Rockdale Citizen

CONYERS - Rockdale County officials revealed they had four different versions of the job description for the finance director's position when Roselyn Miller was appointed as the new county finance director last week.The versions go back to 2003 and came up during the search process that ended last week when the Board of Commissioners voted 2 to 1 to approve Miller's appointment.At their regular meeting on July 28, the commissioners took the unusual step of calling a closed session in the middle of the regular meeting before agenda approval. After about 20 minutes, the commissioners reconvened in public meeting and added a revision of the finance director's job description onto the agenda, then approved it before moving on and approving Miller's appointment.Rockdale County spokeswoman Holly Lafontaine said the commissioners discussed only personnel matters in that closed session, as allowed under the state's Open Meetings Law, and that the vote immediately after returning into open session was legal.She said County Clerk Jennifer Rutledge was working on determining which version of the job description was correct to use during the course of searching for a finance director. That search had been ongoing since December when Mia Wilson resigned from the post."Jennifer was trying to research through the minutes to determine whether a) the 2003 version was ever adopted and b) were there any changes, amendments or updates to the description approved since," Lafontaine said. "For the sake of time, the board decided instead of her researching and pulling files the one (description) that said that equivalent education or experience combined would be considered."Controversy arose from the fact Miller was tapped as the new financial director with only a two-year associate's degree. The posted job description required a four-year bachelor's degree with a master's degree or CPA certification preferred.Residents who gathered at a work session and regular meeting last week also expressed concern when Miller, who is black, was appointed over the other announced candidate, Linda Nabors, who is white and a county financing reporting officer with a bachelor's degree and twice as much work experience.Rockdale County Commission Chairman Richard Oden said after the July 28 meeting that no changes were made to the qualifications required for the job and the college degree requirements remained.However, in copies of the different versions of the job description provided to the Citizen, the fourth bullet point for qualifications stated "an equivalent combination of education, training and experience."The version approved by the commissioners last week inserted the word "or" in that bullet point and follows requirements for a bachelor's degree, 10 years of "progressively responsible financial management experience" and a master's degree or CPA certification preferred.Also, versions of the job description posted on the county's Web site and inside the county's Human Resources office this year had the wording "must have a master's degree" in the list of qualifications. Another version dated from 2006 had a bachelor's degree listed as qualification. The 2003 version, noted as being prepared by the Atlanta Regional Commission, did not include educational or work experience requirements.Lafontaine also disagreed with Commissioner JaNice Van Ness's assertion that the fourth job description version appeared to her for the first time during the closed session in last week's regular meeting.Van Ness voted against the job description revision and Miller's appointment.Lafontaine also presented minutes from two previous work sessions on June 1 and June 8 where education requirements for the finance director's position were on the agenda. However, the minutes of those two work sessions indicated no action or discussion occurred on the proposed changes. The item was deferred on June 1 and then deleted from the agenda on June 8.Jay Jones can be reached at jay.jones@rockdalecitizen.com