Update to this article has been made via the article published on April 14, 2026, entitled, “Heather Wright, County Clerk of Marion County, Georgia Redeems Transparency from County Manager’s Office.“

On February 17, 2026, I put in a series of open records requests for: (1) the fiscal year audit reports from 2021 to current; (2) the budget reports from 2022 to current; (3) the charter or other document that indicates the government structure or authority of the county; and (4) for the commissioner’s reports from mid 2021 to current. I wanted to see how our government was organized and what our current financial standing is.

On February 18, 2026, I put in a series of four more open records requests for: (1) wages and salary of all officials and employees to include contractors for the county; (2) bids for project work from 2020 – current; (3) a list of all contractors paid for project work from 2020 – 2026; and (4) all grants received by Marion County from 2020-2026. I wanted to see how much we are paying our servants and I wanted to know what work was being performed which would have been shown by what bids were made and what contractors were hired.

On February 19, 2026, I sent one more open records request for a list of all funds and sub funds and their balances for this year, because I want to see what our current financial standing is and if those funds were positive or negative.

I saw that each email had been read within minutes of it being sent; yet it wasn’t until I sent the open records request on the 19th, that I received a response from Gwen Nesbit. I saw on that email that Connie Harris had sent this email to be handled to Heather Wright, who then sent it to Gwen to handle. It is how I discerned that Connie Harris, the county manager, was the individual behind the main county email we are given on the Marion County website via marionga@windstream.net.

That email from Gwen stated, “As of this morning we have received 9 open record request from you. Will you please complete an open records request form for each request? Due to time, staff, quantity and amount of your request we will need at least a 30 days to complete. We will keep you informed if the timeline changes.”

I responded that each individual request required an individual response and that some of the requests I made did not require thirty days, as in the case of the charter, which is one file. I indicated that I did not need to submit my request on their form, as the law stipulated that I could submit my request however I saw fit, which I did with a template that I originally received from the Attorney General and tailored for specifics. I responded to each individual request what time was appropriate for their production and extended reasonable requirements for some of those documents (which would have been thirty days). Yet none of those requests have been fulfilled in the time that I required and only one of them has been fulfilled thus far for the charter document (which is actually an Enabling Act that is severely outdated).

It was then that I started experiencing the lack of transparency with the county manager’s office as a whole. I noticed that when I pushed back on Gwen, that Connie now became involved. By doing so, Connie has painted herself in a horrible light to me.

Through this process Connie has told me things such as the documents weren’t digitized (scanned in as a digital file), that they would have to be located, that there would be a charge for location and production (almost $400.00), that there would now be a new charge for location and production (almost $700.00), that they would be ready for pickup on a USB drive (that I did not approve), that it would take many more days to produce, and that now some of those files don’t exist, that some of those reports have not been started, and many more attempts to lie, gaslight me, and evade production, all while I had everything in black and white to refute her lack of transparency.

I ensured that my commissioner and I stayed in constant contact about this matter and I included him on my emails and he has been very open in our communication. It was right after including my commissioner in this matter and calling for Connie’s termination, that we received word that Connie Harris was stepping down due to health reasons on April 1, 2026. I don’t think that’s coincidental. I have found in my experience that pressure for accountability and transparency has caused many people in my investigations to make the same claims, because stress from being caught or questioned (especially if you’re doing something wrong) can cause health issues or even cowardice or defeat.

It was then, that I started receiving correspondence from Heather Wright. I saw that Heather was very quick to cover for my complaints about Connie, stating, “The County would … like to reiterate that it has acted in good faith and in full compliance with the Georgia Open Records Act throughout this process. Initial acknowledgment of your requests was made within the required statutory timeframe, and subsequent communications provided updated timelines and cost estimates based on the scope of records requested and the staff time required to retrieve, review, and digitize archived materials. Any adjustments to estimated costs or timeframes were made solely to reflect a more accurate assessment of the work involved and were not made for the purpose of delay or obstruction. Marion County remains committed to transparency and stands ready to assist with any future requests in accordance with applicable law.”

I can say that they did respond to my requests, only after applying the heat, but they still refused to respond to each individual request after stating they would do so, and instead chose to continue to treat them collectively, which kept confusion and chaos in the process. I submitted those requests individually for organizational and ease of process purposes, but it seems the county manager’s office preferred chaos and confusion.

Additionally, they knew I had already put them on notice that I have been working with the Attorney General’s office about several Open Records Violations by the County Manager and her staff. As far as Heather’s reasoning for the cost corrections, I maintain that she was attempting to save face and cover for Connie Harris.

My response to her was as follows: “This does not appear as though your office has operated in good faith. It appears hasty, messy, retaliatory, difficult, and greedy. It appears that you don’t know what you have or how long it will take. It appears that you are not even willing to do what I have asked you to do and you are willing to spend county money for a frivolous USB drive I don’t need. I was willing to chalk it up to Connie being the problem, but your willingness to maintain your office has acted in good faith causes me to question your integrity and honesty too.”

And then, after some more back and forth with Heather, about the open records request for the budget reports (which was 5 files that were about 6Mb each and would easily be attached to my email as I originally requested), I saw that she was still choosing to be obstinate, difficult, and rebellious, I finally responded, “Regarding your response, “The requested audit information cannot be sent via email. As you previously stated, you would pick up the USB (at no charge to you) when you had transportation for Monday, April 6, 2026. These items are available for pick up at your convenience,” I offer the following arguments:

1. You don’t follow directions too well.

2. You don’t read too well.

3. You don’t seem to process too well.

4. You don’t understand what a PUBLIC RECORD is.

5. Your word is invaluable.

6. You are difficult.

7. You don’t mind spending the taxpayers’ money frivolously.

8. You are lazy.”

The problem that I was experiencing with Heather is that she didn’t seem too concerned with reading, comprehending, following directions, or following the law. She seemed okay with our taxpayer money purchasing an obscenely large amount of storage space via a USB that I did not approve for a few files that that were about 100Mb of data (files that could be attached to their respective emails, and which Heather has still mostly refused to attach). In addition, she indicated that there would be no charge for the USB drive to me, which they spent 35.00 to purchase, where they could have chosen a smaller storage USB drive and it would have cost about $9.00. I have included a screenshot of that email below.

Through this process, I ended up finding out that we have three years’ worth of documents that have not been scanned into our finance software (which can hold up to 100 years of data), that our financial reports are three years delinquent, that we have one county manager and three clerks (who could do this work and should have done it), that our auditor has not been performing his work on the financial reports (we may have a new auditor coming), that our website is severely out of date (some things haven’t been updated since 2012 or 2019), that we have lost of grant money or ability to apply for and receive grants, and that because those things are not being done, they want to charge me extra for their time to locate and produce documents that should already be digitized, when our money has already been paying them to do this job.

As a sidenote: I have seen public officials charge exorbitant fees for location and production, because they know we cannot pay them and this brings them relief knowing they have avoided exposure. I believe that is what this county manager and her clerks have been attempting to do, which supports my claim of lack of transparency.

I had to get some of these documents from the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts, which I would not have known about unless Connie admitted that she hadn’t submitted our 2023 reports (which I found out was also a lie), and that we were not eligible for grant money because we were delinquent. I have also chosen to close out most of my other requests for the time, because I obviously don’t have $700.00 for documents that I was originally told there was no cost associated with, and it is apparent that this office has no intent on being transparent with the citizens about their financial decisions. I will figure out how to get them later as my focus has changed for the moment as well.

Thus, I have had no transparency, cooperation, resolution, or respect from the county manager, Connie Harris or her two clerks, Heather Wright and Gwen Nesbit. I cannot say anything about Tabitha Goggins, because she hasn’t been involved in any of these dealings?

So, here are the questions that we should all be asking:

(1) Why do we need three clerks to serve under the county manager?

(2) If they are doing things right with our finances, then why all the shell games about production of those documents which are ours by right?

(3) Why are they getting paid to keep us delinquent, keep our website out of date, keep us from receiving grant money, keep our documents unscanned, refuse to answer open records requests, etc.?

(4) What ARE they getting paid to do? Every time I have been up there, they are sitting down at their desks, they may get up to take a payment or so, they may take some at desk calls for payments, and may be do some light work, but what are they ACTUALLY doing for our citizens to ensure we have what we need?

Our county is in a bad way and we need the money to fix some of those things. I, for one, believe that our county manager has been misusing, misappropriating, abusing, and may be participating in fraud and I have evidence that she may be committing crimes against the citizens.

That being said, we severely need to re-evaluate the county manager and her two clerks (who seem to be okay with participating in the same behavior as Connie Harris). They don’t have a problem with frivolously spending our money, and I question if they’re keeping an accurate ledger of our money.

I would like to encourage each of you to contact your commissioner and stand in agreement with me that Connie needs to go NOW. She doesn’t need to draw anymore paychecks, receive anymore benefits, or any other type of pay for another three months and I have another story that will further substantiate the need for her immediate termination coming soon.

What are your thoughts?

If you have a story, have supporting documentation, or have questions, please contact me at 2293292179 or email me at plumblyneproductions@gmail.com.