Four years, and still no city auditor

New York City has one. So does Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, Houston, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Dallas and Chicago. Atlanta does not.↵↵
↵Four years after Georgia's General Assembly revised Atlanta's city charter and created the position of city internal auditor, the position remains vacant. This void makes Atlanta one of the largest municipalities in the country to lack a city-employed sentry, a person to guard a budget that consistently has exceeded $400 million since 1995.↵↵
↵And after last Monday's City Council meeting, Atlanta may have lost its best candidate.↵↵
↵During an eight-hour meeting April 3, the Council voted 8-4 to approve legislation that would have established a special retirement benefits plan for the leading city auditor candidate. The adoption removed the last negotiating hurdle, according to councilman Lee Morris, and did so before the candidate's April 15 deadline.↵↵
↵The legislation, however, was scuttled by councilman Derrick Boazman, who later moved to reconsider the ordinance. Boazman's parliamentary maneuver could not be challenged, and effectively tabled the legislation until the next City Council meeting May 8. (The Council is in recess April 17-30, with committees meeting during the first week in May.)↵↵
↵Boazman, who with councilors Cleta Winslow, Sherry Dorsey and Jim Maddox voted against the ordinance, said his motion does not reflect a reluctance to have an auditor, but rather indicates a fear of a slippery slope.↵↵
↵"I have supported the auditor position from day one," Boazman said from his office. "The issue I raised is simply an issue of the compensation package. We're being asked to create a special pension plan for one individual. If you do that for her, then all 8,000 city employees will say 'I need a plan too.'" The position is slated to pay $105,972 per year.↵↵
↵The candidate's name is being withheld pending her acceptance or rejection of the offer. All Council members agreed during Monday's meeting, however, that the candidate is eminently qualified.↵↵
↵Morris, who authored the ordinance, strongly disagreed with the thought that Boazman's motion was simply about not placing one above all. "We've been struggling for the last four years to make it a reality and we're half an inch away, and suddenly there are hurdles," he said, explaining that the candidate would not vest under the city's existing retirement package, a problem viewed as the reason the city lost two prior candidates. "Intentionally or unintentionally, I think the people who voted against this are casting a vote against a city auditor."↵↵
↵The issue facing the city is one that many businesses are facing: how far does an employer deviate from policy so it can attract talent for senior executive positions? During the Council meeting, many members debated whether the city made special compensation arrangements for Benjamin R. DeCosta, the general manager of Hartsfield International Airport.↵↵
↵When Mayor Bill Campbell appointed him in April 1998 to Hartsfield's top post, DeCosta was a manager at Newark International Airport in New Jersey. In 1998, Campbell and the Council approved for DeCosta a compensation package worth more than $160,000 annually, including more than $13,000 in annual benefits. Zee Bradford, the city's media relations manager, confirmed that the city is paying DeCosta's benefits through his former employer, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, instead of into the City of Atlanta's defined pension plan.↵↵
↵"Both the Mayor and City Council approved the unique situation for three reasons," Bradford wrote in a response to CL's questions. "One, this arrangement did not require creating a whole new pension plan. Two, there was no opposition by employee groups or the Pension Board. And three, with all due respect to a city auditor, one cannot equate the position of general manager of Hartsfield and that of a city auditor."↵↵
↵Bradford added that while Campbell has no concerns with the candidate and that he would approve her nomination upon City Council confirmation, the city fears that making a concession here would set a precedent for future hires, and is unnecessary to attract a qualified city auditor.
~hc~ diamond dingbat -->