John Culpepper
Jeri Heiskell whispers to incumbent Walker County commissioner candidate Bebe Heiskell at an election return party at Walker County Civic Center on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016, in Rock Spring, Ga.UPDATE: Walker County Commissioner Shannon Whitfield said John Culpepper resigned from the Walker County Water & Sewerage Authority board Wednesday. Whitfield plans to appoint himself to Culpepper's seat.
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Former Walker County, Ga., Commissioner Bebe Heiskell doesn't have a new job lined up, after all.
For about two months, John Culpepper said he and Heiskell privately discussed a potential customer service gig with the county's Water & Sewage Authority, where Culpepper serves on the board. But after Heiskell's replacement, Shannon Whitfield, criticized the authority for considering the hire, Culpepper halted conversations, even though he said Heiskell needs the money.
He no longer plans to propose hiring Heiskell during the authority's board meeting Tuesday.
"It's too volatile," Culpepper said. "The lady needs some help. I realized that. I wanted to see what I could do. [But hiring her is] detrimental to the Water Authority, due to public opinion."
Told about Culpepper's statement Tuesday, Whitfield said, "I hope the water board makes the right decision not to hire Bebe Heiskell at the Water Authority, in any capacity. The citizens are ready for Bebe to retire."
Culpepper, a longtime Heiskell ally, added he has typed a letter of resignation and is 98 percent sure he will hand it to Whitfield. He has been on the authority for two terms, dating back to June 2007, and his run is scheduled to end at the end of May. Whenever Culpepper leaves, Whitfield will appoint himself to the authority board, as Heiskell did when she was in office.
"My family don't need this," Culpepper said. "I don't need this. I need to just go about my life. I've paid my dues. I've been a good public servant."
Heiskell, who did not return calls seeking comment, served as the county's sole commissioner from 2001 through the end of last week, but Whitfield defeated her in November's election with 73 percent of the vote. He took office Sunday.
In Walker County, the commissioner appoints five people to the authority board, one person per year. Each appointment lasts five years, so the commissioner picks a new member every year. But for the most part, the authority is actually independent of the local government. To function, it relies on customers paying their water bills - not taxes.
If he's not on the authority board, Whitfield has no power over whether the entity hires Heiskell. And for weeks, he said, he has been leery of her receiving a job, ever since a county employee gave him a tip that she had a plan in place. Some of her final decisions in office made Whitfield even more suspicious.
On Dec. 22, Heiskell transferred the title of her county-owned Ford Explorer to the authority, allowing her to continue driving the vehicle if she switched jobs. On Dec. 29, she accepted the resignations of three of the authority's five board members. That allowed her to appoint replacements two days before she left office.
Whitfield tried to block both moves in court. Judge Ralph Van Pelt ruled last week that the transfer of the SUV's title was invalid because Heiskell did not do it during a public meeting. However, Van Pelt also said Heiskell had every right to appoint new members to the authority, seeing that she was still in office.
Whitfield and his attorney, Clifton "Skip" Patty, said that Heiskell testified during the court hearing that she had discussions about a job at the authority. But, she added, nobody had offered her a job. Later, during a public meeting, a resident asked her the same question.
"I've talked to a lot of people about that," Heiskell said. "But I don't have a promise anywhere. I'm just going to be on my own for a little while."
Whitfield said he believed Heiskell only made the last-minute appointments to the authority board to "stack" the vote in her favor at some point this year, when the board would hire her for a job.
Whitfield also believed the authority would hire Heiskell for more than $100,000, based on what he said he learned from county employees, who supposedly heard the figure straight from Heiskell. But Culpepper said the salary information isn't true.
"Was a six-figure salary ever discussed? Hell, no," Culpepper said. "Was the possibility of a job at the water authority ever brought up? Hell, yes. And it was initiated by me."
Culpepper said Heiskell, who made about $110,000 a year as a county commissioner, needs a job to pay her bills.
"I don't think she came out of office under the best financial shape," he said. "I really don't. She needs to work. She's 76 or 77 years old. I do have compassion for people."
He believed she would be a good fit in the authority's office because she can charm unhappy customers. He said people who think their bills are too high sometimes show up to the office, yelling and cursing and "throwing things" at administrative assistants. He believes Heiskell could calm them down.
Also, he said, Heiskell has political connections that could help the authority secure infrastructure grants offered by the federal government under the Trump administration.
ASHBURN OUT
Whitfield said Tuesday that he is firing David Ashburn, the county's former emergency management director. The new commissioner announced earlier this week that he had hired Blake Hodge, the fire chief of Garden City in south Georgia, to fill the role, which covers the 911 center, the fire and rescue team and the cave rescue team.
Ashburn also oversaw codes enforcement, building maintenance and the planning and zoning department. Whitfield said other county administrators will take on those roles, though he wasn't sure Tuesday who specifically will handle which responsibilities.
Whitfield said Ashburn should not be a county employee while working as the authority's general manager. He won't work for the local government after this week.
Ashburn said he has been a county employee for 25 years, holding many roles in the sheriff's office, the roads department and emergency services. He said he started the fire department and 911 center while also organizing the ambulance service when the county ran the operation.
The county paid Ashburn about $88,000 a year, Whitfield said.
MONTHLY MEETINGS
Whitfield will hold commissioner meetings at 6:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. They will take place in his office on Duke Street in LaFayette. He wanted to hold the meetings at the Walker County Civic Center in Rock Spring, he said, but state law dictates commissioner meetings have to occur in the county seat, LaFayette.
Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423-757-6476 or tjett@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.