BOC to meet Tues. at 2 p.m. to discuss Yearwood

In his Jan. 13 statement, Yearwood denied any hidden racial or gender motivations for determining which employees would be laid off or demoted as part of the county’s June 2009 reduction in force. His statement also said it was Human Resources Director Norma Jean Brown who had put together the RIF plan. And he said it was another employee, a demoted African American IT director at the center of the ongoing discrimination allegations, who was to blame for the recent delay of employees’ final 2009 paychecks.

THE BOARD REACTS

Yearwood did inform the commissioners during a closed-door meeting Jan. 12 that he planned to release a media statement defending the BOC the following morning. However, he did not disclose the details of the statement or provide copies to the commissioners until after it had gone out to the media.

The reaction of at least some of the commissioners to what Yearwood wrote must have been negative, because the following day, on Jan. 14, Yearwood released a second, one-sentence statement that stated: “The Press release sent to you on January 13, 2010 was my own statement with no involvement by any other member of the Board of Commissioners.”

Four commissioners then called for a special meeting to discuss the matter and early Friday asked County Clerk Michelle Sims to notify the press.

However, it was only after some intense political tussling throughout the day that Yearwood finally directed Sims to notify the media.

Seconds after the 3:10 p.m. notice arrived, Commissioner Steve Worley called the Barrow Journal and said: “I am calling to inform you that me and three other commissioners have been trying to get a called meeting scheduled for this Tuesday and were having difficulty with the way the chairman was handling (the request). I am just verifying you received notice of it.”

Worley said Commissioner Ben Hendrix, whom Yearwood also criticized in his Jan. 13 media statement, was contacting other media outlets to make sure they had received the meeting notice. The other commissioners demanding the Tuesday meeting were Isaiah Berry and Billy Parks.

LEE'S REBUTTAL

Keith Lee, who abruptly resigned a month after Yearwood took office, distributed his Jan. 15 statement by e-mail just before noon.

This is the first time Lee has stepped back into the public eye in nearly a year, other than to appear as a witness last summer in the Barrow County Personnel Review Board hearing of former CFO Beth Horacek.

His strongly worded statement chastises Yearwood’s professional conduct, calls into question his handling of the county’s finances, and raises doubts about his veracity.

“As an Elected Official it is Mr. Yearwood’s responsibility to conduct himself in a manner which does not adversely affect the administration of his office and rights and interests of the public,” Lee wrote.

Lee refuted Yearwood’s claim that there had been no underlying racial or gender motivations connected to the county’s 2009 reduction in force. Lee wrote:

• “In January 2009, the County had nine Directors who were female and today there are only three Directors who are female.

• “In January of 2009, the County had three Directors who were African-American and today only one Director is African-American.

• “The Reduction in Forces combined several departments involving six separate Directors. Four of the Directors were male and three received a change in pay grade and a raise; however, the two females received no pay grade change or raise.

• “The Reduction in Force resolutions abolished multiple vacant Director Positions; however, three abolished Director Positions were still occupied. As a result the individuals occupying these positions were effectively demoted. Two of the occupants, of these positions, were female, one of which was African-American and the sole male was an African-American.”

Lee also questioned Yearwood’s assertion that it was the human resources director who was responsible for the reduction-in-force plan that led to about 29 voluntary and involuntary layoffs and several demotions, along with a rollback of many raises awarded since 2005.

Lee said the board’s resolutions of June 9 and June 23, 2009 authorized only Yearwood to develop and implement the plan.

“The responsibility for the Reduction in Force was that of the Chairman, Mr. Yearwood…,” Lee wrote, noting that “both resolutions carry the signature of Mr. Yearwood as Chairman.”

Lee’s letter also addresses two other issues in Yearwood’s letter: the postponement until early 2010 of county employees’ final paychecks for 2009, and the status of the county’s finances.

Lee said there was a similar issue in 2008 with a “payroll creep” that occurs every 11 years and causes there to be an extra pay period in a calendar year.

He noted that while Yearwood is blaming the demoted African-American IT director for not fixing the problem, it was Yearwood who raised the issue at a February 2009 board meeting and had “a complete year to correct the issue of payroll creep related to ‘salaried’ employees…”

Lee said Yearwood “is now blaming someone else for allowing the payroll creep to continue to persist.”

Lee’s statement also questions Yearwood’s handling of the county’s finances during fiscal year 2009 – a topic that is certain to raise the hackles of the chairman who has made managing the county’s finances his No. 1 priority.

The former operations chief claims Yearwood and the BOC did not cut expenses by enough in their first actions in January 2009.

“In order to close the gap between revenues and expenses Mr. Yearwood voted to approve a resolution which accounted for only 1.6 million, while a proposal was presented to the Board of Commissioners to reduce expenses by 2.35 million dollars…,” Lee wrote.

“Mr. Yearwood’s actions left a 1.1 million dollar shortfall in addition to the $944,379 from reserves. When combined, the sum seems awfully close to the $2.1 million he took from reserves, as indicated in his letter.”

Lee continued: “Subsequent to this action many Directors and a number of employees severed employment with the County, which should have resulted in additional savings. However, as Mr. Yearwood indicates, he used a total of 2.1 million dollars of reserves. Apparently, the resignations and Reduction in Forces had little-to-no impact to the County for Fiscal Year 2009 unless Mr. Yearwood’s expenditures exceeded the January 2009 projections given in January of 2009.”

Lee also referenced the chairman’s assertion in his Jan. 13 statement that he doesn’t know if the county is over the fiscal crisis but that he is meeting nearly every day with the finance department’s staff to keep on top of the situation.

“So the question is does Mr. Yearwood know where we’re at or not?” Lee asked.

Finally, Lee states that while Yearwood wrote at the end of his statement that he was presenting “the true facts,” there have been times when the chairman has made comments that were questionable. Lee listed specifically:

• Yearwood’s statement to the Barrow Journal in 2008 that he would lay off employees if needed and his subsequent campaign letter to county employees that there “is no way I would try and eliminate your job and source of security for your families.”

• And his statement under oath at Horacek’s hearing that a Barrow Journal reporter had misquoted him, only to apologize to the reporter after the hearing, saying he had not explained things correctly during the original interview.

Contacted by the Barrow Journal on Friday afternoon, Lee said in an email that he had come forward because he feels the “information I provided is of public interest.”

He said that over the past 11 months, he has worked as an independent contractor primarily in software development.

“More importantly I have refocused attention to caring for and loving the family that has provided me with their unconditional support,” he said.

The Barrow Journal was unable to reach the county chairman for his comment on Lee's statement. County attorney Angela Davis responded that she had not seen a copy.