole, who had been with the LCDA for nearly 30 years, told The Current she had mixed up personal and work credit cards from the same bank and has made full repayment. 

Cole’s resignation comes amid tighter financial controls for the authority, which is a public benefit corporation that does business on Liberty County’s behalf and is responsible for economic development by bringing new businesses to the county.

Cole had “assisted with the recruitment of industrial prospects to Liberty County and helped manage the Authority’s properties, including its industrial parks,” according to LCDA attorney L. Kelly Davis.

LCDA Chief Executive Officer Brynn Grant said that, while the circumstances of Cole’s resignation were sad for everyone at LCDA, “she understood how it would appear to us and why we would not find it acceptable.”

Cole told The Current she “realized after the fact that there were some [charges] that, during when we were short-staffed, that were not appropriately coded, and so I was unaware that they were charged to the office card. So when I reported, they did that, and so, yes, I’ve made full restitution.” 

She added, “It was not intentional by any means. It was circumstance. And when I realized that I had made a charge, like I said, I reported it to the authority and made restitution and, but based on the fact that, you know, my position and so forth, it was best for everybody that I resign.”

Davis said the LCDA did not “have any present intention to” file criminal charges against Cole. “It was self-reported, she’s fully cooperated, she’s made full restitution. She’s been a long-time, you know, valued employee, so. And of course, her explanation is one of unintentional use. And of course, when she was presented with the expenditures, she immediately acknowledged” they were hers.

Grant noted that the authority is losing Cole’s “depth of knowledge…that she’s been so integrally involved in developing over 30 years.” However, she added, she does not expect Cole’s departure will damage any working relationships with site location consultants and other economic development partners.

‘An inadvertent mistake on my part’

According to documents provided by the LCDA, Cole had charged $22,275.03 to the authority’s Wells Fargo credit card between June 3, 2022, and June 3, 2024. 

Cole told LCDA Director of Finance, Compliance, and Administration Beth Hancock on Jan. 15 that she might have used the wrong card to pay for a $7,500 Norwegian Sun cruise, which was coded as a marketing expense in QuickBooks. 

That, Grant said, was when the LCDA became aware of Cole’s personal spending on the company card. Cole went out of town for a week. When she returned to work, she was suspended for 2 weeks while the LCDA looked into the matter. She signed her resignation papers Jan. 31.

By Feb. 7, Cole had repaid all the charges she had accrued for vacations, dental bills, and home and car repairs over the past 2 years, plus a $25 wire fee, totaling $22,303.03.

Cole attributed the QuickBooks coding errors to the fact that the LCDA was understaffed and taking on several new partners at once.

“It was an inadvertent mistake on my part, and short staffed during that time and not, you know, being able to pay as much attention as we had been,” she said. “You know, when you’re working with three people and doing five and six projects at a time, we were just, and I was just trying to keep my head above water, yeah.”

With growth comes accountability

As Liberty County rides a tidal wave of development related to the Hyundai Metaplant and related businesses, as well as the county’s prime location between the ports of Savannah and Jacksonville, Grant has reorganized the LCDA’s staffing structure and engaged experts in housing, education, and economics as part of a long-term development strategy.

Grant acknowledged that Cole’s actions reflected poorly on the LCDA, but that those were the actions of one single person, not the entire staff. 

“I hope that that is how [the LCDA’s business partners] will view that,” Grant said. “And I hope that they will view it that the board has been putting in place the necessary things, the board and staff, to understand if there were anything that was inappropriate, that we would have, through these processes, identified that, and that going forward, we will have the systems in place to prevent it from ever happening again.”

Some of those guardrails include requiring at least 2 people to approve expenses, flagging any expense of $5,000 or more for further review, and moving to the Bill.com platform to track, approve, and pay expenses.

“At least two people approve bills in bill.com — our director of finance and me, but often a third person if the expense is one they manage, like marketing,” Grant explained. “In addition, expenses over $5,000 that are not already approved, recurring expenses, require additional approval from executive committee members,  which is the same as two signatures only, so many payments are electronic now.”

According to a statement released Monday by LCDA, Mauldin and Jenkins is auditing LCDA’s accounts “for internal reference and public review.” Grant told The Current the firm is auditing LCDA’s books from 2021 through 2024 and offered to look more closely at the books after learning of Cole’s spending.

The statement also noted that, under Grant, “who started April 1, 2024, the Authority has been engaged in an internal reorganization to ensure its operations are mission-focused, transparent, and accountable to the public. As part of this reorganization, the Authority hired an experienced certified public accountant as its Director of Finance, Compliance, and Administration” and has “segregated critical job functions and implemented other internal controls to detect and prevent any financial errors or irregularities.”

LCDA Chair Al Williams issued this statement: “With these initiatives, new leadership, and staff, the Authority board has been taking the necessary steps to ensure public funds entrusted to the Authority are managed responsibly and appropriately safeguarded. We are now more confident than ever in our ability to pursue the mission of economic development on behalf of our community and State.”

The LCDA is advertising for a vice-president of business development, as opposed to a chief operating officer, which Grant said would be a “more defined” position. 

Since Grant came on board, the LCDA also has hired Hancock, who is a certified public accountant, and Katie Dye, who is director of marketing and communications. The LCDA board also hired a consultant, Boyette Strategic Advisors, to develop a strategic plan, scheduled for release later this month. In December 2024, the LCDA announced it had received a $2 million Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development (GRAD) grant for an access road and other site preparation at Tradeport West, which also has rail access.