How Much Money Did You Say Wayne Gay Got

Pardon us for saying but this is one "Damn Doozy" of a story... And it's gonna take you a while to get through it. Just in case you haven't read it. After several requests of readers asking us to put it on the blog, we all agreed we needed to make it happen. So here you go. You're gonna need some time to get through this one. Ordinarily, we wouldn't put an article this lengthy on the blog...but since so many of you have asked we wanted to honor your request. The article is called Pay Hike & Politics written by Wilson Times staff writer Janet conner-Knox.
Pay Hikes & Politics How Wilson County's 2 highest paid public employees landed 5-figure pay raises: A Wilson Times special report by Janet Conner-Knox

During the time period when county employees did not get cost-of-living raises, the two highest paid employees, County Manager Ellis Williford and Sheriff Wayne Gay received significant pay increases.

Gay went from a base salary of just over $133,000 to a base salary of $144,517. He received a total salary package of $160,977.20, after getting an increase in 2009. Williford's salary went from a base of $133,838 to a base salary of $153,443. His salary package now totals $164,196. Those salary packages include both men receiving more than $5,000 for their longevity on the job, and car allowances of $9,765 for Gay and $5,400 for Williford. Additionally, the sheriff gets a $913.94 uniform allowance.

Democrats on the Wilson County Board of Commissioners and Williford said all of the increases were done legally and Williford's increase was voted on in a budget amendment. Republican commissioners said they weren't fully aware of what was going on, they didn't get all of the information they asked for, they aren't sure if the increases were done properly and they didn't vote in favor of the increases.

Republicans also said they are concerned with the public transparency of the process and how county business is handled. Democrats said all commissioners get the same information and all commissioners were called to get their input.

Williford said there wasn't a salary freeze. First, Williford said there needs to be a better understanding of what is meant by "freeze." "There was no freeze on county salaries," Williford said. "There were no cross the board increases given. No cost of living." Williford said no cost-of-living increases have been granted since 2008, making this the third fiscal year county employees have not gotten a cost-of-living raise.

Reclassifications mandated by the state were given during that time, according to Williford. So, for instance, a Nurse 1 could become a Nurse 2 with reclassification. He said a few reclassifications were granted in the past two years. Originally, Williford was asked about pay increases five months ago, but he declined to talk about it citing the law would not allow him to discuss salaries outside of the current fiscal year.

SHERIFF/COUNTY PREDICAMENT
Each Monday morning the county manager along with the board's chair and vice-chair meet to discuss business, Williford said. No decisions can be made because it isn't a formal meeting with a quorum and public notices announced, but Williford said those informal meetings are helpful.

"It helps the chair and vice-chair know what's coming up as far as board meetings, educational opportunities, training opportunities and just to be in sync with who is going to which function and who will represent the county at those functions," Williford said.

Sheriff Gay said he went to the informal Monday morning meeting in January of 2009 with Williford, Frank Emory, chairman, and Sid Boyette, vice chairman, to tell them about his impending resignation.

"I was only there to give them information," Gay said. "I never asked for a raise. But I thought they needed to know that I was going to resign and they would need to hire a new sheriff in about four months when I left."

Gay said the new position offered more money and he needed that increase, but he never asked the commissioners for an increase nor did he say at that meeting he would stay if he were offered more money. Gay said his purpose was not to ask for money, but to let them know he was being considered for a federal appointment. Williford agreed Gay did not ask for a raise.

"He was asked was there anybody in the department that could succeed him and the county not miss a beat," Williford said. "And he was pretty reluctant to say yes. He didn't say there wasn't anybody, but he really didn't feel anybody could step into his shoes with what was going on with animal enforcement and the other issues, law enforcement issues." Gay said he didn't have a second in command. He said his three majors have specific duties.

Former Sheriff's Major John Farmer was in charge of patrol and the detective division, Major Chris Boykin was in charge of civil process, school resource officers and courthouse security. Major Donna Dixon is in charge of detention, according to Gay.

Williford said after Gay left the meeting, they began talking about their options.Gay leaving at that time could have meant a long wait to fill his shoes, Williford said. "The first problem is mechanics. The Democratic executive committee would have met and made a recommendation, the board of commissioners would've had appointed, how long could that have taken?" Williford said. "Would there have been a controversy amongst the group? Would the end result have meant a smooth transition or not a smooth transition? We had already had the sheriff say there may or may not have been a suitable replacement available."

Williford said there were so many things to consider and it was a time of great controversy and criticism, particularly with animal control. "It's a matter of priority," Williford said. "I mean we have unwanted children. Who takes greater importance, unwanted animals or unwanted children? It becomes a matter of political priority. At that point animal enforcement had an extremely high priority with all of the commissioners. The needs for children are horrific, but the (animal) activist groups pushed it to the forefront." Williford, Boyette and Emory all said they agreed it would be good to keep the sheriff.

POLLING THE COMMISSIONERS
Boyette said he told Emory and Williford he would call all of the county commissioners to see if they would like to keep Gay in his position. "I made a contact with all of them," Boyette said. "I'm sure that everybody knew that there was a raise involved."

Boyette said he asked Williford to talk to the sheriff to see if he would stay for $10,000. Boyette said they didn't want to be put in the position of offering the increase to the sheriff, he takes the increase and then leaves Wilson County anyway.

"He (Gay) said he would (stay), and that's what all seven of the members were notified," Boyette said. "Everybody understood." Commissioner Roger Lucas said Boyette asked him would he like Gay to stay as Wilson's sheriff. "I told him, we've had our sheriff for a while, if he wants to stay I would love to have Sheriff Gay stay," Lucas said. "You don't find counties that have experienced sheriffs like him all of the time - but if he wants to leave, let him."

Lucas said Boyette told him giving Gay a raise would allow them, as commissioners, to negotiate his staying in office. "I said, 'No,'" Lucas said. "I asked him 'doesn't he (Gay) have a right-hand man that's trained to take over?'" Boyette indicated to Lucas that was not the case, Lucas said. Lucas said he didn't realize Gay stayed because he received a raise. "I thought they talked to him and he changed his mind; he decided to stay," Lucas said. "I'm an old country boy. Words mean things to me, so if you don't come back and tell me you're going to do a certain thing, I don't expect it to be there."

Lucas and fellow Republican Commissioner Tim Williford said they believed the phone call from Boyette would lead to a full board discussion, with the public present, to see if the raise would be granted.

Lucas and Tim Williford are the only two Republicans on the board. The other members are Democrats. Gay is a Democrat as well. Tim Williford said he got the same call asking his thoughts on the raise to keep the sheriff.

"I received a phone call telling me that another agency wanted the sheriff and didn't I think he should stay as our sheriff," Tim Williford said. "I agreed we should keep him. I didn't take that to mean that there would be a 10 percent increase in his salary. He just asked did I want him to stay and I said yeah. It never came before the board in an open session. I don't believe there is any paperwork on it."

Lucas said with county money as tight as it was, he would never have gone along with a pay increase for the sheriff. Commissioner Josephine Edwards confirmed she also received a phone call about a raise for the sheriff. She said she believes county business is handled in an overall open fashion.

Commissioner Grady "Bucky" Robbins declined to comment on the pay increases. "I have no comments. I am out of it now," Robbins said. Robbins lost his re-election bid in November to Republican Tad Piner who hasn't yet taken office.

E-MAILS
After Lucas realized Gay had gotten a raise, he said he e-mailed Ellis Williford for an explanation. "...Could you give me a date on which we voted on the extension for the sheriff and the details of the package that was furnished to us, i.e. the four years that we could not modify the salary. I remember Sid and Frank stating the salary increase to keep the sheriff in Wilson County but do not remember any other details mentioned or furnished to us in writing. This is the problem I have with the chair and vice-chair handling business for the full board (at the Monday meetings) but not furnishing minutes of these actions so the rest of the board knows everything that was stated in their proceedings. If I am wrong please furnish me with the recordings or minutes of their talks to iron out the package for the retention of the sheriff."

Ellis Williford e-mailed Lucas saying, "I was not in the loop either until Frank and I were told by Sid that all seven commissioners had agreed to the adjustment. The conversations took place in January of 09. I was told that each commissioner had agreed to a 10 percent adjustment in salary. This was in addition to the 12 percent he got when he took over Animal Control. I never saw any written materials on the request."

Ellis Williford said although he did not witness the conversation between Boyette and any of the other commissioners, the e-mail from Lucas indicates to him Lucas knew of a raise for the sheriff. Emory said all commissioners had access to the same information and he has always tried to include every member of the board.

"From the beginning I said I would only go along with the increase for the sheriff if the commissioners agreed with it," Emory said. "We don't give information to one commissioner and not the other. But Mr. Lucas has been absent a lot from meetings. I can't say what he remembers, but I can say there has never been a time when I excluded anyone."

Emory said Lucas and Tim Williford were welcome to sit and talk with him at any time and he has called them and encouraged them to do so, but only Tim Williford met him once. Emory also said when commissioners meet on Mondays, they must make sure there is no quorum so they won't violate the state's open meetings law. If more than three commissioners meet, they would have to have a formal meeting with public notice. But Emory said a few commissioners getting together for a cup of coffee leads to better communication.

"Even if you don't agree on things, there is a way to talk with each other with respect," Emory said. "Discussing things can help each of us to understand each other, even if we don't agree." Commissioner Bobbie Jones said she remembers getting a call from Boyette.

"I don't see how anybody could not have known that the sheriff was going to get a raise," Jones said. "We were very interested in keeping him here in Wilson. There would have been no need to have the conversation if it were not about money. To me, it was clear." Jones said she believed a lot had been accomplished during Gay's tenure and didn't want to have to spend the many thousands of dollars it sometimes takes to recruit and hire a new sheriff for Wilson.

WHERE DID THE RAISE COME FROM?
Ellis Williford said the 10 percent raise the sheriff received came from the professional development line item in the sheriff's budget. "For several years, each department got 2 percent of their personnel budget for personnel development," Ellis Williford said. Usually the money was used as an incentive for employees who developed themselves in ways the department set up and had agreed to, Ellis Williford said.

Denise Stinagle, assistant to the manager, said once the initial increase was given to the sheriff from the professional development line item, the increase would then be a part of the salary in upcoming fiscal years.

In the case of the sheriff, Ellis Williford said a county statute allows Emory to sign off on the sheriff's salary without other commissioners' permission in this specific case since the money came from professional development. Ellis Williford said in cases where a department head has a board, for example social services or the health department, it is up to their board to vote on using professional development money for that purpose.

Because the sheriff is an elected official, using the professional development line item was up to Emory's discretion. Although the decision rested solely on Emory, Ellis Williford said Emory still wanted the other commissioners' input. So, there was no vote on the sheriff's raise because it was not required, Ellis Williford said.

"The sheriff received his 10 percent effective Feb. 1 (2009); it went through the professional development line item, did not require a full board action, it was done by the chair, but after Mr. Boyette had talked to each and every commissioner and they all agreed that it was no time to lose the sheriff," he said.

ELLIS WILLIFORD'S INCREASE
Ellis Williford's salary was 133,838. After the budget amendment in June 2010, Williford's salary is $153,443. His total package, which includes car allowance of $5,400 and longevity of $5,353.52, brings the total to $164,196.

Usually Ellis Williford is evaluated in June at the end of each fiscal year. In the 17 years he's worked for the county, Ellis Williford said he's only received the cost-of-living increase other county employees received. In June 2009, he received no evaluation. But after Gay got his increase in February 2009, Ellis Williford said he was in the strange position of being the only county manager in the state whose salary was lower than the sheriff's salary.

"I'm not the kind of employee who raises cain or makes noises; I'm not a squeaky wheel," Ellis Williford said. "I had missed my evaluation. I knew his salary was higher than me and now I realize his total compensation, not just his salary, his total compensation." Ellis Williford said he asked for the spreadsheets and found his salary was behind the sheriff's by more than 10 percent.

"I've never made an issue of my salary," Ellis Williford said. "Well, number one, come December we could have a new sheriff making more than the county manager, with no experience. Number two, if I left there's no way my replacement would come here and make less than the highest paid person on payroll. So why should I not receive the compensation for doing the work, knowing that somebody else would get the compensation in the future?"

Ellis Williford said on average county managers across the state make 40 percent more than the sheriff. With a serious contender running for sheriff, Ellis Williford said he brought up the conversation about his salary in March before the Democratic primary in May.

The salary adjustment for Ellis Williford was done in an amendment to the budget when the budget was voted on by commissioners in June. That salary adjustment was for $29,365, which included back wages of $19,116.58 for 14 months. "I talked to every commissioner; every commissioner agreed the manager should make more than the sheriff and it should be addressed before the primary," Ellis Williford said.

Ellis Williford said he talked to Lucas and Tim Williford at length about his salary. "I have spoken frankly to Mr. Lucas and Mr. Williford about my situation," Ellis Williford said. "Nothing was held back. Everything was disclosed including spreadsheets, e-mails, etc. So, they had prior knowledge before the budget amendment what had been discussed and proposed."

Both Lucas and Tim Williford said they did not vote for the amendment that night. The other county commissioners voted for the amendment. With Lucas and Williford not voting, the amendment passed unanimously. If a commissioner present at a meeting doesn't vote, it counts as an affirmative vote.

Tim Williford said he wanted to know more about the amendment. "I didn't know enough about them to vote on them," Tim Williford said. "I was in the middle of asking a question when Frank called for the question and the vote was called."

Tim Williford said he believes how business is done in Wilson County is not fair to the citizens. "I can't make decisions with modest amounts of information," Tim Williford said. "If the information is routed in such a way so as to keep certain commissioners in the dark, it's difficult to say it's my fault I didn't know."

E-MAIL EXCHANGE
After the vote giving Ellis Williford the increase in salary, Ellis Williford sent both Tim Williford and Lucas an e-mail apologizing for not briefing them before the meeting about the amendment the next morning. Ellis Williford's e-mail said: "I apologize for not briefing you prior to the meeting last night about the budget amendment. The administrative adjustment was to bring the manager's salary on par with the sheriff's.

When I discussed the situation with you in April, I thought you had agreed to the adjustment as the only practical way to address the situation. All commissioners agreed to correct the inequity and make it retroactive prior to the primary. At that time I explained that the budget approval would take place with the closing budget amendment which was presented last night. I hope that is your recollection and, again, I apologize for not briefing you beforehand."

Lucas fired back a response by e-mail saying he did not approve and didn't recall what the amended vote was for. "Funny you sent me this e-mail since I was preparing to send you an e-mail this morning asking for clarification on the administrative budget amendment voted on last night.... If you noticed neither Tim or I voted. I was trying to figure out what this was, but with the vote being pushed that was not possible which I believe to be Frank's game plan..... To respond to your comment that you thought I gave my approval to this action, I must say I in no way approved. I stated I understood that you had been put in a situation that places you in a pay scale below the sheriff, but also stated that the action that produced your situation was not done in an appropriate manner, if not in an illegal manner."

Tim Williford said during the vote for the amendment that increased Ellis Williford's salary, there was no way for him or anyone else to know what was being voted on. "If you had asked anyone in the audience that night what we were voting on, they wouldn't have had a clue," Tim Williford said. "None whatsoever, nada, zip."

Ellis Williford said every commissioner was aware of his compensation because he personally discussed it with them and they were supportive. Gay eventually lost the May primary vote to challenger Calvin Woodard.