Former mayor cleared of ethics charges

By Alison James

alison.james@fct.wpengine.com

It’s been three years since former Russellville mayor Troy Oliver was first the subject of an ethics violation.

It’s been 36 months of letters and documentation.

But with a letter from the state ethics commission stating they are “closing our file in the matter” in April, the battle is finally over.

Oliver has stacks of documents detailing everything he has dealt with since May 2012 when he first came under ethical criticism. One is a thorough document from his attorneys laying out the evidence in a timeline that, Oliver said, proved conclusively that he was not guilty of the things of which he’d been accused – ordering the use of city equipment on his personal property on the taxpayers’ dime.

No one presented any evidence that the Mayor had knowledge of, or consented to, the work performed. Mayor Oliver has maintained his innocence from the outset of the investigation and has never modified his story,” explains the letter to Judge John Carroll.

“I’ve been completely exonerated,” Oliver said. “I want that put out to the public. I don’t have one blemish on my record. I carried a secret security clearance all those 34 years I was a general.”

Oliver said although he can’t erase the reports of being investigated for ethic violation that have been printed, he hopes to get the truth about how his innocence and the lack of evidence to tie him to any violation.

“There was not one witness who testified that I directed any city employee to perform work on my property or that I was even aware that the work was being done,” Oliver said.

With the case formally dismissed with prejudice from the circuit court of Montgomery County, along with a refusal by the Attorney General’s office, to pursue the case, the ordeal is over.