Building Official Kenny Wiegel entered Tuesday’s city council meeting asking the council to approve his recommendation for a part-time inspector he could train as his eventual replacement.
In the heated debate that followed, council members batted around the idea of reopening the search, then needed three separate motions and a tie-breaking vote to come full circle and approve Wiegel’s recommendation.
During discussion, a livid Vice Mayor Joseph Mickens – to the horror of other council members – asked for Wiegel’s resignation, which he did not get, and later followed Wiegel out to the Municipal Complex lobby to verbally chastise him in front of citizens and other city employees.
“I’m real concerned about what happened tonight,” Wiegel told The Dispatch after the meeting.
The city budgeted $30,000 this fiscal year to pay a part-time building inspector to train under Wiegel, who has served 28 years with the city. Wiegel said he plans to retire in June, which should give him enough time to get his replacement up to speed.
But when he presented his recommendation Tuesday, Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones asked why the position wasn’t advertised to see if the city could hire someone with experience.
Wiegel replied that Mickens had asked him during lunch “a year or two ago” to recruit a replacement upon his retirement. So Wiegel, Chief Operations Officer Jammie Garrett and Human Resources Director Pat Mitchell worked together to find a good fit.
“Vice Mayor Mickens don’t remember that. OK? Me and you had a conversation, … and I told you I could not entertain that,” Mickens interjected. “That’s the last conversation I had with you. … I did not tell you to find nobody.”
Mayor Keith Gaskin defended Wiegel, saying “everyone knew he was doing this.”
“There’s been a lot of concern about Kenny’s retiring,” Gaskin said. “He’s stopped it several times because we asked him to. I don’t know who actually said, ‘Do this,’ but it’s been a clear understanding that this is what he was doing, or therefore the COO and the HR director wouldn’t be working in the process. To now come back and say this at this moment is a little disingenuous.”
Mickens, who represents Ward 2, moved to advertise the job, which drew a substitute motion from Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene to accept Wiegel’s recommendation. Greene’s motion failed, with only Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco voting with him.
Then Mickens turned back to Wiegel.
“Has Mr. Wiegel turned in his resignation for when he’s going to step down? How long are we going to keep this guy?” Mickens asked.
Wiegel confirmed he had not submitted a letter with an exact date for his departure.
“So we need you to do that before we go any further,” Mickens responded.
“I don’t need that,” Jones said.
“… This is about giving this gentleman enough respect in the job he has done to give him the opportunity to find someone to continue how well the department is being run,” Greene chimed in. “We owe it to him. We owe it to the city. … To request he resign right now, he could have done that a long time ago and left us in the lurch.”
Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard, who had earlier admitted Wiegel’s recommended hire was “more than qualified” but voiced support for advertising the position, tried to stop the argument.
“If you’re opening back up and (Wiegel’s recommendation) is going to apply, Mr. Wiegel’s not going anywhere no time soon, then what is the purpose of all of this?” he asked.
He then directly asked Wiegel, “Are you going anywhere any time soon?”
Wiegel did not respond.
Garrett offered her own defense of Wiegel, noting she had twice begged him not to retire and said his work was always done “in the spirit of excellence.”
“We cannot afford to lose Mr. Wiegel at this time,” she said. “We need (him) to make sure the next person is properly trained.”
As arguing continued, Beard leaned into his microphone and abruptly offered a second substitute motion to accept Wiegel’s recommendation.
This time, the vote split 3-3, with Beard voting with DiCicco and Greene. Gaskin then broke the tie in favor of the motion.
Confrontation in the lobby
After the open session, as Wiegel was standing in the lobby preparing to interview with The Dispatch, Mickens followed him out, pulled him to the side and twice told him, “Don’t come up here lying on me no more.”
As Mickens walked away, he added, “As far as I’m concerned, you can go ahead and go right now.”
Wiegel did not comment to The Dispatch about the confrontation with Mickens in the lobby. Neither he nor City Attorney Jeff Turnage would identify Wiegel’s recommended hire, with Turnage citing the employee would have to pass a standard drug screening before he could start working.
However, Wiegel confirmed former Lowndes County supervisor Jim Terry was the only other person who interviewed for the job and that he was not the one recommended.
Terry was convicted of fraud in 2007 and sentenced to 13 months in prison for misusing his county vehicle and county-issued fuel card for personal trips, according to previous Dispatch reporting.
Wiegel said he is “not so sure” the new hire would have applied again if the council had reopened the process.
“I don’t want to leave like this,” he said. “I’ve got a good department. … I’ve got some good people. The staff I have are like family to me, and I’d like to leave them in good hands.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 47 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
