CAIRO — Grady County commissioners are scrapping a controversial contract with County Administrator Buddy Johnson and moving forward with a plan to overhaul the county’s code of ordinances to attempt the deal again next year.

Commissioners emerged from a lengthy executive session Tuesday morning with a vote to authorize county attorney Gabe Ridley to prepare a new contract with Johnson, who has been employed as a consultant through a LLC since January. Ridley reviewed the contract last month and determined that a county ordinance mandating that administrators be at-will employees could potentially create a conflict. 

Richard Jordan, whose public records request brought the county’s deal with Johnson to light last month, said he found it “appalling” that the contract was tossed for a technicality. In Jordan’s view, the deal is a “deliberate attempt” by Johnson to skirt around state laws concerning retirement benefits Johnson receives from his tenure with the Georgia State Patrol.

“This whole contract stinks to high heaven,” Jordan told the commissioners.

Jordan stated that he contacted Commissioner June Knight with a request to launch an inquiry into the matter which she declined. Jordan has declared himself as a candidate running against Knight in the May 19 election.

Johnson said Jordan’s comments went too far.

“It’s become personal for him,” he said. “It’s become a personal attack against me.”

The county administrator said he was “perfectly fine” with becoming a regular employee again, adding that the contract was crafted with the intention of saving money for the county.

“This is not a sinister issue,” Johnson said.

Ridley said he hoped a new contract could be in place for the commissioners to review in time for their next regularly scheduled meeting in two weeks. 

The commissioners also voted unanimously Tuesday to begin requesting proposals for the recodification of its 300-page code of ordinances, last republished more than 20 years ago. Any plans to overhaul the code of ordinances would likely include deleting language preventing the unconventional contract structure to allow commissioners to pursue the option with Johnson again next year.

Aside from allowing the commissioners to offer Johnson the contract again in 2021, the recodification project will involve ensuring that the code of ordinances is in conformity with state law and incorporating all relevant state legislation.

County clerk John White said the project is expected to cost between $13,000 to $16,000 and likely will take more than a year to complete.

Proposals to undertake the project are due later this month.