Settlement with county does not bar tax commissioner candidate from seeking office

A settlement signed by former animal control officer Tim Aldridge, in which he agrees to never seek employment again with Laurens County, does not disqualify him from running for tax commissioner.

Aldridge is one of two candidates in Tuesday’s runoff election in the tax commissioner’s race, facing fellow Republican Darla Brown. The winner will have no Democratic opposition in November and will replace incumbent Lee Dixon, who did not seek re-election.

“I had all that checked out by an attorney before I got into the race,” Aldridge said Wednesday.

  Aldridge worked for the county as an animal control officer from 2016 until February 2022, when he was fired for insubordination, according to documents obtained by The Courier Herald. The settlement came in a worker’s compensation claim filed after his termination.

Though Aldridge agreed not to work for the county again, that would not apply to the position of tax commissioner – one of four constitutional officers in every Georgia county, along with sheriff, clerk of superior court and probate court judge.

Aldridge claimed Wednesday that he was fired because he objected to how animals were being treated at the county’s animal control kennels, which were shut down briefly by the state in April 2022, two months after he was terminated, and placed on probation.

“This was orchestrated to discredit me because I did not agree with what was going on out there. There were some improprieties going on that y’all reported on.”

He also questioned the timing and volume of documents being released pertaining to the worker’s compensation case, which included extensive personnel and health records. Among them were accounts of his firing, which followed a heated phone conversation earlier that week with his supervisor, Jeff Shepard, over Aldridge allegedly failing to respond to calls and not filing paperwork.

Shepard reported that Aldridge “became abusive” and directed profanity toward Shepard, County Administrator Bryan Rogers and the county commissioners. Shepard also wrote in a report that Aldridge threatened to “beat Bryan Rogers’ eyes out.”

Aldridge denied Shepard’s account, saying, “Why would I say that?”

According to county records, Aldridge was involved in an accident the morning of Feb. 23, 2022, when a car backed out in front of him in a parking lot. Later that day he was called into a meeting with Rogers, County Attorney Billy Kight and human resources director Tammy Surine to discuss the phone call with Shepard the day before.

Aldridge said he left the meeting thinking he had been placed on administrative leave. According to a county document, Rogers gave Aldridge the choice  to resign or be terminated. Records show his employment officially ended two days later, Feb. 25, and that he later filed the worker’s compensation claim.

The case was settled in February of this year for $77,500, to be paid as an annuity of $53.61 a week for life.

Aldridge on Wednesday produced about two dozen training certificates, licenses and awards accumulated from his tenure as a county animal control officer, ranging from a CDL license to FEMA certifications to a plaque for winning Laurens County Volunteer Fireman of the Year in 2017. He denied his campaign for tax commissioner was motivated by his experiences as an ex-county employee.

“My plan was never to go in as some disgruntled employee,” he said, “It was to give all citizens fair representation …

“I want to take the high road and let them take the low road.”