BOC offers higher salary to CFO candidate

Elder had tried to open up a public discussion of the issue during the board’s regular meeting, saying she thought it would be misleading to the public for the board to increase the offer after having reduced the position’s pay scale Jan. 26.

Kisaalita is the accounting administrator for Athens-Clarke County and is a certified public accountant with a master’s degree. But Elder said a job candidate should demonstrate that he or she has the “wisdom and common sense” to make use of such credentials before expecting higher compensation.

“I do not see giving someone a raise before coming to work,” Elder said. “I’d like them to prove their ability to me first.”

No one else on the board reacted in public to Elder’s comments and when Human Resources Director Norma Jean Brown stood up from the audience to try to respond, BOC Chairman Danny Yearwood told her she could not.

Asked later by the Barrow Journal why the CFO compensation issue was a private matter, county attorney Angela Davis cited an exemption in the Georgia Open Meetings Act concerning the hiring of employees.

"We were discussing the hiring of an employee and negotiating how we might position the offer,” Davis said. “It is plainly covered as one of the reasons for an executive session in the Open Meetings Act."

The other vote after the closed session was unanimous. The commissioners agreed to settle a lawsuit filed some time ago by Sheriff’s investigator Matt Guthas over the accrual rate of his paid time off after he resigned and then came back to the department.

The board voted to give him his requested credit for accrued time off and to pay his $80 filing fee. However, it did not agree to offer him additional compensation requested in his lawsuit.

ADVISTORY BOARD ISSUE
Also Tuesday, the head of Barrow Parks and Recreation addressed the board concerning the poor participation of several members of the Barrow County Recreation Advisory Board.

Kurt Cooper said the monthly meetings of the advisory board do not attract enough members to constitute a quorum in order to conduct business.

Yearwood said the commissioners would contact their appointees privately and find out if replacements are warranted.

Larry Joe Wilburn, who has yet to make an appointment, said he didn’t bother because Cooper’s predecessor said she didn’t need an advisory board. Cooper said he wants the help.

In another matter, the commissioners amended the agenda to allow Isaiah Berry to introduce Chandon Sullivan, a Russell Middle School eighth-grader who is seeking financial assistance to purchase athletic gear that would enable him to compete in athletics at the high school level.

Berry said Chandon is an excellent student as well as an athlete, and he is an “outstanding example of what our kids ought to be doing.”

Berry is a part-time coach at Winder-Barrow High School, where he met the young athlete.

He and Hendrix had dinner with Chandron on Monday night. Following the board meeting Tuesday night, both said they would like to recognize outstanding youths monthly at future board meetings.

OTHER BUSINESS
In other business conducted in the public session, the board:

•voted 4-2, with Steve Worley and Ben Hendrix voting no, to approve Chief Appraiser Cecil Highfield’s request to start the hiring process to fill a vacated appraiser position.

•voted unanimously to approve the expenditure of $402.95 to have Akins Ford repair Med Unit No. 7, which has a crack in the welding similar to the one that took another med unit permanently out of service last year. The board also agreed to have Akins Ford inspect the welding of the department’s other two med units with patient compartments welded onto truck chassis.

•voted unanimously to allow Barrow County Emergency Services to apply for a grant from the Georgia Trauma Commission for the partial funding of two ambulances and to allow the department to shop around for the best price by issuing a request for bids for one unit.

•voted unanimously to approve the Barrow County Detention Center’s purchase of a pair of 72-inch Bad Boy commercial-grade mowers for $17,496. The funding sources include $16,000 from the detention center’s FY2010 budget and another $1,496 offered by operations development manager Bob Hohe from his budget.

•voted to adopt the Barrow County Pre-Disaster Hazard Mitigation Plan that is required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The plan was presented by emergency services chief John Skinner at a public hearing preceding the board’s regular meeting. No one from the public commented on the plan.

•voted to designate the month of April the “Donate Life Month” in support of organ donation. The resolution was requested by LifeLink of Georgia.