OPINION: The firing of Fortson and the unemployment issue

The move to strip Nash of his personnel powers was made after Nash initially failed to reprimand Fortson for a $500,000 budgeting error. There was a loud public outcry for accountability regarding that budgeting mistake. And some interpreted the power shift from the chairman to the BOC as a first move toward firing Fortson.

But that wasn’t the case. Fortson stayed at the table.

Some time later, Fortson’s assistant, deputy clerk Melinda Spence, was charged with pocketing over $1,700, which was found in the office of the late Eloise McCurley, the long-time and beloved senior center director.

On top of that, someone in the BOC office swiped loads of money on numerous occasions. Over $80,000 has been taken.

Who is involved? Who will be charged with the crime? These things haven’t been established. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation continues to look into the case. (Editor's Note: Actually, an arrest has now been made. Check top stories.)

The theft controversies initially factored into the dismissal of Fortson, with the BOC citing “negligent supervision of employees” in its reasons for firing Fortson. However, the board struck that from its letter of termination before giving it to Fortson.

Now, Fortson has formally requested a “conference” with the BOC to discuss the reasons for dismissal. The BOC will meet Monday and human resources director Donna Sisk will ask them whether they want to have a sit-down discussion with Fortson.

Of all the official reasons cited for dismissal, the one that carries the most weight is the “failure to handle claim for unemployment benefits correctly.”

Somehow, Spence received state unemployment benefits this summer after she was charged with theft by the GBI. If anyone in the county government knowingly misled the Department of Labor (DOL) about why Spence’s employment with the county ended, then that seems like a pretty solid reason for termination of employment. If a person spoke for the county, and left out the fact that she was charged with stealing from the county, then they probably shouldn’t be speaking for the county anymore.

Fortson did speak with the DOL about Spence, but he said he made it perfectly clear why Spence’s employment ended.

“That’s the first thing I told her (the DOL representative) that she had been arrested for stealing a deposit,” said Fortson. “It was an unfortunate situation, but that (the theft charge) is why she’s not employed.”

But the DOL totally contradicts Fortson’s statement.

Denise Beckwith, Georgia’s DOL supervisor for unemployment insurance policy and procedures, issued a letter to Fortson on Sept. 30 regarding the Spence unemployment application. Beckwith said the DOL was not informed of Spence’s arrest by the county human resources officer, whom she does not identify in the letter.

“This decision was made, in part, from information provided to our claims examiner by a representative of Madison County’s human resources department,” wrote Beckwith. “The HR representative said that Ms. Spence was a ‘good employee,’ but there were some issues involving a co-worker, and that the county had no objection to her receiving unemployment insurance benefits. The HR representative also said there were other ‘things’ that happened, but they did not want to provide us with any details about it.”

The county’s former human resource officer, Connie Riley, had resigned prior to the Spence unemployment issue. And no one other than Fortson has been identified as having spoken with the DOL regarding Spence’s unemployment.

So why the huge discrepancy between what Fortson says and what the DOL says? Did Fortson leave out the fact that his former assistant was charged with a crime? Or, did the DOL representative sleep through the part about the GBI and theft of government money? Did the DOL representative tape this phone conversation?

Fortson does not address the specifics of the unemployment issue in his response to the BOC’s letter of termination. Instead, he turns the tables on the BOC, saying that they put undue pressure on him by expecting him to do the work of three people.

“This event (the awarding of unemployment benefits to Spence) occurred during the period of time that I was attempting to perform the duties of three positions, County Clerk, Deputy County Clerk and Human Resources Manager and the results of the event were unintended,” wrote Fortson. “The expectation that any one person could perform such a task is unrealistic and unreasonable.”

Fortson said he carried the heavy workload from April 29 to June 16 and that the commissioners made no attempt to offer assistance of any kind.

He said the stress led to health problems.

“The workload created an additional health problem related to the resulting stress that required an increase in the medication prescribed by my personal physician,” wrote Fortson.

I’m no lawyer, but that last line has a pretty litigious ring.

Maybe Fortson and the BOC will have a conference in the commissioners’ meeting room to discuss their differences. But I believe this matter is ultimately headed to another room in the government complex — the courtroom.

Zach Mitcham is editor of The Madison County Journal.