Clayton County’s chief operating officer says he’s close to making a decision on who will become his chief aide and depending on who he chooses, it could resurrect old political animosities.
Four candidates are being considered for the chief COO job, including Alex Cohilas, a retired veteran of Clayton government known to been at-odds in the past with Commission Chair Jeff Turner. The potential of a Cohilas return to Clayton government drew fire at this week's commission meeting.
“We are fed up. We are livid,” community activist Jeffrey Benoit told commissioners Tuesday. “You’ve taken the power from the chairman we’ve voted in to go ahead and hire Alex Cohilas.”
COO Detrick Stanford said he may make his decision as early as Friday or early next week.
Cohilas, who served as chief of staff and the county's fire chief before retiring in 2010, came out of retirement in October 2014 to serve as COO when the county fired Arrelle Anderson, Turner's appointment. He was gone six months later when the county didn't renew his $65,000 contract.
Stanford sidestepped the controversy, saying: The political temperament I wouldn’t know.”
The county’s growth and need to be more operational made it necessary to create a deputy COO position, Stanford said.
“We have a lot of capital projects that we’re still trying to get our arms around,” Stanford said. Plus, the county is trying to create better performance standards. “Having someone to co-shepherd these things will be beneficial.”
He also noted that other county departments such as finance have deputies. The new deputy COO will earn about $96,000 a year, Stanford said.
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