There is a line from the sonnet, ” The New Colossus,” penned by American poet Emma Lazarus that reads, “Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free.” Truly a wonderful invitation by America for an opportunity for a better life if a person is willing to work for it.
However, it seems that whenever Augusta is looking to fill a vacant position, the help wanted ad must surely read, “Wanted: Your, tired, fired and inept. Above normal pay with more benefits and paid days off than you can carry in a tote sack.”
Opinion
Once upon a time in Augusta, the charade of hiring someone began when the applicants were narrowed down and selected by the paid consultants who were hired to perform the search for Human Resources. The commissioners would receive the resumes of those chosen for the interview process, and this would be when commissioners would perform their own vetting processes of the candidates.
While it could sometimes be chaotic, at least there were rules, and the rules were followed. Sadly, this practice seems to have gone by the wayside.
In fairness, most commissioners have no experience with the vetting process, having not had hiring responsibility in their private lives or business. Someone with the experience and no personal agenda has to wonder how some of these applicants, who are in supervisory positions, made it to the final stage of the hiring process.
Once upon a time, interviews would be scheduled with the commissioners, and the finalists were brought into Augusta from all corners of this country. The interviews were always been open to the public and media until Commissioner Sammie Sias thought they should be closed to the public and media.
Thanks to “Secret Sammie,” the door was closed, and no one was allowed into the room. Protests were made, but the decision was final.
Once upon a time, Human Resources gave the commissioners a list of questions that they were allowed to ask. If you asked a question of one candidate, you had to ask that same question of all candidates. No exceptions.
Of course, questions could not be of a personal nature. Once Commissioner Brandon Garrett asked a candidate the question, “Can you give a time that you failed and explain how you handled the situation and recovered from it.” He was immediately told that the question was improper, and the candidate did not have to answer it if they chose not to.
That was certainly an awkward moment.
Several candidates have been hired in the recent past who really should have never made the interview process, yet they seemed to be perfect for the job to the majority of commissioners.
Salary was almost always an issue, not for the applicant but for the commissioners. When a resume was received, the question of “salary expected” was always filled out, and the problem was most of the commissioners felt the salary asked for was not enough. They added more money to the request.
The reasoning behind this was that to get the best, you had to pay a higher salary.
Not all hires were approved unanimously. One was the (now former) Landfill Director Mark Mehall. According to meeting minutes of the city he was coming from, Mehall was given a choice of resigning or faceing yet another undesired departure.
Mehall was the one who the engineering director thought was the best, so he was hired, but the man didn’t last too long with Augusta.
The landfill director after him didn’t last too long either as neither could seem to gain control over the issues and problems at the site. When asked what was being done to correct the problems, Mehall stated he was allowing the employees to work them out themselves.
A prime example of improper salary procedure was when Compliance Director Treza Edwards was hired. She stated her expected salary; however, when she was chosen as the finalist candidate, she was offered several thousand dollars above her request.
That opened the door.
Edwards negotiated an even higher salary, received it and then delayed her start date. A short time after reporting to work she had a disagreement with her immediate supervisor and Commissioner Sammie Sias. She was placed on administrative leave with pay.
After a few months Edwards was allowed to return to work. She then filed a grievance of unequal pay. It seems she had issues with her pay grade being lower than the city attorney. Another negotiation began, and a settlement was reached, Unsurprisingly, she was off on her way to opportunities elsewhere.
Let us not forget the much sought-after, high-priced City Administrator Odie Donald Sr. who was hired at the bargain price of only $240,000 dollars a year. With added backend benefits and auto allowance he was getting around $310,000, give or take a few hundred.
Donald’s claim to fame was getting a Fire Department chief of his choosing added to the group to be interviewed when his candidate was not chosen as a finalist by the recruiting company that was paid to recommend finalists. That candidate, Chief Antonio Burden, was hired as the new fire chief.
Donald also allocated a vast majority of the COVID-19 rescue funds to pay for employee raises and bonuses, got the city’s budget to a BILLION DOLLARS, claiming certain items were “baked in,” and then left town for another position in another city.
It is going to be interesting to see how the city will maintain this budget. Look out for higher property appraisals on the horizon. By the way, this man, Donald, was approved for hire with a nine “yes” and “one” NO vote. If you guessed the lone NO vote came from the then District 10 commissioner, you would be correct.
As you can see, the hiring practices for director and supervisor positions are dismal at best. Keep this in mind as the city hires a permanent city administrator. This should prove to be interesting as well. The experience qualification has already been lowered to six months. We will get into more detail with this position in the very near future.
Folks, you just can’t make this stuff up.
