Aldermen firm on hiring process

A battle for authority took a turn at the June 20 Holly Springs Mayor and Board of Aldermen meeting.

Aldermen refused to pass motions on hiring of new employees until the prospective candidate applications go through Human Resources.

With no action on motions to hire two men, one a lineman and another for right-of-way vegetation maintenance, Mayor Sharon Gipson apologized to applicants who waited for two and a half hours to go up for motions to hire.

The board of aldermen and mayor went into executive session at 6:32 p.m. and came out from behind closed doors at 8:22 p.m. They discussed personnel matters, hiring and prospective litigation, Gipson said. One employee in the police department was suspended three days without pay.

A number of prospective job applicants were shuffled in and out of executive session as well as some department heads.

Gipson thanked prospective employees who waited and told them they could remain or leave.

There were numbers of prospects looking for work in the water division, the electric department, and the police department. Four certified police officers were in the board room waiting to be interviewed before the board. One candidate had just graduated lineman school.

Ward 2 alderman Andre Jones clarified what was at hand.

“I want to make sure the narrative is clear as far as the hiring process,” he said. “The board expected it (a board order for the hiring process) to be carried out by the mayor of the city. This is what you get. We (the aldermen) have made concessions (to the mayor).”

Jones said the board of aldermen have approved about 90 percent of those prospective employees recommended by Gipson.

There has been a lengthy struggle, “tug-of-war,” between the mayor and the Human Resources department, going back since the early days of the administration, Jones said.

“I want to be clear the onus is not onus (the board of aldermen),” he said. “We have hired 90 percent of the mayor’s recommendations. If the board puts the application process with HR, we are in the process. The onus is not on this board. The onus should be, that we (the mayor and board) need to work together in order to hire our people.”

Ward 1 alderman Bernita Fountain picked up the narrative.

“We hope this process can get solved,” she said. “All three of you are great candidates. I’m hoping something will be said or done tonight where you all can come back before this board.”

Gipson rebutted.

“I want to say there is no tug of war,” she said. “This was not about a tug of war. This was about finding the best candidates. I understand what my role is, and my duties to the city. I have worked in several places with HR.

“There is a grave problem before this great city — individuals being outside their lanes. Yes, you have supported some candidates.

“I apologize to our employees who have worked straight through (the day) and came out tonight to support their candidates. Hopefully, at some point we will talk about right-of-ways, we will talk about outages, we will talk about employees. Some of y’all have skills to move things in the right direction.”

Ward 4 alderman Patricia Merriweather restated her position on the hiring process.

“The process the board adopted in November (2022) is that the director of HR — applications should processed by HR. That’s an ordinance that we adopted that we are asking the mayor to adhere to.

“No application should be going to an administrative assistant or anyone else but our Human Resources Director.”

Merriweather referenced the board order initiated and passed by the board of aldermen over a year ago.

“We are holding ourselves and our mayor to that ordinance that we passed. That’s what we are asking. We want the hiring process to be transparent. We want the hiring process to be fair. And we want it to be done in a manner … that the board is privy to the information of the candidates.”

“No application should go to anyone but HR,” she said. “HR receives the application, dates it and processes it. We adopted an (HR) ordinance a year ago. We have been dealing with HR since before we had a director.”

The alderman said the board is making the hiring process come up to standards.

“That’s what we are dealing with tonight,” Merriweather said.

“I plan to always follow the law to the best of my ability, so when something is in conflict for me, I can’t follow it,” Gipson said.