Cochran hires Redding full-time in controversial 4-2 vote

In a controversial decision, the Cochran City Council voted to make Interim City Manager Angela Redding’s position at City Hall a permanent one.

Tuesday night, four of six council members voted to appoint Angela Redding to City Manager, despite having no agreed-upon contract and pushback from residents, council members and the mayor. 

According to Mayor Carla Coley, this is the first time the council has voted to appoint a city manager without a contract in place.

Earlier in the meeting, Councilmembers Dianne Lester and Gary Ates requested to move the discussion surrounding Redding’s appointment to the executive session. However after comments from the audience pushed council into a deeper conversation, the council unanimously agreed to continue the discussion during their public session.

Councilmember Shane Savant shared his reasoning for not wanting to hire Redding at this time.

“I have some apprehension about making a move for permanent hire. I believe as city council, we have a responsibility to carefully consider the full picture before making that decision,” he said. “Angela has been a city manager for eight years. I understand that throughout those years, there have been litigation against cities she’s been in charge of and in some instances against her.”

The litigation he mentioned includes two racial discrimination lawsuits Redding was named in before she was hired as Cochran’s Interim City Manager.

“There’s a saying that I think I believe is especially relevant here. When the foundation is firm, you don’t have to worry about storms,” he continued. “Before we make a permanent appointment, I think being able to open it back up to a firm, have them provide us the candidates they feel would be best for the position… If Angela’s in a group, great. Then, we’ve affirmed what the other council members have already formed their opinion on. And if not, then we hire the best person for the position.”

Savant also said that there was a “delay in responses” from Redding affecting residents, business owners, city employees and himself.

Others are echoing those concerns.

In September, an anonymous letter was sent to the council and mayor threatening that 11 city employees at City Hall, public works, and the fire and police departments would quit if Redding was appointed city manager, citing issues with her overall communication.

The letter claimed that “morale is very low” and “everyone at city hall will quit except [one person.]”

“We need to move the city forward,” Savant said. “I’m afraid if we don’t have that communication and that timeliness that that could be an issue as well.”

Councilwoman Lester spoke up defending her decision to hire Redding now, saying that the city ran a thorough background check on Redding before she was hired, including a fingerprint check that Lester claimed no one else at City Hall was asked to do.

“You’ve got somebody [Redding] you can work with that is already making some positive strides in this position… I still feel that this is somebody that we can work with to help move things forward,” she said. “It is important to hear what people have to say and consider that, but you’ve got to realize too it’s also council’s responsibility to hold… the city manager accountable.”

During discussion, Councilman Ates suggested that his reasoning to move forward with Redding’s appointment was based on wanting to protect the city budget. 

According to Ates, hiring an outside firm to search for other qualified candidates for city manager would run the city $20,000. If the city continues to work with Redding, however, they could skirt the extra cost and still hire a qualified candidate. 

Redding also spoke up, defending herself in light of Savant’s litigation comment. She explained that one of the lawsuits brought against her stemmed from a situation where, while serving as City Manager in Cordele, she sat on a panel in charge of hiring a new police chief. 

After the panel decided to hire a black candidate to fill the role, she said, a disgruntled white candidate filed a lawsuit against her and the city citing racial discrimination. The lawsuit was later dismissed.

“I’ve been in local government for over 27 years, and when you work in local government, at some point in time… you’re going to end up in a lawsuit,” she said. “I don’t look at color. I’m looking for qualifications and for those best suited to perform the job. We came to a unanimous decision that it was going to be the person we selected, and he was African-American.”

The other suit, on the other hand, came after the city council decided to fire a different police chief. According to Redding, the former police chief filed a racial discrimination lawsuit in retaliation against multiple people, including herself, even though the decision was made by the council.

“I have accomplished a lot while I’ve been here. We’ve been short staffed. We’ve been trying to fill positions,” she said. “I’ve had to make updates to policies and procedures that were not in place. I established a uniform travel policy for employees and elected officials. I completed several reports… that were past due when I came on board.”

At some point in the conversation, Mayor Coley questioned Redding about Cordele’s government status. According to Coley, she read on an official DCA website that Cordele had lost their local government status due to being behind on audits. If Cordele lost their status, this would mean they’re ineligible to receive grants.

“I don’t want us to lose our qualified local government status because we, as a small town, survive on grants,” she told Redding.

In response, Redding said that Cordele never lost their qualified local government status.

The TJP reached out to the City of Cordele to clarify, but they did not respond.

At the end of the conversation, City Attorney Jim Elliott suggested three options for the council. They could choose to reappoint Redding to a temporary interim position pending completion of a contract. They could also choose to hire Redding as full-time city manager pending completion of a contract, or they could return to the hiring firm.

“I would not recommend hiring someone without a contract,” Coley recommended to the council. “And if I were Angela, I would not want to be hired without a contract.”

At the end of the discussion, Coley requested a roll-call vote. 

Councilmembers Gary Ates, Trecia Gardner, Rufus Veal and Dianne Lester voted yes, while Councilmembers Shane Savant and Lonnie Tedders voted no. 

Redding’s appointment comes a month after the city council announced they were reversing their initial vote to use an outside hiring agency to find candidates for the vacant city manager position.

Also during last week’s meeting, council members approved a gas rebate program for customers with gas appliances.

Available rebates are:

Tankless water heater – $300

Tank water heaters – $200

Gas furnaces – $200

Ranges and cooktops – $100

Washer and dryers – $100

Vented gas logs – $50

Space heaters – $50

In other news, Chamber President Melissa Barker revealed in her monthly report that the chamber is seeking a grocery store to bring to Cochran. 

According to Barker, some of the grocery companies she spoke with told her they wouldn’t be able to build in Cochran for multiple years due to prior commitments, but at the moment, they’re still “working on it.”

She also announced that Saturday’s Pumpkin Festival would see the launch of Connect Cochran, a free WiFi project managed by IT students at Middle Georgia State University.

On Saturday, five antennas spread throughout downtown broadcasted WiFi signal for thousands of festival-goers.