The Baldwin Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) pay is not the lowest salary for that position in the county as stated by Councilmember Alice Venter. Baldwin is also not the only city in Habersham County with a female CAO.
Both claims were made during Baldwin’s City Council meeting Tuesday night. Those claims came during a heated debate about the CAO’s proposed salary increase. Venter became agitated during the discussion with Councilmember Joseph Satterfield. Satterfield questioned the 10% salary increase Venter had proposed during a previous meeting for the CAO position.
Venter has staunchly advocated for the increase, an increase that she states was not requested by Chief Administrative Officer Emily Woodmaster.
Satterfield apparently did some research on his own that Venter did not appreciate. He discussed the job duties of the city manager in Demorest with current City Manager Mark Musselwhite. Part of his debate was that Musselwhite had several years of experience in various areas. Satterfield remained calm and unwavering during the debate.
Habersham CAO’s
Habersham County has seven municipalities with only five of those cities having a Chief Administrative Officer or equivalent. Their salaries range from $75,000 to $147,790. Now Habersham contacted four of the five cities in light of the debate Tuesday evening.
Tallulah Falls City Administrator/City Clerk Linda Lapeyrouse is the lowest paid of all the CAO’s in Habersham County and performs numerous duties for the small town that straddles the Habersham/Rabun County line.
The town’s website outlines the duties that Lapeyrouse performs, including City Clerk, Zoning Administrator, and Finance Director. Her salary is $75,000 a year, and she has 22 years of government experience and numerous certifications.
Clarkesville City Manager Keith Dickerson is the next lowest paid of the CAOs. He is paid an annual salary of $94,554. He has 26 years of experience in municipal government in various management positions, the last nine and a half of which have been as city manager.
Baldwin CAO Emily Woodmaster is in the middle of the list regarding salaries. She is currently paid $104,000 annually. She began her municipal career in 2018 when she was hired as the city clerk. Woodmaster has held the CAO title for the last three years. She is a Certified City Clerk and received the Certified Public Manager certification from UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government.
Demorest City Manager Mark Musselwhite has an annual salary of $123,300. His background is not solely in government but covers a broad spectrum of experience. He has 6 years of government experience, including his time with Demorest. He has 10 years of experience as a commercial lender with various banks in the Gainesville area and owned his own business for 12 years before that.
Cornelia City Manager Dee Anderson is the highest-paid on the list, with an annual salary of $147,790. He began his career in Tybee Island and has 25 years of experience in local government, nearly half of that time as City Manager for Cornelia.
The towns of Alto and Mt. Airy currently do not have CAO positions. However, both towns have women in key senior management positions.
Audits
During Tuesday night’s meeting, Venter also told Satterfield that the city was behind on their audits for six years when she came on the council. “You know, when I came on the Council, we had not had an audit in six years,” she said.
Now Habersham reviewed the audits during the time that Venter has been on the Council. She was sworn-in at the beginning of January 2018.
The city was behind only two audits when she took office, FY 2016 and FY 2017. Her first year in office, the city fell behind with FY 2018. However, in 2019, all three audits were completed and submitted to the State Auditor’s Office.
Below is a chart demonstrating the audits that the city was behind on since that time.
During that time, Baldwin had an accounting firm assisting staff with bookkeeping and a separate firm that conducted audits. In 2019, the city hired a Finance Manager replacing the accounting firm that provided bookkeeping services and retained a separate firm to conduct annual audits. In 2021, the Finance Manager left Baldwin to take the same position with the city of Cornelia.
Since 2021, the Chief Administrative Officer has provided all financial oversight of the city with the exception of the audits. However, she recommends to the City Council who the auditor should be.
A further review of the city’s audits states that in its findings the city cannot always segregate duties due to the limited personnel. This audit finding is in nearly every financial statement that is available online through the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government. The recommendation from the auditor to resolve the segregation of duties was also nearly the same, to strengthen internal controls and segregate duties when possible.
For FY 2022, the audit finding remained but the recommendation changed somewhat. “Because of limited resources and personnel, management may not be able to properly address this finding, but checks and balances should be strengthened between the Accounting Department, City Manager, Mayor and City Council to offset deficiency.”
Further review of the available financial reports online, it was noticed that the FY 2023 Financial Report was not available.
Now Habersham requested a copy of the city’s FY 2023 Financial Report from Woodmaster. She has not responded to that request.
Now Habersham contacted the State Auditor’s Office to receive a copy of the report. According to Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts Director Carol Schwinne, “The City has not yet submitted its FY 2023 Financial Report to our Department for the required desk review. The report was due to us no later than December 31, 2023. The City of Baldwin is currently on the noncompliant list since they have not submitted the report to us,” she said in her email response.
By being placed on the non-compliant list, the city is not eligible to receive any grants from the state and federal government. The city is still eligible to receive private grants.
