To start with the phone interviews to current and former employers were just copies of the monologue. This is certainly must be changed immediately. When the call to a reference is made a set of approved questions must be asked to determine the answers we are seeking. Idle chatter about how great they are is useless. In addition, the phone number for Ms Fatima's supervisor at GA DOT listed her phone number to her own desk and NOT her bosses number. Why? And her supervisor was not called but a guy in Roads and Bridges at GA DOT. Why not her supervisor? Would you not think her supervisor is the most qualified to answer questions on her performance? This is a huge gaffe in qualifying this candidate and shows clearly our need to start over now.
And the most important question is do they have a "do not rehire" status on her file? This question was never asked of Ms Fatima's employment to any previous employer. Why again? Here in Rockdale County the Chairman and the Superintendent at the BOE talked and then HR was told we are good to go.
Well, I do not know about all of you in Channel 23 land, but I insist that our highly paid and qualified HR staff do their job and not be circumvented by the actual final so called impartial decision maker.
One point that was completely absent was all this hype about this candidate and her certified minority-owned company and supplier of child seats to the airline industry. Wow! Are they fiction? There are no records in Georgia on her parent company Tycoon Industries and Holdings or on any of these companies she claims to have started and now currently runs herself. Where are tax returns for state and Federal to prove any of this hyped up skill sets and accomplishments? And by the way no public records of any type whatsoever came up on this person on the Georgia Superior Court Clerk's database - not one. Does this not seem strange and out of place that we are going to appoint someone at this high level of our government and her 15 year Georgia history is a mystery as well. Has this person also gone by Erica F. Barnave? There are again no records of any sort in Georgia records search, no liens, mortgages nothing but a defunct Georgia corporation in 1995 - Baby Bottoms Rent-a-Seat, Inc. Anyone in business at this level would have public records plastered all over. In truth, our HR staff really does not know this person at all!
Further our HR department does not even currently even run the free search at the clerk's office for liens and judgments. This person could have had huge sums of charged off debts, tax liens or pending legal action against her and we could be hiring a complete nightmare and never know until the damage was done.
As for this candidate and this convoluted twisted process we need to start over at scratch and let our departments do it over the right way. This is way too high a level in our government and the gaps are huge in our full knowledge of this person. And by the way, this will be the face of Rockdale to the rest of the know world. This is our PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER and we cannot afford any rushing in here for any reason.
Every reference must be put on the mark as to what really is the re-hire status, etc.
And finally we must know fully if the information about her companies are true and to what extent. If these companies really exist when will she conduct business since PIO requires much time nights and weekends? And if they are defunct, why did she not so indicate clearly on her application? Why did she not provide her past name so that her background could be thoroughly searched?
This person appears to be a big hype and she appears to have hyped a lot of people including this chairman. The only way to know for sure is to start over.
Don Meyer
Home Owners for Better Government
