4 Atlanta watershed workers fired, manager quits over procurement violations

By Ernie Suggs

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

After firing four workers Friday, Peter Aman, Atlanta’s usually calm and mild-mannered chief operating officer, had a stern message for thousands of city employees:

“Don’t [mess] with the procurement procedures of the city of Atlanta. We are serious about people following the city code.”

Immediately after finding out that key members of the Department of Watershed Management’s security division circumvented rules to purchase $2.1 million worth of equipment, Aman fired them.

Aman said the workers wrote 160 invoices to Siemens Building Technologies for security equipment like cameras and access control pads for watershed facilities. The problem was that all of the invoices were for less than $20,000, which requires less rigorous approval standards from department managers, Aman said.

“I don’t know if you can take away a systemic meaning from this,” Aman said. “They thought they were doing the right thing, but clearly they were contravening a standing city policy.”

Aman said four employees -- including two managers -- were fired. The city would not release the names, but Aman said their manager, Dan Oakley, the director of the department's office of security and safety,  resigned over the incident.

“Whatever the rationale was, it doesn’t make a difference,” said Rob Hunter, the commissioner of the watershed department. “With the severity of the penalty, people will get the message that if you do this, you lose your job.”

Most of the invoices were written over a period of a year ending last November. On some occasions, dozens of invoices would be filed in one day.

“So this was not an accident,” Aman said. “This was a clear subdivision of invoices.”

For example, according to documents provided by the city, July 27, 2009, was a particularly busy day. Between 3:35 p.m. and 3:44 p.m., workers submitted 15 purchase orders. The smallest amount was for $2,355.14 and the largest purchase was for $19,937.87.

“They would contend they saved months, and it probably was faster,” Aman said of the workers skipping procedures. “But when all is said and done, they didn’t comply to the code.”

Aman said the purchases were discovered by Oakley about “six to eight weeks ago.” He reported his findings to Hunter.

Aman said the city is still investigating the purchases.

“We are looking at everybody. From top to bottom,” he said.

Hunter said his department, along with the departments of finance and procurement and a outside agency, will participate in the investigation and determine what new controls have to be put in place.

“While there were controls, obviously, they were not adequate. That will be part of the review. They colluded to neutralize or get around part of the control system,” Hunter said, adding that the investigation should determine why the system failed and point officials in a direction to cover any gaps.

At this point, Aman and Hunter said, there is no evidence that any money was stolen or that there was a criminal relationship with the vendor.

“All of the equipment was installed and it seemed consistent with the master security plan,” Aman said. “This was just a group eager to move forward more rapidly.”

While there has not been any criminal evidence yet, Hunter was unclear what kind of pressure the workers might have been under.

The watershed department is operating under a federal consent decree, which has put in place a series of ladders that the city has to meet before a 2014 deadline. The city is trying to get that extended to 2029.

The workers were ex-military and may have been eager to comply with Homeland Security rules to secure the city’s water supply, officials said.

“I don’t think they felt external pressure to do anything quickly. These were very experienced security professionals,” Hunter said. “The pressure they would have felt was the pressure of identifying a need and wanting to meet that need. But you don’t solve the problem this way.”