Watershed head under fire for big raises amid theft investigation

How we got the story: AJC reporter Katie Leslie submitted an open records request this month after receiving a tip that Watershed security managers may have received large pay increases. Documents revealed the amount of the salary hikes.

How we got the story: AJC reporter Katie Leslie submitted an open records request this month after receiving a tip that Watershed security managers may have received large pay increases. Documents revealed the amount of the salary hikes.

Atlanta Department of Watershed Commissioner Jo Ann Macrina is under fire after awarding several top employees five-figure raises at a time the agency is in turmoil, according to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Macrina awarded five employees pay hikes between $15,000 and $25,000 apiece. The commissioner also back-dated the pay to June 2013, documents show.

Watershed has been plagued with theft and accusations of mismanagement in the past several months, with hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment missing or stolen, according to city officials and police reports. As a result, the department is under investigation by Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration, city auditor Leslie Ward, the Atlanta Police Department and the Atlanta City Council.

Still, Macrina awarded a $15,000 a year raise to Watershed's head of security and safety, Yafet Bekele, and a $15,000 increase to head of the Office of Customer and Business Services, Ben Kuku. According to documents obtained by the AJC through an open records request, both salaries increased from $110,000 to $125,000 — a 13 percent hike.

Watershed manager Crystal Crawford’s salary increased from $110,000 to $124,600. Deputy Commissioner Frank Stephens was given a $25,000 raise, increasing his salary by 20 percent to $150,000 annually. The agency’s spokeswoman, Scheree Rawles, saw her pay rise from $99,700 to $125,000, a 25 percent increase.

After inquiries from the AJC on Thursday, Reed reversed the salary hikes.

“Mayor Reed did not authorize these pay raises. On learning of them, he immediately directed the increases be reversed,” Reed spokesman Carlos Campos said in a statement Thursday. “…Mayor Reed is committed to ensuring ratepayers receive the highest levels of service and city employees remain good stewards of public money.”

Reed’s office declined to say whether disciplinary action would be taken. Macrina could not be reached for comment Thursday.

A city ordinance prohibits annual pay raises of more than 10 percent in a 12-month period. But Campos said the Watershed increases were not annual increases, but salary adjustments, and therefore not subject to the same rules.

Human Resources Commissioner Yvonne Yancy’s department signed off on the requests, dated January 17 and processed in February.

Before Reed’s decision to reverse the raises late Thursday, District 9 Councilwoman Felicia Moore called for an investigation of the pay issue.

The councilwoman questioned awarding raises to those working in security at a time Watershed has made repeated headlines for rampant theft. Missing or stolen items include 28 industrial water meters weighing 700 pounds and worth $5,210 apiece, copper, pipes and more.

A backhoe worth about $80,000 was reported missing to police in recent months, records show.

“They haven’t done a good job at this point in terms of loss prevention and inventory,” said Moore, who introduced legislation in late January requesting a review of the agency’s security practices. “I don’t know why she would give them an increase. What did they do to justify it … ?”

Both Macrina and Bekele are former employees of the DeKalb County Department of Watershed Management. Macrina joined the agency in 2011 and is paid $155,000 annually. She hired Bekele soon after joining Watershed.

Records show that Bekele, a chiropractor, served as a departmental safety coordinator in DeKalb before becoming the head of Atlanta’s safety and security office.

Moore said the raises are particularly troubling as the city continues to negotiate with police and firefighters, who have long complained about salaries.

Last year, those workers received a 1.5 percent raise. The city’s general employees were awarded 3.5 percent increases.

Gina Pagnotta-Murphy, head of the Professional Association of City Employees union, said she was stunned to learn of the raises. She represented several dozen Watershed workers who pleaded to the council in March to investigate complaints of abuse and mismanagement at the agency.

“What kind of message is this sending?” Pagnotta-Murphy said. “Employees are losing respect.”

Pagnotta-Murphy applauded the mayor’s decision to reverse the raises.

“Hooray for the mayor,” she said. “I am very shocked, but I think he did the right thing.”