Madison County commissioners plan to give new county chairman Anthony Dove personnel powers that they stripped from Wesley Nash.
“I think the people soundly spoke for a leader in this county when they went to the polls,” said Commissioner Stanley Thomas, who proposed restoring hiring and firing powers to the chairman’s position.
Madison County voters favored Dove by a 72-19 margin over Nash in the July Republican primary.
County commissioners took hiring and firing power away from Nash after he said he reprimanded county clerk Morris Fortson for a budgeting error, then Fortson said that Nash had not reprimanded him.
Thomas said the past frictions between Nash and the commissioners were unfortunate, but that there was no other course of action than to strip the chairman of his personnel powers, since the BOC felt Nash was not willing to carry out his duties.
“I felt I had no other choice,” said Thomas.
But the commissioner said the new commission chairman has already shown a strong work ethic, as well as a willingness to be in the office and to be accessible to the public.
“He has shown a desire to be here and to do the job and move the county forward,” said Thomas of Dove.
Other commissioners supported Thomas’ recommendation. Commissioner Mike Youngblood voiced confidence in Dove’s ability to handle personnel responsibilities.
“I agree with Stanley,” said Youngblood. “The position this board was put into (by Nash) shouldn’t have happened, but it was our only recourse. Your (Thomas’) recommendation is a good thing.”
Thomas also proposed that three positions in the BOC office — the county clerk, deputy clerk and possibly and administrative assistant — serve as “at will” employees under Dove. An “at will” employee is different than other workers in that he or she does not have any rights to appeal following a dismissal. Thomas said that those employees in the BOC office represent the chairman in his absence and that he needs control over that staff, similar to the power the sheriff has over his staff.
Thomas’ proposals came during talk of renewing Madison County policies for 2009. Youngblood also had a suggestion — that the BOC not allow a clerk into closed sessions to take minutes. He said the county attorney can take minutes if necessary. County attorney Mike Pruett noted that Georgia law does not require the recording of minutes during closed meetings.
Madison County commissioners talked at length about how to implement the suggested changes in the county policy. Dove said county policies are far too complex, taking a “Philadelphia lawyer” to parse through some of the provisions. He said he’d like the commissioners to take action to simplify county codes.
New commissioner Dewitt “Pete” Bond II made a motion to scrap the county policy and start over. But that measure failed. Thomas said he wants to see the changes he and Youngblood proposed implemented quickly, rather than waiting five or six months for the entire policy to be re-written. He noted that people applying for the current county clerk’s vacancy need to know whether they will serve as an “at will” employee or one with normal due process rights of appeal.
The board agreed to have Pruett draft changes to the county policies, reflecting the proposals made by Thomas and Youngblood. The BOC members will consider those revisions at their next meeting and may talk more about simplifying the entire county policy.
