The Reading Room: A community resource

Welcome to The Clayton Crescent’s Reading Room, a collection of public documents about matters of civic interest in Clayton County and the Southern Crescent. You can look through these files to find in-depth information from government sources and private contractors who work for the government. You also can learn more about open records (specifically as they apply to Clayton County residents) and open meetings.

We also have compiled some helpful links about Clayton County history for you–many of which are available online or through the Clayton County Public Library, Clayton State University Library, Georgia Archives, or National Archive.

How to read the docs

Most of the linked files require a PDF viewer like the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. Once you download your PDF and open it, you can look for specific words. Just hit CTRL-F on Windows or CMD-F on Mac (the “flower key”) and type a word into the searchbox that will pop up at the top of your document. If you can’t get a searchbox, you might be looking at a “locked” PDF that was saved as an image. Let us know and we’ll see if we can unlock it and make it searchable.

An asterisk (*) means the file is incomplete; check back periodically for more documents as we upload them.

We upload these files as time permits but try to do so as quickly as possible. If you don’t see a document linked, please be patient and check back soon.

If you have any questions, suggestions, etc., please e-mail Robin Kemp, executive editor of The Clayton Crescent, at KempWrites@gmail.com.

And if you find this page useful, please consider donating to The Clayton Crescent.

Some of these records are available online for free. Others cost money, time, and sometimes legal battles to make public. Your tax-deductible gift helps to defray the costs of making public information more accessible. We do not have a “separate fund” for Open Records Requests because these are routine expenses. Because we are a small nonprofit operation and not a major television network, Open Records and FOIA expenses make up a significantly larger portion of our budget. Your support enables us not only to bring those documents to light, but also to dig for the stories attached to them.

We hope you find these documents useful in doing your own research. They belong to you.


TOPICFILES
Sunshine Week 2021 Citizens’ Guide to Open Recordstiny.cc/SunshineGuide
Other Open Records and Open Meetings GuidesGovt Transparency Guide (Red Book) | Law Enforcement Transparency Guide (Blue Book) | Schools Transparency Guide (Green Book) | GMA Guide | Handbook for GA Mayors and Councilmembers | City Clerk Handbook | GA Archives Retention Schedules (state gov) (state agcy lookup)
BudgetsForest Park FY22
Legal AdvertisementsClayton News-Daily | Atlanta Journal-Constitution | Georgia Press Association
Fort Gillem FTG-01 contamination/cleanupDraft Final Proposed Plan FTG-01, North Landfill Area
tiny.cc/FTG-01-Files (docs since at least 1980)
tiny.cc/GillemFOIA (FOIAs to EPA 2013-2018)
Police department policy and procedure manualsCCPD | CCSO | CCPS | MARTA | Jonesboro | Forest Park | Lake City | Morrow | Riverdale | Lovejoy
Clayton County Inmate HandbookCCSO Inmate Handbook (2013 Edition)
ElectionsGeorgia Poll Worker Training Manual | OpenElections website (GA 2000-2013) | Campaign Finance Lookup (name) (office type) (contribution) (expenditure) (log) (biz transaction) (campaign reports) (personal fin reports/affidavits) (lobbyist reports) (late/non-filers) (vendor gifts) |
Forest Park Open Records/Open MeetingsOct. 8, 2020 | Oct. 13, 2020 (exhibits) | Oct. 21, 2020 | Oct. 29, 2020 (exhibits) | Nov. 11, 2020 | Nov. 23, 2020 | Jan. 7, 2021 | Mar. 19, 2021
The Clayton Crescent’s Open Records Requests (ongoing-check back for updates)
Procurement/SpendingCCSO Commissary Contract | CCPS Food Suppliers | Forest Park festival vendors | Forest Park ward money expenditures | Clayton County ITBs/RFPs | Clayton County ITBs for Commodities/RFPs | CCPS Bid Summaries/Awards | CCPS Current Solicitations | CCPS Under Evaluation |
Law Enforcement PersonnelCCSO Roderick Walker arrest | CCPD teen airgun stop
CCSO LawsuitsWilliams v. Hill et al. (firing)* | Jones v. Hill et al. (COVID-19 inmates)*
FPPD LawsuitsHobbs v. City of Forest Park (2020)* | Matson v. City of Forest Park (2020) | Fletcher v. City of Forest Park (2021) | Stevens v. Forest Park (appeal 2015)
SalariesCCPS (2010-2019) | Clayton State (2010-2020) | Clayton County | Forest Park (2015)
CAFRs (Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports) State of Georgia | Clayton County (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) |
Development Authority of Clayton County (DACC, Invest Clayton)Agendas and Minutes (Sept. 12, 2017-present)
Georgia CorporationsBusiness Search (GA Sec of State)
Agendas and MinutesClayton BOC | Dekalb BOC | Fulton BOC | Forest Park (Sept. 26, 2019-present) | Jonesboro | Morrow | Lake City | Riverdale | Lovejoy | Dekalb Board of Commissioners | East Point | College Park | Hapeville
African American HistoryAfrican American Resources: Georgia Archives
GenealogyClayton County (LDS) | familysearch.org (free) | ancestry.com and Heritage Quest (free with Clayton County Library card)
Georgia Archives Online RecordsAll | VV: Clayton County | VV: Conley | VV: Jonesboro | VV: Forest Park (Philadelphia Presbyterian 1900) (Old Philadelphia School 1890) | VV: Morrow (Spanish-American War) (Morrow School 1895) (Sears Home – CSU) (Evans Sawmill 1940) | VV: Riverdale | VV: Rex | VV: Ellenwood | VV: Irondale | VV: Bonanza | VV: Lovejoy
HUAC transcripts and miscellaneous publications on KKK activity in Clayton County Clayton Civic Club (Jonesboro) | Clayton County Klavern No. 52 (Forest Park) | U.S. Klans (College Park) | “Civil rights icon Xernona Clayton’s unlikely friendship with a KKK Grand Dragon” | FBI Monograph: Klan Organizations (Sec. 3, 1958-1964) |
Clayton County/Southern Crescent History (not public records, but copyrighted works for sale or checkout from libraries)Historic Clayton County: The Sesquicentennial History | Jonesboro | Forest Park | North Georgia’s Dixie Highway | Georgia’s Confederate Monuments and Cemeteries | Delta Air Lines | Central of GA Railway | Digital Library of Georgia | African-American Life in Dekalb County | Historic College Park | World War II in Atlanta | Supply and Demand: A History of Fort Gillem | Lynn Gwaltney | UGA Brown Media Archive Newsfilm | CCTV23 YouTube Channel | Clayton County Oral Histories (1989-1998) at Emory | GSU Digital Collections | Clayton State Digital Collections | “Poole Creek, Blair Village, and the Meaning of ‘The Projects'” | Flight Path: A Search for Roots Beneath the World’s Busiest Airport
More to come!