By Aleasha Sandley, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer
ANDERSON — In an effort to meet a projected budget shortfall of $4.9 million by 2010, Anderson City government has eliminated 45 positions since January 2008. Because of the layoffs, city employment practices, including the hiring of relatives, are being scrutinized closely by the community, as reflected in comments at public meetings and phone calls to The Herald Bulletin.
A few names show up again and again in the city payroll.
The Ockomons, Joneses and Clendenens occupy city posts from mayor, city councilwoman and fire chief down to water utility worker and water pollution control employee. While many of these family members were hired over decades and throughout different mayoral administrations, some in these families and others have been promoted or added to the city employee roster since January 2008, when Democratic Mayor Kris Ockomon’s administration took office.
With no local ordinance limiting the hiring of relatives, department heads can hire whomever they choose, related or not.
City officials say those who have been hired are best for their jobs — often scoring high on merit tests in the cases of some police and fire workers, according to Ockomon. For example, Anderson Police Department Chief Darron Sparks’ son, Zane Sparks, was hired onto the police department this month. Zane Sparks, according to APD instructor Mike Anderson, tested in the top five of more than 100 applicants.
But others question the motivation behind the appointments and whether a City Hall peppered with family members is the most effective way to govern.
Madison County Republican Party Chairwoman Darlene Likens said nepotism — hiring family members over other, possibly more qualified applicants — has happened in city government for years.
“It always seems like there has been that,” she said. “A father may hire their son or they may hire a brother or sister-in-law. Whether it’s right or not, I don’t know.”
Likens, herself a department head for the county in her job as Madison County treasurer, said she had never hired family members and never would.
“I just think you kind of need to stay away from those things,” she said. “I personally don’t feel (hiring family members) is what I would do. I think (public officials) have to answer to their own conscience and they should do what is right.”
Former city employee Leanne Walters said she wished the city had a policy in place that would keep people with family members working for the city from getting city jobs. Walters said she was hired for part-time work in 2000 before becoming a full-time employee eight months later. She was laid off from the Parks Department in April.
“I didn’t think that was real fair,” she said. “Maybe it’s because I don’t have friends or family that work for the city. I got my job on my own.”
Mayor appoints family members
Among those hired or promoted since Ockomon took office is the mayor’s brother-in-law, Jerry Burmeister, who was appointed to the position of deputy chief in the fire department at the start of the Ockomon administration. The mayor said he worked with fire chief Dave Clendenen — whose family has a long history in the Anderson Fire Department — to select Burmeister for the deputy chief’s position.
A community public safety panel, led by Board of Works member Shirley Weatherly, interviewed all candidates for administrative positions within the police and fire departments during Ockomon’s transition to mayor. A facilitator from Anderson University presented the top candidates to the mayor before they were selected.
“There’s not one person in this whole community who has done a better job at saving money” than Burmeister, Ockomon said. “I believe somebody would be stretching it to challenge his ability.”
Another hired relative of the mayor is his second cousin, Todd Leever, who Ockomon appointed to the street commissioner post. With Leever’s background working in the county Highway Department, he was a good fit for the job and had good experience and decision-making skills, Ockomon said. Leever had not served in a supervisory position before he was appointed street commissioner.
Public affairs expert
says morale suffers
While there are relatives of public officials who are competent to fill city positions, its unlikely they will always be the most qualified applicant for the position, said James Perry of Indiana University.
“Clearly, you want good people in your organization,” said Perry, a professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. “It’s conceivable that you might have a good son or a good daughter or a good niece who could perform a job competently; they are probably not the best person for the job. Somebody that’s in the bedroom next to you is probably not going to be the most competent person for that job.”
The hiring of relatives, whether or not they were favored because of their connections, can create the public impression that the city’s business is conducted improperly or unlawfully, Perry said.
“What sorts of checks are built into the local administration to make sure it’s not engaging in fraudulent activity or conflicts of interest?” he asked. “The prospects of behaving lawfully decline when we have somebody who’s related to someone else.”
Such external perceptions can be accompanied by poor morale within the workplace, Perry said.
“You’ve got lost opportunities for promotion, you’ve got maybe resources going to somebody else,” he said. “You foreclose opportunities to other employees, which certainly has to diminish the morale of your workforce. You lose across the board in terms of people’s trust and the morale of the staff.
“The last thing you want to do is call into question your own competence by employing someone who may be a relative.”
Ockomon relatives hired by Anderson
Another of Ockomon’s relatives, niece Amy Burmeister — also the daughter of Jerry Burmeister — was hired in April as a dispatcher. Ockomon said Amy Burmeister was one of three dispatchers hired at that time to fill open positions and that he told her about the job opening.
To be hired, Amy Burmeister had to pass a test administered by an independent agency, said city Personnel Director Steve Priser.
“She went through the testing, and that was the decision they made,” he said.
Priser’s wife, Diana Priser, works for the city’s Economic Development Department and was hired into city government in 1979.
Other Ockomon relatives hired since the mayor took office include his cousin David Haston, who worked for the City of Anderson Transit System. He has since resigned, according to Ockomon.
Water utility worker Jacob Ockomon, the mayor’s nephew, originally was hired as a part-time worker by former Mayor Kevin Smith, whom Kris Ockomon defeated in the November 2007 election. Jacob Ockomon was hired full-time into the water utility department in May 2008.
Personnel, council relatives hired
Others related to department heads, personnel department workers and city council members have been hired into the city since January 2008.
Anderson Municipal Airport worker Marcia Fadely is the step-daughter of personnel department employee Linda Stevens, and Anderson Municipal Light & Power worker Chris Traub is the son of personnel department employee Linda Wiley.
Priser said the two personnel workers were not involved in Fadely and Traub’s hirings.
“Show me one of those who hasn’t been a perfect example of a good employee,” Mayor Ockomon said. “(Traub) is a young man who tested top in his class, a bright star of an example of an excellent employee.”
Light & Power linemen candidates take a test of skills and physical ability. Traub was ranked No. 1 in his class of six applicants when he was screened, Light & Power Superintendent Bruce Boerner said.
City Council President Rick Muir’s nephew Matthew Muir was hired into the sewer department in February 2008. Councilwoman Pam Jones has family members working for the city, including her husband, Merle Jones, who was appointed head of CATS in January 2008, a position he also held under former Democrat Mayor Mark Lawler. Her son, Elvis Jones, was hired into Water Pollution Control in May 2008.
Pam Jones did not respond to phone messages and an e-mail seeking comment.
Rick Muir said he did not have anything to do with Matthew Muir’s hiring, although he said he might have been used as a reference for his nephew. He would not comment further. Mayor Ockomon said Matthew Muir was a temporary worker in the Parks Department long before he was hired into a full-time position.
Other key players in city employment have relatives working for the city, as well. Local Fraternal Order of Police President Scott Calhoun’s daughter, Michelle Calhoun, is a dispatcher.
Ockomon said Scott Calhoun, as a union president, would have little control over his daughter’s hiring. The mayor noted that Michelle Calhoun would have had to go through testing before hiring.
“I told her up front that obviously because of my position, I can’t have anything to do with it and don’t expect anything,” said Scott Calhoun, who also is an Anderson police officer.
‘Good ol’ boy network strong’
Nepotism isn’t confined to just one political party or geographic area. Likens said although she knew more Democrats than Republicans to have hired family members, Madison County has more Democrats in office overall.
“Because Democrats in this community have been in office more than Republicans, you see it there more,” she said. “I’m not saying it’s because Democrats necessarily do it more.”
Smith, a Republican who served as mayor from 2004-07, said he didn’t recall any department heads during his administration who hired their wives or children.
Nepotism, past and present, certainly isn’t limited to the City of Anderson.
Perry, the IU public affairs professor, said nepotism is rampant in Indiana, particularly in townships.
“Indiana’s probably the 50th in 50 states in terms of professionalism,” he said. “Indiana doesn’t have anything that should make us proud with respect to the structures we used to manage our levels of local and township government.
“The ‘good old boy network,’ so to speak, is pretty strong in Indiana.”
