The Atlanta City Council grilled Department of Watershed Commissioner Jo Ann Macrina and members of Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration Monday over five-figure raises granted to top employees.
Councilwoman Yolanda Adrean questioned why Watershed employees were given pay bumps between $15,000 and $25,000 as the city continues hard negotiations with other departments.
“Now I don’t have any comfort that we’re treating the Watershed, aviation, general employees and public safety consistently,” she said. “… I don’t get the oversight happening in this department and I don’t think employees have confidence either.”
Macrina said the raises were necessary to retain top talent. The embattled agency, which oversees a $4 billion federally ordered upgrade to the city’s water and sewer system, has an attrition rate near 40 percent, she said.
“Part of the reason we are losing good people is we can’t pay them the salaries they are getting elsewhere,” said Macrina, who joined the agency in 2011 from the DeKalb County Department of Watershed Management. “I try to attract people not just with a competitive salary but also an opportunity to make a difference, but the opportunity to make a difference can only go so far.”
Councilwoman Felicia Moore repeatedly asked Macrina to produce documentation justifying the raises, which were approved in January and back-dated to June 2013. The commissioner eventually promised to deliver the paperwork by end of the meeting.
Moore wasn’t satisfied with that response.
“Information should exist and if it does, I want that information now,” she said. “Not later when it’s produced or created, but now.”
Following a media inquiry last Thursday, Reed quickly acted to rescind the raises that totaled nearly $95,000 among five Watershed employees.
The department is under investigation by Reed’s office, city auditor Leslie Ward, the Atlanta Police Department and the council after repeated reports of mismanagement and theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment.
But while members of Reed’s administration said the pay raises were made with poor judgment, the administration produced on Monday a 2012 Watershed ordinance allowing increases due to pay inequity.
“It was a legal action,” added Katrina Taylor Parks, Reed’s deputy chief of staff. “Was it the right judgment at the time? I think that’s in question and the answer is no.”
Discussion of the 2012 ordinance comes days after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first inquired about the raises. Then, Reed spokesman Carlos Campos said the Watershed increases were not subject to a law prohibiting annual pay raises of more than 10 percent in a 12-month period, because they were salary adjustments and not annual increases.
Councilwoman Natalyn Archibong, chairwoman of the city utilities committee, admonished the administration for its handling of the raises.
“It’s disappointing to have a story continue to change. We heard one thing on Friday and another today, and this (2012) legislation was not brought up until today,” she said. “We really owe it not only to the ratepayer but legislative body to know what’s going on.”
Taylor Parks later said, when questioned by Moore, that she researched the 2012 ordinance over the weekend to be certain the raises did not violate city law.
Moore said she believes council authorization was “abused” if Watershed used the 2012 ordinance as a reason to justify five-figure raises.
“If this is the way the administration operates, put in one thing and something else comes out, I’m going to quit giving blanket authorization because I think it was used and abused,” she said.
Macrina awarded $15,000 to Yafet Bekele, Watershed’s head of security and safety; Ben Kuku, head of Office of Customer and Business Services; and Watershed manager Crystal Crawford. Until Reed’s reversal, each employee earned $125,000 annually.
Macrina also approved $25,000 raises to Deputy Commissioner Frank Stephens and the agency’s spokeswoman, Scheree Rawles. Stephens earned $150,000 and Rawles earned $125,000 before the increases were revoked.
Interim Chief Operating Officer Michael Geisler, who joined Reed’s administration from Watershed in January, agreed to halt salary adjustments for top employees while the department is under investigation.
Councilman Howard Shook said the raises add to a string of "bad press."
“There have been and are some problems with some people breaking the law,” he said. “It’s a fraction of the workforce…but it’s the entire department twisting in the wind right now.”
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