Clara Roberts, Cecil Brown, and Charles Culver “Appellants” appeal the order of the Superior Court of Fulton County denying their petition for judicial review under the Georgia Administrative Procedure Act. For the reasons that follow, we reverse in part and dismiss the appeal in part. Appellants were elected members of the Warren County Board of Education “WCBE”. Local resident Cosby, along with other residents, filed a complaint with the Governor against Roberts, Brown, and Culver, alleging that they had violated OCGA § 45-10-3.1 The Governor appointed the Office of State Administrative Hearings to hear the matter, and an Administrative Law Judge found that certain acts of the Appellants constituted ethical violations under OCGA § 45-10-3, and recommended to the Governor that Appellants be removed from office. Proceeding under the authority of OCGA § 45-10-4,2 then-Governor Perdue3 found that: Roberts violated OCGA § 45-10-3 1 and 8: Brown violated OCGA § 45-10-3 8; and Culver violated OCGA § 45-10-3 8. On August 6, 2010, the Governor ordered that Roberts, Brown, and Culver be removed from office. As set forth in OCGA § 45-10-4 and the Georgia Administrative Procedure Act, see OCGA § 50-13-1 et seq., appellants appealed the Governor’s order to the Superior Court of Fulton County, and the court allowed Cosby and the other original complainants to intervene as third-party defendants collectively with the Governor, “Appellees”. After the superior court denied the Appellants all requested relief, they filed for discretionary review in this Court, see OCGA § 5-6-35 a 1, which was granted.
1. In granting the application for discretionary appeal, this Court directed the parties to address whether the appeal is moot. The parties agree that the term to which appellant Roberts had originally been elected expired on December 31, 2010. The relief requested from the superior court was that the Governor’s order removing the Appellants from office be reversed, and that the order be stayed pending final adjudication of their petition, with the effective result that the appellants would not suffer removal from office, or, inasmuch as the trial court denied the request for a stay of the Governor’s order, reinstatement. That remedy will no longer benefit Roberts, and accordingly, as to her, the appeal is moot and must be dismissed. See Allen v. Yost , 282 Ga. 865 655 SE2d 580 2008; Collins v. Lombard Corp. , 270 Ga. 120, 121-122 1 508 SE2d 653 1998; Chastain v. Baker , 255 Ga. 432, 433 339 SE2d 241 1986. But, the terms of Brown and Culver have not expired, reversal would benefit them, and the appeal is not, in toto, moot.
