County internal auditor 'insulted' by BOC

And though she is known inside the Barrow County government for her unflappable demeanor, on Monday she struck back in a written statement to the Barrow Journal, saying the commissioners had publicly insulted her by their actions at the Jan. 26 meeting and that local attorney, and former county commissioner, Bill Healan, in his public statement to the board prior to the votes, had insulted all county employees who are helping the county get through its fiscal crisis by taking on more job duties.

Of the five commissioners — whose votes to retain the requirement for a master’s degree effectively excluded Golightly from applying for the permanent CFO post — she wrote: “To require a MBA when they knew it would exclude me from the opportunity of applying for the position was, in my opinion, an insult. I was not contacted by any commissioner regarding his/her intent and was caught totally off guard in an open meeting at which I had been requested to give a presentation. After being told repeatedly for six months that I was doing a good job, I thought that I would at least have the opportunity to compete for the position. Mrs. Elder and Chairman Yearwood are the only members of the Board whose actions supported their rhetoric.”

Of Healan, she stated: “He is, of course, entitled to his opinion, but I don’t believe that one’s intelligence can be equated to degrees or certifications. I believe his comments are an insult to all of those County employees who have stepped up to the challenges resulting from adverse financial circumstances. Much should be said of their efforts over and above requirements found in job descriptions.”

HIRING PROCESS ASKEW
Having temporarily filled the vacant CFO position since the departure of Beth Horacek last July, Golightly was one of three finalists in the board’s initial search last fall for a permanent director.

Her educational credentials were not as strong as those of the other two finalists, but she brought to the table more than two decades of accounting experience, a strong working knowledge of the county’s finances, and a proven ability to work well with Chairman Danny Yearwood.

However, any possible plan by the chairman to move Golightly into the post was interrupted by the revelation that her bachelor’s degree in finance did not meet the job’s minimum qualifications. She also wasn’t licensed as a certified public accountant, another requirement until the vote last week.

Yearwood, complaining that Human Resources Director Norma Jean Brown had not properly posted the job’s minimum qualifications on the internal county network that Golightly used to submit her application, in December pulled the plug on the hiring process.

And in a Dec. 11 letter, he notified Golightly and the other two finalists that due to the county’s financial situation, the department was being restructured and the CFO position downgraded.

However, he took that action before the board had agreed to any such changes. And some critics questioned whether the chairman’s action actually was due to the fact that the one candidate meeting all of the minimum qualifications for the job — with both a master’s degree and a CPA license — was a black woman from Uganda. By the time the commissioners took up the issue last week, they were facing strong public pressure not to downgrade the position’s minimum qualifications.

While most of the political barbs over the past few months have been lobbed anonymously from local blogs, Healan, who last summer represented CFO Beth Horacek in her appeal of a controversial suspension, publicly urged the commissioners at last week’s meeting not to reduce the job’s minimum qualifications.

He challenged the commissioners to prove to him, as Yearwood’s letter and the proposed resolution stated, that the reason for the proposed action was economic, and he accused the board of “dumbing down” the government by internally filling vacated positions over the past year with existing employees who do not have the credentials of their predecessors.

“This commission has engaged in the dumbing down of my government,” Healan said. “We have lost since the last election nine directors or assistant directors who were demoted. We have had eight directors or assistant directors and a deputy fire chief who resigned. We have had four directors who left under unusual circumstances…”

Healan said that in the wake of those departures, Yearwood either had assumed the responsibilities of the former directors, or the board had given the additional duties to current employees through combining departments.

Reminding the commissioners that the county budget is a $33 million responsibility, he urged them not to “trifle” with the CFO position’s job description or qualifications.

“We need the best person we can get,” he added. “This is no knock on any person that might be in line for that post…”

BOARD’S ACTIONS
The commissioners discussed the issue extensively, and after being warned by Yearwood that their action would automatically exclude Golightly, voted 5-1 to amend the qualifications in only two ways: to change to “desired” the requirement for CPA licensure and to add a new requirement for at least three years of experience in local government accounting.

The board retained the requirement for the graduate degree along with six to nine years of professional accounting or financial management experience.
The only commissioner to vote against the measure was Eva Elder.

In a second 5-1 vote, with Elder voting no, the board also voted to lower the CFO pay scale, reducing the starting salary by about $6,000.

The board then unanimously approved spending up to $650 to advertise the vacancy beyond Barrow County.

And in a fourth vote, the commissioners voted to reduce Golightly’s interim CFO salary to the newly reduced starting salary of about $71,000.

The pay cut was to take effect at the beginning of the following pay cycle.

Prior to that final vote, Commissioner Isaiah Berry did note: “I think Ms. Golightly has done an outstanding job. I appreciate everything she has done.”

GOLIGHTLY’S RESPONSE
The board took its actions immediately prior to Golightly’s scheduled financial presentation to the board.

She managed to get through the televised presentation but was visibly upset at the close of the meeting.

In her written statement Monday, she said she applied initially for the CFO post because she was already doing the work, had been privately complimented by every member of the board for the quality of her performance, and at that time knew of no requirement for either a master’s degree or a CPA license.

Those minimum qualifications were included on external job postings, but the application form on the county’s internal IT system severely limited the amount of information that could be displayed, according to HR director Brown.

Copies of the complete job description were available in the HR department, she said.