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A thens-Clarke County Manager Alan Reddish
says not informing the Commission of
department head pay raises was no more
than an oversight, and the new Mayor and
Commission have expressed their confidence in
Reddish by renewing his two year contract.
The ACC budget for the current fiscal year,
adopted last June, called for substantial depart
mental cuts across the board, with Reddish him
self recommending $200,000 in reductions. In
addition, the adopted budget required cuts in fire
protection and transit service.
But in late November, Reddish mailed letters
to the homes of 13 department heads informing
them that they would
be receiving pay raises.
"As a part of the
FY03 budget develop
ment process," Reddish
wrote, "the Personnel
department conducted
a salary analysis to
evaluate how ACC
salary levels compared
to other jurisdictions."
That analysis
included 13 other
Georgia cities and
counties, including
Macon, Savannah,
Albany, Augusta-
Richmond County, and
Gwinnett County.
"The average salary
for those jurisdictions
was then designated as
the market rate for
Department Directors
positions," the letter
read. Based on how
that market rate com
pared to current salaries for the 13 ACC depart
ment heads, Reddish directed Personnel to issue
raises ranging from $1,536 to $5,000. The raises,
retroactive to last June, totaled $43,772.
Reddish did not inform Commissioners of the
raises; they found out only through word of
mouth. That didn't sit well with Commissioner
States McCarter, for one. In a December 31
memo to McCarter, Reddish explained his rea
sons for authorizing the salary hikes, and said
he did not purposefully keep the Commission
out of the loop.
"I am concerned that if we do not protect the
assets we have in our department directors, ACC
will be susceptible to losing a wealth of talent
that can not be replaced," Reddish wrote. "ACC
has the advantage of an experienced and edu
cated group of directors far exceeding what most
other governments can offer. In addition we
demand a level of service from our directors that
is not the norm in other governments."
"In hindsight, I should have copied the M&C
on these letters," he continued. "I apologize for
not being sensitive to that responsibility."
Asked about the raises in a December 31 inter
view with Flagpole, then-Mayor-Elect Heidi
Davison said determining department head
salaries is part of the manager's job.
"Once the budgets
are set, it's within the
purview of the manager
and the departments to
spend the money as it
has been allocated,"
Davison said. "There is
some discretion
allowed in the budget.
I don't have a problem
with that."
"If any of us [the
Mayor and Commission]
see something going on
that we don't like, or
we disagree with, or
we're not sure how it
happened, then we
need to take that to
Alan," Davison added,
"and it's up to Alan to
be able to justify what
did or didn't happen."
There was no men
tion of the raise flap at
the first meeting of the
new Mayor and
Commission on January 7, when Davison's recom
mendation to renew Reddish's contract received
unanimous Commission approval.
Commissioner John Barrow, who voted against
the FY03 budget last year, says he believes
Reddish had the best of intentions.
"I don't think Alan was trying to pull a fast
one on us," says Barrow. "I think he was doing
what he thought needed to be done at the best
time he thought he could do it. The mistake was
that he didn't let us know, and I don't expect that
will happen again."
Brad Aaron
REDDISH: Much love for his peeps
ik Lucky 13
Below are the ACC department heads who received retrodttive raises last November.
Department
Department Head
FY03 Raise
FY03 Salary
Airport
Tim Beggerly
$5,000
$59,395
Building Inspection
Ken Hix
$1,759
$65,807
Chief Appraiser
George Hanson, Jr.
$1,536
$79,229
Computer Information Systems
Lanny Robinson .
$3,450
$72,576
Corrections
Willie C. Bolton
$4,079
$73,308
Finance
John Culpepper
$5,000
$86,023
Fire & EMS
Wendell Faulkner
$4,148
$79,201
Personnel
James Alford
$2,772
$75,453
Planning
Brad Griffin
$1,540
$70,940
Police
Jack Lumpkin
$2,000
$92,390
Public Utilities
Gary Duck
$5,000
$85,962
Solid Waste
Jim Corley
$2,488
$71,011
Transportation & Public Works
David Clark
$5,000
$79,543
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