We have reached a point at the county governmental level to where the patience has been eaten away. There is a leadership breakdown where the treatment of commissioners and “rules” applied to meetings has become disordered, spiteful and non-productive.
Our board is made up of five members sharing equal authority. The county administrator and county attorney work directly under all five commissioners.
The chairman of the Board of Commissioners has certain limited duties. In matters where the chairman is representing the county when such authorization is not expressly granted to the chairman, he does so under the authority of the entire Board of Commissioners.
I have been deeply concerned for a couple of years regarding Chairman Charles Oddo’s actions in relation to his negotiating, representing and planning on behalf of the full board on matters such as litigation, tax initiatives and public infrastructure projects, acting without the authority of the board. These are matters where the entire board has a legal and fiduciary responsibility to the citizens of Fayette County.
The chairman’s behavior is exacerbated by his refusal to simply maintain some type of open communication channel with all of the commissioners. This conduct seems to be supported by Commissioner David Barlow and the County Administrator Steve Rapson.
Regarding a series of awkward revelations regarding a proposed arts center and the proposed SPLOST, I said the following in a July 16, 2016 email:
“When our leadership and staff meet on important matters such as litigation, taxation issues, etc. there had better be communication with all the commissioners.
“Yes, the full board was given information at the final days preceding a board vote. The process began on April 11, so I expect to have information given to me if the leadership or staff are in meetings regarding SPLOST or an arts center from that point forward.
“I withheld my comments at our public meeting, but please keep in mind this is the second time on an issue of significant importance that I have asked for such transparent and equitable treatment.”
And the unfortunate reply from Commissioner Barlow was:
“Brown, you are contacted when the situation warrants it. Otherwise your input is not needed.”
Sadly, Commissioner Barlow’s comment accurately reflects the disregard the leadership shows to various commissioners related to items that warrant full board consent and approval.
Early in 2015 there were complaints of first-time Chairman Oddo not being fair nor consistent with how he was conducting the Board of Commissioners meetings. An agreement was reached at the 2015 county retreat on how items would be presented from that point forward. The chairman has reverted back to the previous hit-or-miss style of leadership and the expectations change literally from meeting to meeting.
Over the past two years, agenda items from various commissioners have been hijacked with content altered or commissioners removed as the presenters without warning (“Brown accuses Oddo-led BoC of ‘censoring’ minutes, ‘hijacking’ issues,” The Citizen, 4-30-15). This happened to Commissioner Randy Ognio in August. It happened again to me in an August meeting.
There is a lack of professional courtesy with our board today. The communication is dreadful. The board’s productivity is meager.
As Commissioner Ognio pointed out, it is embarrassing when a commissioner proudly announces at the onset of a meeting that he going to vote down all of another commissioner’s agenda items, acting biased and without considering the merit of the items.
I nominated Commissioner Ognio for chairman this past January, not because I dislike Charles Oddo, but in the hopes we get back to the unbiased administration of our meetings and creating a climate of inclusion and communication for the five commissioners of equal standing.
I also expect the county administrator to act in an unbiased manner. The administrator is under the authority of all five commissioners and there should be nothing less than equal treatment. The subordinate relationship in this instance is reporting to all five commissioners.
The best course of action would be to pull out the examples of what is going wrong, discuss it in a public meeting and see if we can make the corrections a second time.
Changes are coming to this body in January and the vitriol and temper issues will be gone. It is our responsibility to conduct our business within the authority that each commissioner has been given, not in secrecy, but in open and productive meetings, communicating fully.
When we have issues like annexation disputes with the city of Fayetteville where the chairman has a brother on the City Council, I would expect the chairman to politely recuse himself from negotiations of any kind on the matter and allow a colleague to handle those tasks. Otherwise, I am compelled to bring the matter up for a public vote.
It should be a consensus of the board that decides which commissioner will represents us in such negotiations anyhow and that is not happening. As Commissioner Barlow stated, our input is not needed.
The citizens deserve better.
Steve Brown, Commissioner
District 3, Fayette Board of Commissioners
Peachtree City, Ga.
