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So, she conveniently left the 'reasons for leaving' section blank and this didn't raise any red flags? Nobody bothered to check her references? Was she required to provide any? wth???
Faced with the likely alternative of being fired in public with an Augusta Commission vote, General Counsel Chiquita Johnson has called it quits.
She signed an agreement to resign Monday in exchange for a severance package, City Administrator Fred Russell confirmed. Her resignation will be effective at 9 a.m. today, he said.
Mr. Russell wouldn't give details about the package, and he said he would not provide a copy of the document until after he puts it before the commission, which will likely vote to accept her resignation today.
Under her contract, Ms. Johnson is entitled to six months' pay if she's terminated, and Mr. Russell would not say what, if anything, she was offered beyond that. She earns $125,000 a year.
Ms. Johnson did not return a message left on her cell phone voice mail seeking comment.
Hired as a staff attorney in October 2007 and named interim general counsel a month later, Ms. Johnson, 42, fell out of favor with commissioners during the past few months, with two -- Don Grantham and Joe Jackson -- saying publicly they would vote to fire her.
At the Dec. 15 commission meeting, she proposed ordinance and charter changes that would have increased the powers of the Law Department, giving her the authority to launch investigations into any city department, authority or contractor and power to hire any outside counsel of her choosing, without commission approval, as long as the cost didn't exceed $50,000.
She also proposed placing restrictions on the news media, illegally banning reporters from talking to commissioners in chambers and illegally limiting the number of cameras in the meeting room.
Both proposals were overwhelmingly rejected by the commission. A vote to go into a closed legal session also failed, with Mayor Pro Tem Alvin Mason saying afterward that he couldn't accept any legal advice from her. Mr. Mason also said he had been dissatisfied with recent advice she gave on the X-Mart and Teresa Smith lawsuits.
Another issue arose last week over the Law Department's spending on a Sam's Club card account, which was detailed in a report by The Augusta Chronicle .
Mr. Jackson responded angrily when told the department had run up nearly $5,000 in purchases that included silk trees, paintings and snacks.
According to finance records from Jan. 1 to Dec. 16, reviewed by The Chronicle under an open records request, the $4,897 Ms. Johnson's department spent was the highest debt incurred on any account except the sheriff's office's Criminal Investigation Division and the Recreation & Parks Department, which has multiple Sam's Club cards to buy concessions for sale.
While CID employees purchased equipment that included cameras and video recorders, Ms. Johnson's Sam's Club card was used to buy $673 in silk trees, $641 in office fans and air-sanitizing systems, $254 in Keurig coffee makers, a $219 water cooler appliance and a $197 painting. It was also used for candy, juices, sodas, coffee cake and office supplies, such as pens, file folders and a $243 shredder.
The Chronicle reported that nine months before Augusta hired her, Ms. Johnson was fired from a job with the Georgia Department of Public Safety's Legal Services Division for misuse of a government-issued American Express corporate card.
According to records obtained by the newspaper through an open records request, she used the card to buy items from the Home Shopping Network, grocery stores and pharmacies, restaurants and a women's clothing store.
This was apparently unknown to the commission search committee, led by Commissioner J.R. Hatney, that hired her. In her application with the city, sections where past jobs and reasons for leaving should be disclosed were left blank, as was most of the full form.
Commissioner Corey Johnson said Monday that he couldn't say whether he would have voted to fire her today, had it come to that.
Before making a decision, he said, he wanted to see research on how other cities' in-house city attorneys operate, how much they run up in expenses and how past Augusta city attorneys operated.
He said he has been dissatisfied with how long it takes the Law Department to research legal questions for commissioners. Overall, he said, he would have given Ms. Johnson a "C."
"There were some things that I disagreed with, but I didn't think she was awful," he said. "I wish her the best, wherever she goes."
Reach Johnny Edwards at (706) 823-3225 or johnny.edwards@augustachronicle.com.
Comments
So, she conveniently left the 'reasons for leaving' section blank and this didn't raise any red flags? Nobody bothered to check her references? Was she required to provide any? wth???
Good bye and good luck finding a job. LOL.......... Oh, happy new year too! ha...........
I think of this FIRING as the first step in taking back Augusta. Helpicantfindthespacebar.....When you have a majority group in the commision voting for you, it is easy to get in no matter what. This would not happen in today's commision because the select group cannot get their way anymore. Oh, did I mention that I think of this FIRING as the first step in taking back Augusta.
First Matt breaks the stupid race deadlock, now folks are free to speak and vote their minds. This would not be happening had Matt not been elected. They need to hire back Steve's firm and be done with an internal 'Law Department' stupid idea in the first place.
Love the government system! Take from the citizens, resign, then get a going away present to top it off... Well I would hope and pray that she only cost the tax payers less than a million dollars? salary$125.000 per year X 2,=$250.000, estimate on what she took $250.000=$500.000, Sams Club $4897.00,=$504.897 Atlanta Law firm,$50.000=$554.897, severance package,$75.000=$629.897, City legal fees and commisioners time to investigate and correct problem $100.000=$729.897, money to rehire someone else??? Well total is probably over a million dollars!!! Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Hey Hey, Good Bye!!
If her contract states she gets 6 months pay if terminated, why would she get anything? She is resigning. Secondly, what kinda contract pays people to get fired? Contracts should hold both sides accountable. Her contract gives her an incentive to be fired. I would think 6 months' pay is encouraging someone to behave poorly.
"Reverend" Hatney needs to be investigated for corruption because of her being hired in the first place. At the very least, he's incompetent, but I think it's more than that. Also, Corey Johnson needs to be voted out of office for his lack of either stones or common sense. He probably lacks both.
...and back to Atlanta she goes.
Now, on to the procurement department.
If anything I hope she reflects back and come to realize that having been in this position in BACKWARDS Augusta was a STEP BACK IN TIME. Hey wishing you all the best in your future career endeavors Ms. Johnson and please try not to LAUGH to hard at us on the way out.
She seems like a perfect fit for DC. Maybe she can come move in with you, Notreally. Just keep an eye on your credit cards....
Notreally, your attitude is obviously a cultural think, thinking Americans wouldn't understand.
Yeah, wishing her all the best as she in her endeavors to find someone else's money to squander. Are you part of the solution? Not really.
Banana.....split.
Come mister tallie man, tallie me bananas
Oh she will find another job because some other idiots will hire her without references and back ground checks just like Augusta did. Making 125,000.00 a year she shouldn't need to use a Sams Card, she should have bought food and silk trees from her own pocket. Greed will always get the best of people.. and Notreally is just another Justus4.
Now that she is leaving, the commissioners should call for a complete audit of the legal department. With her past history there may be more money wasted. What about the legal fees the Atlanta lawyers charged for the recent proposal she made. I also think Mr. Hatney and the person that did the personnel research on Ms. Banana should also be questioned and investigated. Someone failed the taxpayers in their hiring responsibilities.
Notreally - Is the only reason you are defending her based on the color of her skin? Even thou the facts state she had the same issue at a previous job? Would you feel the same if this person was of a different non-white race? What criteria was used to hire her? Was it a Affirmative action hire? Why? Why? Why?
From the 1922 Broadway show: We have-a no bananas today
We've string beans, and onions
Cabashes, and scallions,
And all sorts of fruit and say
We have an old fashioned tomato
A Long Island potato But yes, we have no bananas
We have no bananas today
How about a criminal investigation??
Where is justus4 this morning this is surely right up his alley. The story is surely racisit. He or She is usually all over stories of this type.
Small towns like augusta, will never become big cities, because they are so far behind the times, they will never catch up to other cities!! They worry about the smallest things!! They hired her in the first place because they got her cheap!! Ms Johnson will do better in a city , in the north.The south is just not ready for a top notch attorney!!!!
We have no banana's today, click, click! Oh happy day when they take Jerri away!
The city of Augusta is just damn dumb! If she was previously fired from a job for misuse of a government-issued American Express corporate card, why hire someone liike this?
You know this young lady had a reputation prior to being hired and you gave her the job. Now she has misused money and and you want to fire her. I guess a backgroung check doesn't matter in Augusta. Just keep wasting money. That's what Augusta is known for.
Why the severance package? If that type of behavior occured in the private sector she would have walked away with her tail between her legs. And not for nothing, she didn't know the law.
Notreally, spare us all your rhetoric. She shouldn't have been hired in the first place. There were so many red flags and yet she was hired because the Rev Hatney pushed for her to get this job. Politics as usual. Deals were made and broken....same ol' story.
Just hire a local law firm to do the legal work - they would actually know how to practice law and wouldn't have a contract to get a severance package if things didn't work out. A local law firm would be more accountable as their reputation as a firm would be on the line - as it should. Chiquita will simply look for another government job.
The law department obviously could not handle the work so they hired the Atlanta law firm to do much of the legal work at $225/hr. So the taxpayers paid Chiquitta $125,000, the additional salaries of the other attorneys and staff in the law department in addition to paying the Atlanta law firm and we still had poor representation - Teresa Smith, x-Mart, etc.
i know people who work for the city and what they have to do when a person is seeking employment with the city, and what all that person has to do and answer to prior to being hired.
why are people being hired that can ruin the city, steal, misappropriate funds, and embezzle funds for their own personal use, let alone not able to do the job they where hired for.
she should have criminal charges put against her, and made to replace the monies she misused.
also, the people that hired her should be accountable for they stupidity for for not checking her back ground, and references.
this newspaper found her checkered past, why couldn't the powers of hiring her do the same.
talk about the "good ole boy system" in reverse.
i know people who work for the city and what they have to do when a person is seeking employment with the city, and what all that person has to do and answer to prior to being hired.
why are people being hired that can ruin the city, steal, misappropriate funds, and embezzle funds for their own personal use, let alone not able to do the job they where hired for.
she should have criminal charges put against her, and made to replace the monies she misused.
also, the people that hired her should be accountable for they stupidity for not checking her back ground, and references.
this newspaper found her checkered past, why couldn't the powers of hiring her do the same.
talk about the "good ole boy system" in reverse.
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