Grandma always said, “It all comes out in the wash.”
It does.
And it did last week when The Augusta Press exposed how DeKalb County Deputy Fire Chief Antonio Burden, the second-lowest ranked finalist for the Augusta fire chief’s job, became the top pick.
Of course, it wasn’t just your everyday, run-of-the-mill wash the truth came out in. There was a lot of dirty laundry to sort, and it had to be flushed out by an open records lawsuit and a judge ordering the city to release the names of the top three candidates.
Then the publisher of The Augusta Press wrung out more truth with his Freedom of Information request for emails between the city and GovHR, the recruiting company the city hired to vet and recommend fire chief candidates. And if you wanted to stretch the washing analogy to the breaking point, you might say, “He didn’t throw the truth out with the wash water.”
Publisher Joe Edge and Managing Editor Scott Hudson told you all about it in Fire Chief Candidate Was Previously Weeded Out By Selection Firm.
After going through the resumes of candidates and reading emails between the recruiter and city, it was clear why Donald had tried to hide the resumes of other candidates. It was also clear that Burden wasn’t even on the recruiter’s radar as a candidate until Donald insisted he become a finalist although the recruiter expressed reluctance to do that.
According to emails between Donald, the city’s HR director Anita Rookard and Tim Sashko, GovHR’s vice president, Donald requested that Burden and Adam House from Sacramento, Calif., be added to the recruiter’s list of candidates to be interviewed.
Shasko emailed Burden’s and House’s files and wrote that he had not done any background checks, due diligence or interviews. But that didn’t stop Donald from stating later in an email that “all interested candidates were vetted by Augusta via GovHR.”
Burden and House had no previous contact with the recruiting firm, according to Sashko. Neither of them ranked as Tier 1 or Tier 2 candidates, which is why they were eliminated from the initial
selection of candidates.
GovHR or Donald might not have vetted Burden before he became the finalist, but once his name was released as the sole finalist, the media took on the burden of doing it.
[adrotate banner=”19″]
Burden has been found in contempt of court twice and has been taken to court on two other occasions for not paying his bills.
In May 2020, Burden was suspended from his DeKalb County job for five days after he and his county-issued vehicle were seen at a liquor store, according to his personnel file.
Say What?
In response to questions from The Augusta Press about how Burden was added to the list, Donald came up with the following circumlocution which I interpret to mean that he added him. However, I am not 100% sure.
“While multiple team members narrow down the list, ultimately I authorize the recommended list of initial interviews of all executive candidates, including all who were included in this process.”
With all but two commissioners participating in this farce and defending their burdensome pick in Burden, eight of them need to be hung out to dry.
Editorial: Fire Chief Search Needs To Begin Again From Scratch
Where They Stand
Augusta Commission Mayor Pro Tem Bobby Williams:
“He (Burden) was a great candidate.”
Augusta Commissioner Jordan Johnson:
“He’s (Burden) smart, and I support him.”
Augusta Commissioner John Clarke:
“They can continue this all they want and my vote will still be no, (Burden) is not the person for the job. He was not even considered worth mentioning by the recruitment firm and I will not vote for him.”
Commissioner Catherine McKnight:
“I just got elected so I am new to all of this, but I can tell you the process has left a bad taste in my mouth. All I was given to review were resumes, if you could even call them that, more like
one-page bios. We need to be involved in picking the final candidates. That’s what we were elected to do.”
Jeremy Kendrick, former assistant chief for the fire department at Augusta Regional Airport:
“I’m just perplexed, like everyone else, how a person who is rated officer two could be picked over a bunch of guys who are rated four. It just doesn’t make sense.”
[adrotate banner=”31″]
Daniel Steele, vice president of the Augusta Professional Firefighters Local 3357, speaking to the Augusta Commission last week:
“For such a high-profile job, transparency should be utmost in mind. The hiring process has been secret and it has been devastating to our morale and our trust. How did this guy become the final candidate when he is clearly not what the city needs?”
Time to Reign Odie In
The local media sued the city of Augusta over the secrecy surrounding hiring a new fire chief and won their case. Then city officials used the same secret process before announcing Florida native Brooks Stayer as the finalist for the environmental services director position.
Now, commissioners Clarke and McKnight say it is time to reign in Donald and return the city hiring process back in the hands of the commission.
Clarke says Donald is a city administrator, not a city manager, and those job descriptions are completely different.
“He is supposed to guide the recruitment process, not pick a candidate and expect a rubber stamp vote,” Clarke said.
“This is just getting ridiculous,” said McKnight. “The fact that we are not involved in picking candidates for top level positions is really leaving a bad taste in my mouth.”
Mixed Messengers
People attending in-person Augusta Commission meetings must stay six feet apart. Commissioners sit behind plexiglass and wear masks that no germs could get out of if they had to, much less commissioners’ muffled words.
Still, Donald was publicly congratulating Mayor Hardie Davis about the Georgia City County Managers Association coming to Augusta for their annual spring conference. Or was it Davis congratulating Donald? It was one or the other, which isn’t the point except that both Davis and Donald have pushed locking down and masking up during the pandemic.
[adrotate banner=”23″]
So the fact that congratulations were in order because 170 city manager-types and exhibitors were to be mixing and mingling at the Augusta Marriott and Conference Center last week while Davis and Donald are still acting like the Marble Palace is COVID-19 Central was just another example of the phony baloney government officials put out for public consumption.
And of all things, Donald was supposed to make a presentation titled “Strategic Planning as a Roadmap to Municipal Success,” which included the topic, “The Importance of Civic Input.”
Clarke called that “ironic.”
“Yeah, I don’t know that I want to hear a sermon from him about transparency,” Clarke was quoted as saying in The Augusta Press.
Put That in Writing!
It seems to me that King Hardie and Administrator Odie have taken the same class on how to talk a lot and not say anything. It’s the opposite of succinct. Succinct saves everybody a lot of time and
boredom. And now that Davis has notified the publisher of The Augusta Press through the city law department that he doesn’t want to talk to him about questionable charges and payments from his three taxpayer-funded city accounts and that any further questions to him must be in writing, maybe he’ll be succinct and just check “yes” or “no.”
More from Sylvia Cooper: Opinion: Augusta Mayor is ‘Walking With Destiny’
Anticipating that, I’ve come up with the following list of questions I want to submit to Davis in writing and another list to Odie.
Questions for Hardie:
- Do you think you can pay employees, i.e. Lynthia Owens, through your PayPal account and circumvent federal tax guidelines? Yes___ No___
2. Are some or all of the consultants you’ve paid with taxpayers’ money over the past 16 months working on your future political campaign like the one you paid thousands to from your My Brother’s Keeper account in 2017 to help you get reelected? Yes___ No___
3. Are you afraid to answer questions from The Augusta Press? Yes___ No___
4. Do you believe the citizens have a right to know how you spend their tax dollars? Yes___ No___
5. Do you think the citizens of Augusta should pay for your lunch when you’re in town? Yes___ No___
6. Aren’t you glad when they designed commission chambers in the Marble Palace they made the ceiling high enough for your ego to fit in? Yes___ No___
Questions for Odie:
- If a city employee had spent taxpayers’ money and hadn’t gotten a receipt or invoice, would you pay the bill? Yes___ No___
2. Do you think you’re actually a city manager? Yes___ No___
3. Do you think you’re the smartest person in the room, no matter what room you’re in? Yes___ No___
4. Are you dumb enough to act like you’re the smartest person in the room? Yes___ No___
5. When you establish a process for hiring people, do you have to follow the process? Yes___ No___
6. Aren’t you glad when they designed commission chambers in the Marble Palace they made the ceiling high enough for your ego to fit in? Yes___ No___
Sylvia Cooper is a Columnist with The Augusta Press. Reach her at sylvia.cooper@theaugustapress.com.
[adrotate banner=”45″]
