A former Metro employee with ties to several civic projects is facing criminal charges after a state comptroller investigation.

Investigators say that while Mark Eatherly was deputy executive director at the Metro Human Relations Commission he misappropriated more than $62,000 and directed some of those funds to organizations that he operated.

The probe also found problems with a high-profile campaign to preserve a historic building downtown. For years, advocates have worried that the Morris Memorial Building — the last trace of a once-thriving Black business district and designed by a prominent Black architect — would be redeveloped.

In 2023, investigators say Eatherly was part of the “Save the Morris” campaign and authorized nearly $200,000 in payments for the preservation effort when

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