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Sen. Wilkinson: Report Released After Ga. Agriculture Officials Resign

April 10th, 2013

According to the head of the state Senate Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee, a report about an investigation into the resignation of two top officials who recently stepped down from the Georgia Department of Agriculture has been released.

Chief Operating Officer Billy Skaggs and Food Safety Division Director Oscar Garrison both resigned from the state’s department of Agriculture on March 30.

State Senator John Wilkinson heard about the report while attending a meeting with Georgia Agricultural commissioner Gary Black in Perry Georgia.

He says Black didn’t reveal the details of the report but told those attending the meeting, “He said his department had done an investigation, they had completed their report, and it would be available to the public, so he didn’t answer a lot of specific questions.”

Wilkinson says without seeing the report, it’s too early to determine if there is cause for great concern.

“I just think it all depends in what’s in that report and how it’s handled from here on out. I’m not trying to being evasive at all, but I just know what happened.

WABE contacted the department about the resignations and has filed an open records request for the report and is still awaiting a response.

Last week, Department Spokeswoman Mary Kathryn Yearta told the Gainsville Times the resignation involved a personnel investigation.

The Times also reports Yearta says it was an “internal matter” that she couldn’t discuss.

Skaggs was appointed as Chief Operating Officer in 2011 by Agricultural Commissioner Gary Black. Garrison joined the agency in 1994 and was appointed to oversee the food safety division in 2007.