Macon-Bibb appeals ruling over firing of landfill supervisors

Macon-Bibb County is appealing a ruling that two former Solid Waste Department employees should be given their jobs back.

The county’s appeal, filed Friday in Bibb County Superior Court, seeks to reverse a decision that former Assistant Director Larry Dunning and former landfill supervisor Lee Stringer should have been suspended from their jobs for six months instead of being fired. Stringer and Dunning were fired in summer 2015 on disciplinary grounds related to two failed inspections at the landfill.

Dunning and Stringer would receive a total of $66,088 in back pay and attorney fees if Macon-Bibb loses the appeal.

Administrative law judge Pope Langstaff ruled in July that while Stringer and Dunning were not blameless for some of the landfill issues, the county’s actions following their firings appeared to show the failures extended beyond a managerial problem.

Langstaff, a former Macon city attorney, said that within weeks of the men’s firings, the county began drastically reducing the amount of waste placed into the main landfill.

“It is hard to write this diversion off as a coincidence or as unrelated,” the ruling said.

Macon-Bibb’s appeal, however, argues that Langstaff did not have the authority to issue a six-month suspension based on Macon-Bibb policy. Stringer and Dunning were justifiably fired because of “habitual inefficiency, incompetence, or inadequate performance,” the court document said.

“The longest available suspension without pay is 30 days,” the appeal said.

Also, Dunning and Stringer were notified that stronger disciplinary action could be taken if there was another failed inspection by the state’s Environmental Protection Division, according to the appeal.

“In June of 2015 the landfill was re-inspected and received a failing score of 50 as (Dunning and Stringer) had not corrected the issues cited in the failing April 2015 inspection of the landfill,” the document said.

Macon-Bibb County spokesman Chris Floore said Monday that county officials would not comment while the appeal is pending.

Landfill riddled with failed inspections

Between 2010 and 2015, the Swamp Walker Road landfill failed a majority of inspections — 11 times compared to two passing grades during that period.

Among the issues that have plagued the landfill were inadequate solid cover and water runoff controls, exposed waste and draining ditches in need of repair, according EPD reports.

The landfill’s problems led to Macon-Bibb hiring Kevin Barkley as director of a newly created Solid Waste Department in May 2014.

With Barkley having an “active role” in the landfill, the score improved from a 65 to a 90 in July of that year, according to the ruling.

There was testimony during the termination hearing that during that period “there was more and better dirt available, that equipment was working better.”

“(Barkley) in fact reported in writing to the EPD that (Macon-Bibb County) had spent over $42,000 in materials (assumedly soil) and logged more than 520 hours overtime at a cost of over $10,300 in correcting deficiencies,” the ruling said.

Barkley, Stinger and Dunning offered conflicting opinions on whether the county had enough resources to properly maintain the site.

Dunning and Stringer argued a lack of personnel and equipment led to the low inspection scores. Barkley said landfill crews “squandered” some of the resources by letting soil dry out and not working together in a productive manner, the ruling said.

Another landfill employee testified that an unusually rainy early 2015 caused problems with managing the landfill’s slopes, including bulldozers often getting stuck, Langstaff wrote.

In response to the landfill’s inspection history, Macon-Bibb officials have proposed spending about $20 million, which includes funding to close the Swamp Walker Road site, in the next special purpose local option sales tax referendum.

Macon-Bibb also implemented a new countywide recycling program in January, aimed at reducing the amount of waste put into landfills.

This story was originally published August 29, 2016 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Macon-Bibb appeals ruling over firing of landfill supervisors."