Perry fairgrounds bosses to review state investigator's report

ATLANTA -- A few days after Georgia's inspector general filed a report detailing allegations of favoritism and mismanagement of leave time at the fairgrounds in Perry, leaders are still looking into what might need to be done in response to investigators' findings.

Under former Executive Director Ransom Moore, some fairgrounds staff were paid cash in lieu of time off, which broke a state accounting rule, according to a report from the Office of the State Inspector General. The same report said Moore made a key hire without interviewing anyone else, and that his subsequent seemingly favorable treatment of that employee was disruptive to operations.

The investigation into the allegations began more than a year ago after a whistle-blower emailed the governor's office complaining about the work environment and suggesting that the time-off payouts might have broken the rules.

State Rep. Buddy Harden, R-Cordele, who is a member of the state legislative committee that oversees the fairgrounds, had been waiting for the report to come out.

He's a fan of the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter and often mentions rising attendance numbers at the national fair and how important the fairgrounds are to the area's economy.

"The oversight committee is pleased with the operations and the financial condition of the agricenter," Harden said after the report became public.

He also said he and other legislators are not privy to personnel discussions. The staff of the Georgia Agricultural Exposition Authority runs the fairgrounds and hosts the fairs, rodeos and shows in Perry year-round. The authority has nine state-appointed "members" -- people who oversee the authority. Those authority members vet key personnel decisions. Legislators do not.

In light of the report, Harden said, "I'm sure we will discuss with the authority the procedures with personnel."

Foster Rhodes, vice chairman of the authority, said members have not yet met to talk about the report's findings.

"We've got an excellent track record, and the authority is very dedicated to their work and what they do. I feel confident that the sun will come up tomorrow," Rhodes said.

"Anything out there that's out of order ... our job is to make all the corrections, and we'll certainly do that."

INTERVIEWS FIND TYPICAL WORKPLACE BUT WITH OFFICE POLITICS

The notes from the inspector's interviews of fairgrounds staff paint a picture of a typical workplace, complete with office politics. Some staff members seem to have gotten on each other's nerves, while others were friendly enough to eat together. Other staffers told inspectors they wondered why some decisions involving pay, hiring and policies were made and whether those policies were applied evenly. Still others reported a fairly peaceable, friendly workplace.

At the head was Moore, known as "Randy," who had been an authority employee since 1997. Moore transferred to Perry after working at the state Capitol. In Perry, Moore got good performance reviews over the years as a special projects/maintenance director, as a facility manager and finally as executive director.

A 2010 performance review said he led by example, fairness and openness and that the Georgia National Fair was recognized as one of the world's top 50 such events in an international fair trade group.

His pay topped out at $140,000 a year, after the authority members approved a $15,000 raise for him in December 2013, according to his personnel file.

That year, he had started negotiations with Stacy Campbell, the woman who would become the fairgrounds' top marketer and spokeswoman. Campbell had been in touch with Moore about working for the fair for years. Moore told inspectors that his family and her family became friends.

Efforts by The Telegraph to reach Campbell and Moore for this story were unsuccessful.

In early 2014, authority members approved a change that seems technical but that also seems to have hurt employee morale.

When big events come to town, it often means overtime hours for some of the staff. Some were used to converting that overtime into time off later. And Moore, according to inspectors' notes, thought some of the staffers were abusing the policy.

So with the board's blessing, Moore switched the policy to instead pay them outright for that overtime and authorized cash payments to employees for existing compensatory leave balances.

The problem is, Moore and authority members did not have the necessary approval from state budget bosses in Atlanta for the payouts. Moore told investigators that one of his top staff members had assured him he did have that permission, but inspectors found no such permission given.

The rule that was broken was rather far off in the weeds. State administrators, according to the report, had to research the books to double-check that there was indeed a problem.

REPORT: CAMPBELL HIRED WITHOUT INTERVIEWING FOR THE JOB

The marketing hire created some tension, too.

When Moore hired Campbell away from the Perry Chamber of Commerce, he did not interview any other candidates.

Moore later told inspectors that he knew Campbell was the right person for the position, and that's why no one else was interviewed.

Some employees told inspectors they found Campbell to be a professional, good at her job, nice, a hard worker and maybe even a little tough.

But some reported Campbell got special treatment such as the ability to work flexible hours. Inspectors found that Moore let her take some leave time she hadn't yet earned. Moore argued that she had actually started doing work before her hire date.

Other staffers said that she and Moore seemed to spend a lot of time together, sometimes alone and they sometimes seemed very familiar with each other. They once shared an alcoholic drink in his office in celebration of a completed rodeo, a night security guard reported. Some staff whispered about what might be going on, the report said.

Moore told inspectors that in hindsight he should have told the staff about his friendship with Campbell and her family and that she should have been hired through the proper process.

Inspectors found no evidence of an inappropriate relationship, but they did say the appearance of one was disruptive.

After 32 years of working for the state, Moore publicly announced his retirement last November. He said his retirement would be effective March 1, 2016. He later moved the date forward, leaving the fairgrounds on the last day of December 2015.

James Floyd, interim executive director of the fairgrounds, referred all questions to Stephen Rogers, his chief administrative and financial officer.

In an e-mail, Rogers said the authority had no current comment on the report.

"Any comment will be deferred until such time as we have been contacted directly and we have had sufficient time to review the report," he wrote.

To view the entire report go to https://drive.google.com/file/ d/0BwJyfGpatjKiY3Vs NmtKd01Dek0/view?usp=sharing.

To contact writer Maggie Lee, e-mail mlee@macon.com.

This story was originally published January 17, 2016 at 8:29 PM with the headline "Perry fairgrounds bosses to review state investigator's report ."