After months of searching, the Demorest City Council recently appointed former Gainesville Mayor Mark Musselwhite as its new city manager.
But the move Monday night did not come without controversy.
Hired on a 3 to 1 vote, with councilman John Hendrix dissenting, Musselwhite faces an internal investigation after longtime Demorest Public Works Director Brian Popham filed a harassment complaint against him.
Popham resigned on April 6 after filing his complaint with city attorney Thomas Mitchell. He has since returned to the job.
Musselwhite was named interim city manager last December, soon after Kim Simonds resigned. Councilmember Dr. John Hendrix spoke candidly about his feelings regarding Musselwhite being hired full-time during the council’s April 17 meeting.
“Absolutely [I] cannot go along with that for the simple fact that we have an employee with a 27-year history that has filed a complaint, and we have had an investigation,” Hendrix stated.
Hendrix pointed to a document he said was presented to the council on April 4. He said the complaint was investigated, but that information was not presented to the council weeks ago when they voted to move forward with the city manager appointment.
“The city manager is a powerful position which is paid by the taxpayers and directly impacts the powers, inclusiveness, and quality of life in our city,” he said, noting that Demorest follows EEOC guidelines against discrimination in hiring. “The city also does not condone and specifically prohibits harassment of employees by other employees, supervisors, or officials.”
Dr. Hendrix, who has been embroiled in employment disputes in the past, specifically his support for Simonds firing police chief Robin Krockum, eluded to some of the complaints against Musselwhite.
“As the city manager, one of the chief responsibilities is to manage our city employees successfully without having to tell the interim city manager to back off and other city employees feeling disrespected and having to mention that he may be too hard on employees at times.”
Hedrix explains that having a key department head with 27 years of experience to resign without having any complaints during his tenure demonstrates a “toxic management style” and a “mismanagement of the city.”
Details of the allegations against Musselwhite have not been released.
Demorest Councilmember Donnie Bennett expressed a different view of Musselwhite’s appointment.
“As a councilman, my job is to represent the people that live in the city of Demorest. It’s also my job as an elected official to represent our police and fire departments.”
He said he gave his personal phone number to every fireman and policeman in Demorest to get feedback from them to take into consideration for his vote.
“They are the people that work with the city manager. I did not have a single person say anything other than, ‘You need to vote for Mark.’ You need to bring Mark in.”
Bennett also stated that he had residents who voted for him come to his house and give him their feedback.
“This is a personnel decision. Not a personal decision,” Bennett said.
Now Habersham spoke with Musselwhite about the complaint. He says he has not seen the complaint nor the internal investigative report. However, he confirms he has been deposed by city attorney Mitchell.
According to Musselwhite, Brian Popham filed the complaint with Mitchell on April 4, and then on April 6, Popham left his keys and city phone with Mitchell. On Friday, April 7, Demorest Mayor Jerry Harkness spoke with Popham and returned his keys and city phone. Monday morning, April 10, Popham was back on the job.
“If I have done something to hurt Brian’s feelings, we can discuss it, and I am more than willing to look him in the eye, shake his hand, and apologize to him,” says Musselwhite.
Now Habersham has requested a copy of Popham’s complaint, resignation letter, and internal investigative report from the city attorney’s office. Now Habersham was advised that the investigative report won’t be available until April 22. The city has not provided a copy of Popham’s complaint nor his resignation letter.
After numerous executive sessions discussing the matter, the city council whittled the pool of applicants for city manager down to three finalists at the end of March. Those three finalists were interviewed again during an executive session at the April 3 city council meeting.
The two other finalists were Joseph Hayes and Daniel Magee. According to LinkedIn, Hayes is the current Public Works Director and former Interim City Manager for the city of Hoschton.
