The county government’s budget crisis became very personal over the past several days for 112 Barrow County employees who learned that their salaries are being cut anywhere from $94 to more than $10,000.
The affected employees work in 20 departments. The most severely impacted departments are Emergency Services (42 salaries cut), Community & County Development (11), and Roads & Fleet (10).
It is the third pay cut the employees have received since January after the Barrow County Board of Commissioners began tackling a multi-million-dollar FY2009 budget shortfall.
Some employees have expressed anger and confusion about the cuts and BOC Chairman Danny Yearwood has taken much of the brunt of their anger as he has gone from department to department to deliver information on the cuts.
For the full story and a full list of how county positions were affected see the July 8 issue of the Barrow Journal.
How come no one can really talk to Yearwood without an anger match, IF you can stop in to talk to the "open door" policy man
Quite frankly, I hope she does pursue it with the superior Court.
I'm sure there are other ways to cut cost rather than take from the county employees. This slice off a finger, than the hand, then the arm approach is so wrong.
Once again Danny Boy is showing his lack of management skills. Any cuts should have been done in one clean swoop.
Recall is a procedure that allows citizens to remove and replace a public official before the end of a term of office. Historically, recall has been used most frequently at the local level. By some estimates, three-fourths of recall elections are at the City / County council or school board level.
Officials can be recalled for an act of malfeasance or misconduct while in office; violation of oath of office; failure to perform duties prescribed by law; willfully misused, converted, or misappropriated, without authority, public property or public funds entrusted to or associated with the elective office to which the official has been elected or appointed. Discretionary performance of a lawful act or a prescribed duty shall not constitute a ground for recall of an elected public official. (Ga. Code §21-4-3(7) and 21-4-4(c))
The recall process is similar to that for initiatives in that citizen petitions are required. The number of valid signatures required for a recall election in the state of Georgia is 15 percent of the number of persons that voted in the last preceding election for the office of incumbent being recalled. (since there WASN'T a LARGE turnout - won't be that hard to get 15%)
Petition Circulation Time is 90 days. You basically have 90 days after filing to collect enough signatures.
Draft it, file it, a stroll through a neighborhood or two, pass it around at church and there you go. Before you know it, you'll have more than the required signatures.
Tick Tock Danny Boy ...... Your six months in office expired on June 30th. Means you are eligible for recall. The fact that you lied
on the stand during the CFO's personnel review hearing can be considered malfeasance or misconduct.
"duck for quick cover" and "untruthful" while on the stand = felony (or two) = "misconduct while in office"??
False Statements (16-10-20) - a person who knowingly and willfully makes a false statement in any matter within the jurisdiction of the government of any county commits a felony;
False Swearing (16-10-71) - a person to whom a lawful oath has been administered commits the offense of false swearing when, in any matter or thing other than a judicial proceeding, he knowingly and willfully makes a false statement, commits a felony
Getting qualified folks to do the job.... not likely for years to come.
Barrow's reputation....High School graduation rate is pitiful and many who do won't have the skills necessary to be competant at the university level. One of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the state. Let a couple of clowns scare them into thinking a major airport is coming to Barrow. UhHum! We got a reputation alright!
I feel for the employee's. They are going to pay for the mis-management of the past couple of Chairman and the corruption of county politics in general. Unfortunately, Mr. Yearwood inherited a mess in progress and economic conditions in general have made thing worse. And it won't get better in Barrow for quite awhile because the citizens haven;t stood up and demanded accountability and foresightedness from their elected representatives. We got what we paid for.