Fox 4 investigation may change county policies

A Four in your Corner investigation prompts Lee County officials to consider changing several county policies. Fox 4 investigator Mike Mason attended today's county commission meeting and held the powerful accountable. Today commissioners sounding off after Fox 4 exposed numerous problems with county policies. Commissioner Brian Bigelow says, "I think it's an embarrassment for the county."

Last week, many county workers were shocked to see our reports showing top county officials receiving promotions and raises without having had any performance evaluations for years. According to the county's manual:"It is the policy of the county that the job performance of each employee should be evaluated periodically by the employee's supervisor. But Lee County manager Karen Hawes tells Fox 4 “supervisors "should" perform evaluations but it is not *required* under policy.”

Frank Mann

Commission Chairman Frank Mann says "What we ought to have is at least a consistent policy so that it applies to everybody and not some department or some levels and others don't."

Commissioner Tammy Hall also stated, "If we want evaluations on every single employee every single year then let's set that policy in place and take out the words 'may' and 'should' because I think those words are left for interpretation.” Hall went on to say that this is an issue she’s willing to address.

And Fox 4 also found there are no set rules for advertising county jobs. Last week Hawes sent us an email stating, "The county's current policies do not require a minimum or maximum time for advertising a job ." But county workers feel that's not fair and commissioner Brian Bigelow agrees, "It's very troubling for me, we have to give everybody a fair chance at working for their government."

Karen Hawes

And we also exposed there are no job requirements for the county manager, The county charter clearly states, “The minimum qualifications including educational and administrative requirements for the county manager shall be established by county ordinance."

But Deputy County Attorney Andrea Fraser tells us: "There is no such ordinance." That means for 16 years county officials never wrote the job requirements for their top leader. Bigelow says he plans to address that issue, "I meet routinely with the county attorney, I believe it best that he draft it because we are talking specifically about the county manager's job requirements."

Commissioner Mann says he encourages the media to expose loopholes like this and other deficiencies in county government, "From the courthouse to the Whitehouse we need reviews all the time. This country survives because we have a free press so keep up the good work."

Commissioners say the next step is to place items on the agenda to address the policies in question and then vote to adopt new policies. We will stay on top of this one and keep you updated.

To view the Fox 4 report click here: http://www.fox4now.com/news/126600483.html

Still No Job Requirements for Lee County Manager

If you've ever been late on your tax bill or had a code violation then you know you pay a price when you break Lee County's rules. But Fox 4 is finding the county's not playing but its own rules and it's costing you thousands of dollars!

When Wayne Daltry co-wrote Lee County's charter 16 years ago, he remembers this much clearly: it required the county to write separate job requirements for the county manager. Daltry says, “We wanted something to govern the billion dollar plus industry that the county government is so we thought they should have the qualifications stated that you would expect of a C.E.O. of a billion dollar organization."



Headhunter Colin Baenziger

 For two weeks we asked county officials to produce that ordinance and the county attorney finally admitted "there is no such ordinance." After the former county manager, Don Stillwell, resigned under a cloud of scandal, the county could've started fresh by finally writing out the job requirements. Instead, they paid 19 thousand of your tax dollars to a headhunter to find a candidate. Only then, did someone finally come up with job requirements; the headhunter himself Colin Baenziger. Baenziger advertised, "The ideal candidate will have a minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience in public sector management."

Karen Hawes had just been promoted to interim county manager but records show her long career at the county wasn't always so progressive. in 1992 she was hired as deputy county administrator and was second in command to the county manager. However, she only held that job for a year and a half before being moved in to a lesser position as director of Human Services. Daltry says, "A year and a half isn't enough experience."

But apparently it was enough experience for commissioners, who gave Hawes the job in 2009 and agreed to pay her $192,000 a year. Nearly a year later, one commissioner finally pointed out to Hawes there are no job requirements on the books for the county manger or other top county jobs.

Karen Hawes

In a board meeting in August, 2010 commissioner Brian Bigelow told Hawes, "Be sure we understand and are very clear about what the charter says about how to replace you and the county attorney." The current commission chair, Tammy Hall, then promised it *would be* addressed. Hall said, "We'll ask the county attorney to brief us on the charter if there's anything of importance to that position and the county manager's already discussed with us that she will lay out exactly the procedure they will recommend and at that point we can add or delete or make comments on it when she presents it to us."

But now, a year later, that information still hasn't been presented to commissioners. There are still no job requirements for the county manager. If you think this is something the county should address you can contact the county commissioners by going to our website, it's 'Fox4now.com' and click on the Big Red 4 or click here: http://www.fox4now.com/bigred4/126290053.html
To view the Fox 4 report click here: http://www.fox4now.com/news/126435513.html