CAIRO — At least one Grady County resident has taken issue with the recent hiring of former Division of Family and Children Services Director John White to be the county’s new human resources director and county clerk.

Cairo resident John Monds said White, who also serves on the county school board as vice chair, is unethical due to his role in the 2016 firing of former Cairo High School guidance counselor Cindy Williams.

Monds said White’s hiring is just the latest event in what he sees as a pattern of unethical governmental behavior.

“What’s most disappointing is that the public and the citizens of this county aren’t outraged, not only at this type of behavior, but that it continues to go on and on again,” Monds said. “For the life of me, I don’t understand why this continues to go on.”

Monds’ comments came at the Jan. 8 county board of commissioners meeting.

The board of education unanimously voted to fire Williams in October 2016 after determining the former guidance counselor did not follow proper ethical procedures when she altered her daughter’s grades.

The decision to fire Williams was later overturned by the state school board and the former guidance counselor was awarded a $50,000 settlement from the county.

Monds claimed White and the county school board were responsible for withholding exculpatory evidence, something which Williams cited in her appeal but that the state school board did not agree with.

“You’ve had a problem in the past with unethical folks in important positions,” Monds said. “Your former HR director and clerk was terminated for unethical accusations as well. Now you’re going to hire somebody who has a record of being unethical in a position of public trust.”

The vacancy White was hired to fill was created after the October resignation of former HR director and county clerk Carrie Croy, who was accused of surreptitiously manipulating the payroll in order to increase the value of her personal paychecks.

“It’s one thing if you don’t know,” Monds said to the commissioners. “But it’s another if you do know and make the same decisions.”

County Administrator Buddy Johnson pushed back on the claims, saying Monds’ criticisms were slanderous and unfair.  

“Can you say he was unethical with the State of Georgia in his 30 years?” Johnson asked Monds. “Do you have factual background on that?”

The county administrator noted that the decision to fire Williams was unanimous and that White’s vote was given the same weight as the other board members.

Monds said in response that he had no issue with White’s record at DFCS and that his criticisms were squarely on his role in firing Williams.

“(White’s) record on the school board is clear,” Monds said. “They fire people for no reason and paid this person off $50,000. They spent probably upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees for something that never should have been done in the first place and held nobody responsible for this.”

White, who was present at the meeting and seated behinds Monds, did not directly respond to the criticisms but answered a series of questions from Johnson.

Johnson previously headed a team consisting of county finance director Holly Murkerson and Emergency Medical Service director Rodney Gordon which made the recommendation to the commission to hire White in December. 

The county administrator said he anticipated the criticism of White’s hire based on a previous conversation with Monds, but still stood by the recommendation and asked the commission for the issue be dropped.

Monds, who did not remain for the entire meeting, was allowed to respond to Johnson before the commissioners continued along the planned agenda.

White, who will be officially retired in good standing from DFCS on Feb. 1, did not begin his new role until Jan. 9.

Johnson, who later said he was not personally familiar with Monds, further suggested that the Cairo resident run in the next school board election.

“While I understand that Mr. Monds is passionate with his feelings on this matter, I also know that his passion is built on a foundation of sand,” Johnson said. “Furthermore, his issues are not with Mr. White, but clearly with the entire school administration, which we have no authority or say over.”