Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee is remaking his office, both literally and figuratively.
Since 2013, Lee has twice remodeled his office in the county building for a combined $34,500; he hired a deputy chief in January at $105,000 a year; and now he’s in the process of creating a position for a web-savvy employee who will take the place of Millie Rodgers, an assistant in the chairman’s office since 1992.
And none of that spending received approval from the full board of commissioners.
The latest office remodel — which cost $22,437 to convert a closet to office space for Lee’s new deputy Kellie Brownlow and install a new glass door — used cash from three different county funds, according to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution under Georgia’s Open Records Act.
That includes $3,000 in savings that had been dedicated to buying furniture and equipment for the county’s senior services center in Powder Springs, the records show.
The county’s Biennial Budget Book for 2015-16 says that expenditure “increases or decreases … for a department or fund must be approved by the Board of Commissioners.” The document then gives examples:
- The appropriation of additional revenue, such as … fund balance, to support operating expenses or fund a major capital project.
- The re-appropriation of funding, or transfers, from one fund to another.
- The appropriation of funding for additional employees, both full-time and part-time.
County finance director Jim Pehrson said the remodeling projects didn’t need commission approval because excess funds covered the cost. “There is not increase or decrease in budget and there is no transfer of funds with this project,” Pehrson wrote in an email.
County Attorney Deborah Dance also said County Manager David Hankerson can authorize spending of up to $50,000 without board approval.
Neither Lee nor Hankerson answered questions for this story. Hankerson, who was sent a list of nine questions May 20, including whether he approved the expenditures, referred all questions to Brownlow. Lee ignored a question about why he remodeled the office twice in two years.
Brownlow said Hankerson approved the remodeling expenditures.
While Hankerson wouldn’t answer questions, he did take interest in Lee’s most recent remodeling project, according to a Feb. 9 email between county staffers: “Mr. Hankerson asked that you provide him with a construction schedule for the chairman’s renovation as well as the county attorney’s renovation. He made a point that the chairman’s renovation is the priority.”
Lee also hired Brownlow without approval from the commission. She took a vacant position in the community services department and reports directly to Lee. The county had previously told the newspaper that move didn’t need commission approval because Lee was not creating a new position.
Bill Byrne, who was commission chairman for 10 years and lost an election to Lee, said it’s odd that the chairman would remodel his office twice in two years.
“I inherited the office and all I did was move around some furniture. I think it’s very strange,” Byrne said.
Lance Lamberton, president of the Cobb Taxpayers Association, has often clashed with Lee over fiscal issues. He said spending money without the commission’s approval “shows a cavalier disregard for the interests of the taxpayers.”
About the Author
