An Augusta group known for enforcing the rules wound up breaking some at an out-of-town conference.
Augusta Code Enforcement employees took a 156-mile detour in a city vehicle and vandalized a hotel room during a Savannah training conference. The head of code enforcement resigned after the allegations came to light.
Personnel documents obtained through an open records request show that Planning Director Carla DeLaney learned of “vandalism of a hotel room” in Savannah and checked the GPS on a codes enforcement vehicle.
The tracking device showed the Augusta vehicle leaving Savannah, where staffers attended the March 7-10 conference of the Georgia Code Enforcement Association. But rather than head north toward home, it looped south to Brunswick for the additional 156 miles.
Employee Joshua DuMars, who was driving, said he made the drive at the request of employee Alyssa Shelton, who told him the trip had been approved by Code Enforcement Manager Terrence Wynder, documents showed.
But another staffer previously showed DuMars that Brunswick was not on the route, and DuMars “failed to follow up and seek express approval” from anyone to make the drive, according to a “letter of warning” placed in his personnel file.
DuMars, who began work with the city in 2019 with Augusta Utilities, is now prohibited from leaving Augusta in a city vehicle without “express consent” of a supervisor, but remains on the job.
DeLaney proposed suspending Wynder for 10 days without pay, for allowing the trip and informing a supervisor that “it was ok” to make the drive.
Wynder was “on vacation at the location” when DuMars transported Shelton there, and took no action against anyone involved upon their return to Augusta, DeLaney’s letter to Wynder states.
Wynder sought a review of the proposed suspension by Interim Administrator Takiyah Douse. Douse said he violated rules against allowing a subordinate to violate a rule, and engaged in “misconduct which undermines supervisory authority, productivity or morale.”
On April 13, Douse upheld the suspension but reduced it to three days. But Wynder already submitted his resignation on April 10, effective April 21. His resignation paperwork states he is eligible for re-hire.
Wynder began his career in Augusta with the Richmond County Marshal’s Office in 2009 before moving to codes enforcement in 2016. He’d managed the code enforcement team for seven years.
Shelton, a former school resource officer who was an animal services officer until last year, had resigned by March 17.
In her resignation, Shelton said the vandalism, which the documents do not describe, was “a joke that should have been cleaned up before checkout,” while she’d made no effort to conceal the planned detour to Brunswick.
“I never thought it would be such as big issue or a direct violation against any policies,” she said.
The staff loss occurs as Augusta continues its fight against absentee landlords and present ones who don’t maintain their decrepit structures properly.
At least one Augusta Commissioner said city employees ought to conduct themselves professionally, wherever they are.
“For both of them to quit, that ought to tell you something,” Commissioner Catherine Smith McKnight said. “We don’t need people working for the city of Augusta that are out doing things like that.”
