Controversy Over Pay Raises Puts Greater Focus On Atlanta Watershed Operations

The raises came to light in media reports Thursday. Mayor Kasim Reed responded in short order, saying they weren’t authorized and would be rescinded.

Natalyn Archibong, chair of the City Council committee that oversees Watershed, applauded Reed for the move but remains disturbed Macrina was able to award the pay raises in the first place.

“I don’t think morale can get any worse, let me say that. I think morale is very bad in that department and this doesn’t help,” said Archibong.

City code requires full Council approval for raises above 10 percent. All five Watershed employees passed that threshold but Council was never involved.

Reed’s office emailed a short statement Friday saying the pay raises were legal because they weren’t related to job performance. Instead, according to the statement, they were based on added job responsibilities or salary adjustments based on what outside employees in similar positions are making.

Despite that explanation, City Auditor Leslie Ward still has questions. She’s already auditing Watershed due to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost or stolen equipment.

“There’s cause for concern about the raises and the way they’ve possibly been handled,” said Ward.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Human Resources Commissioner Yvonne Cowser Yancey, a Reed appointee, signed off on the pay raises in January.

Councilwoman Archibong said the connections are troubling and vowed to get to the bottom of it.

“I’m very concerned about the employees and the ratepayers and that has been constant,” said Archibong.

She added while she doesn’t have the power to remove department heads, the mayor does.

“My question is, has the mayor lost confidence yet in his leadership team?”

In addition to the auditor’s office, the city’s law and human resources departments and the Atlanta Police Department are conducting an investigation of their own into Watershed operations.

Prior to the pay raises, most of the attention has focused on personnel issues between supervisors and their subordinates and rampant cases of lost and stolen equipment.

“When there is this chronic and repetitive history of inventory loss and lack of security and control over assets it raises the issue of who’s in charge,” said Archibong.

The head of one of Atlanta’s employee unions has suggested organized crime may be behind the lost equipment.

Ward said she’s aware of the allegation and is looking into it.

“We do see indications from time to time that some of these losses would be hard for a single person to accomplish,” said Ward.

City Council returns from spring recess Monday and the pay raise issue is expected to be a topic of discussion.