Hamilton County Commissioners, thank you for enacting a new civil service umbrella for the county government employees. Your collective response to age discrimination and the hostile work environment created in the firing of county attorney Rheubin Taylor is pure brilliance. The civil service board will help protect county government employees from political firings and being cheated out of their career.
A hostile work environment is unproductive; and therefore, it was incumbent upon the elected commissioners to act. The commission meeting was a display of leadership where viable solutions were presented creating civil service protections for employees.
But wait, what about the constitutional offices and their employees?
Are the constitutional offices also included? If someone knows, please share. I am thinking that only general government is covered by the new civil service umbrella.
Hamilton County government has always sought to retain employee talent, and has historically instituted employee benefits that are earned through longevity in service and being vested in the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System. Full retirement is attainable after 30 years of employment in the retirement system. A milestone is met after 20 years. The county benefits are structured to motivate and retain talent. The decision to retire from employment is a very personal and financial decision, and no one should be forced to retire due to age or terminated due to politics.
While the newly elected Wamps are versed in political strategy and shiny new in positions usually occupied by people with more age and life experience, neither one has any experience managing people. The county mayor’s lack of management experience is painfully evident and on full display to Hamilton County employees.
County Commissioners, please consider the political impact on employees that were formerly in the District Attorney’s Office. A mass exodus of career employees occurred followed by political firings. It is a testament to what job fear and a hostility towards career employees looks like. Decades of professional service to Hamilton County was lost in one election cycle.
District Attorney Wamp was recently quoted by the Times Free Press on Clint Cooper’s page, “the District Attorney’s office was in worse shape than she ever imagined.” Could it be that a mass exodus of decades long career employees and firings impacted the operation of the district attorney’s office?
I have removed the former employees’ names out of respect for their privacy, as they are not politicians and were simply supporting their families through career.
District Attorney Wamp Fired
Employee 1, hired 10/1/2009 - 12 years, 11 months of service
Employee 2, hired 6/5/2006 - 16 years, 3 months of service
Employee 3, hired 12/1/09 - 12 years, 9 months
Employee 4, hired 11/4/2002 - 19 years, 10 months
Resigned After Wamp Won Primary
Employee 5, hired 7/1/2018 -21 years of service
Employee 6, hired 12/1/2007 - 14 years, 9 months of servcie
Employee 7, hired 2/2/2013 - 9 years of service
Employee 8, hired 7/25/2015 - 7 years of service
Employee 9, hired 11/1/2018 - 4 years of service
Employee 10, hired 1/17/1989 - 33 years of service
The civil service umbrella should be extended to the constitutional offices of Hamilton County, if not already applicable to these offices. The exodus from the district attorney’s office speaks volumes to the need of civil service protections for the constitutional offices.
As Gerald Mason has written, let’s all work across the aisle. Let’s please recognize that firing career employees due to age, or political motives is simply wrong, and costs the taxpayers in lost institutional knowledge.
Y’all be blessed.
April Eidson
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I am not a county constitutional officer. I represent the 11th Judicial District of the State of Tennessee.
I have, however, had experience with civil service. During my time at the Sheriff’s Office I was heavily involved in the civil service process. The ability for law enforcement agencies to adopt civil service was created pursuant to the County Sheriff’s Civil Service Law of 1974. It would seem that municipalities and airport authorities also have the ability to adopt civil service models. I will be very interested to see how and through what authority the county plans to implement civil service for county general government. It’s disastrous, in my opinion. And cultivates laziness. I’d be happy to discuss my experience with any commissioner who calls. Good luck to them.
There was no mass exodus from my office. We had no more turnover than other districts with contested elections. But the turnover in employees did not create dysfunction. The dysfunction was created by a lack of leadership, transparency, presence, and direction. The dysfunction was created by the former district attorney and his wife ignoring state law. The dysfunction was created because on a daily basis no one knew if they were going to be fired.
The chaos began when the employees were told in January of 2022 that they would be fired if they spoke to me. It continued when the employees had to line up against a wall and enter Neal’s office one by one to be questioned about who took a photo of his cleaned-out office in May. It was exacerbated by repeated pleas to employees for campaign contributions.
The worst of the chaos was this summer was when the district attorney decided to stop doing his job and stop showing up at the office. It occurred when top assistant district attorneys could not get ahold of their boss because he changed his phone number. A records request with the Sheriff’s Office could show how many days the district attorney showed up to his office this summer.
I am very proud of my office. I am proud of the employees that decided to stay with me, and the 16 new employees that I have since hired. We’re rebuilding. Some of my employees are still recovering from the chaos of the past. We’re looking to the future. And as a steward of taxpayer dollars, I will always try to hire the best attorneys that I can find. If an attorney or a member of my support staff is not representing and serving this district well, I will make the difficult retention decisions. That’s called leadership.
Our progress will continue and your desperate opinion pieces will continue. To each their own.
Coty Wamp
District Attorney General