Commission, community divided over official’s resignation

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    LEESBURG, Georgia (Albany Herald ) — What started with apparent confusion by Lee County commissioners over a pay raise for county employees has led to the resignation of Lee County Co-Manager Mike Sistrunk and now to a series of public Letters to the Editor and an effort to have Commission Chairman Billy Mathis resign or be removed from office.

Following press announcements of Sistrunk’s resignation, including his assertion that he was threatened and belittled by Mathis, Commission Vice Chairman John Wheaton, Commissioner Rick Muggridge, former Commissioner Greg Fritch and Mathis have all written letters of their own to area newspapers.

In a letter to the Lee County Ledger, Wheaton wrote, “On February 22, Lee County Co-manager Michael Sistrunk submitted his resignation letter. It contained a number of complaints against Commissioner Billy Mathis. One specific situation was sited. Otherwise, there were very vague charges.

“Having worked closely with Chairman Mathis, I can assure you I have not been witness to specific, nor vague, situations of disrespect or behavior that compromise the county. As do we all, Chairman Mathis works diligently to ensure responsible and beneficial decision-making and conduct.

“There have been concerns over Mr. Sistrunk’s performance for some time. In light of those, the commission voted to dismiss him, effective immediately, as opposed to the May 21st date he had suggested in his letter of resignation. We believe this to be the best course of action and in the best interest of the county.

In a subsequent interview, Mathis clarified that Sistrunk’s employment was not terminated but that the commission had accepted his resignation effective May 21, 2021, per his request.

In an interview with Wheaton concerning his motivation in writing his letter, the Lee commissioner stated he had concerns over missing County property and Sistrunk’s conduct while he was employed as county manager.

Asked about the issue of property, Wheaton said, “Well, one thing was a horse trailer that would disappear at times. Then there was a hay ring he had at his house for a long time.

“Since I’ve been on the commission, and I’ll tell him this, he seems to have a problem with the truth. He was belittling people. It was reported he had the habit of spending time with younger opposite sex for some reason. The commission sets policy and orders, if you will, that need to be followed and fulfilled. It just wasn’t happening. There were some instances when payroll was messed up … there was just a bunch of stuff going on.”

Asked if there were employees who could verify the accusation of inappropriate behavior, Wheaton offered no names.

“I don’t know because that was told to me, and I’m not going to divulge who told it to me,” he said. “I’m not going to do it. But that was the general consensus that I’m hearing these things.”

Asked how long the commission had been aware of such accusations, Wheaton said that it had been a topic of discussion for months and he had brought it up on several occasions.

Sistrunk said the comments by Wheaton are typical of certain members of the board.

“All I can say is, it just proves my point,” the now former county manager said. “He’s the vice chairman, and this is how they work: insults, accusations, demeaning comments. I’m just very disappointed in them. I hope the Lee County citizens know (the accusations mentioned by Wheaton) didn’t happen. My interest has always been in the county; it’s always been the county. I have no interest in doing the things he has accused me of doing.”

Wheaton also said that Sistrunk was responsible for confusion over a recent employee raise agreement and had been responsible for payroll and accounting errors.

Muggridge, however, said the confusion over employee raises was not caused by Sistrunk.

“I’m not on those premises daily, (but) my understanding is Mike had no part in that,” Muggridge said. “The misunderstanding — and I was the one that misunderstood — was because when Chairman Mathis explained the raises and the amounts, he made a point that the raise for the sheriff’s department was a flat rate across the board. He never said that about EMS. We were provided printed material. The printed material did not show a flat amount across the board.

“That printed material was also given to the press and appeared in press outlets. What I thought I voted on was obviously different than what Chairman Mathis thought he voted on. When staff reviewed the minutes and the tape of the meeting, they also were unclear. Oftentimes people think they are saying one thing and people hear another. Communication is one of the biggest opportunities for success and failure. For me if there were printed material in the packet that’s what we voted on. Maybe my peers didn’t review the printed material and Mr. Sistrunk didn’t have anything to do with that. That was the chairman and the finance director who put that together was my understanding, so I don’t know how (Sistrunk) could have any blame in that. I believe Mike Sistrunk is one of the most honest men I have ever known, as well as one of the hardest working.”

In his letter sent to the Herald and printed in this edition, Mathis said, “It is telling that (Sistrunk) decided to lash out shortly after I asked to discuss with the entire Board of Commissioners his inability to work with multiple county department heads.”

Asked which department heads had such an opinion, Mathis said, “I’m happy for you to talk to those people, but I’d like to talk to them first to make sure they want to talk to you. We never discourage people from talking to the media.”

Mathis called later to say that one employee who had complained about Sistrunk’s leadership was not interested in talking to the press and another would call. However, at the Herald’s press time, no one had contacted the newspaper on a number left for comment.

“I didn’t want to write the letter, but since you didn’t give me an opportunity to respond in your first article, I didn’t think I had a choice,” Mathis said. “I don’t like to comment on personnel matters, but people have asked me to respond and I don’t think I have a choice since Sistrunk delivered his letter to all the media outlets. Your first article didn’t allow me a response. I will always be open and honest. I just want to be on a level field.”

All commission discussions regarding Sistrunk’s behavior took place in Personnel Committee meetings or executive sessions and did not appear to have a significant negative impact on the commission when that board elected to give Sistrunk a new one-year contract at the end of last year. Mathis did say that his one regret in this matter was he “helping to hire someone who was not qualified for the job.”

Just as the commission appears to be divided on the events and actions leading up to Sistrunk’s resignation, the citizens of the county are divided as well. Mathis asserts that many in the community have contacted him in regard to what he sees as unfair treatment by the media. At the same time, a citizen of the county reached out to the Herald in regard to a petition currently circulating in the county to have Mathis resign or be removed from office.

“We currently have about 6,500 signatures and hope to get more,” one of the petition leaders said. He noted that the group is working to be placed on the agenda of the County Commission meeting this month to officially voice their concerns.

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