Grievances Raised As Northport City Admin Interviews Begin

Tuscaloosa AL

16 March, 2021

5:41 PM

Description

NORTHPORT, AL — A candidate for the open Northport city administrator job levied accusations of discrimination and other improprieties after his name failed to make the list of 12 applicants who were then whittled down to a final four by the City Council. What's more, the city council president has also voiced his displeasure, going as far as to suggest delaying the interviews set to begin Monday so concerns can be addressed. Dr. Ken Randolph, a Northport chiropractor who recently ran an unsuccessful campaign for the District 4 seat on the Council, addressed city officials Monday night, where he claimed he was given no justification for why his application did not make the short list considered by council members. The primary point of question on his application, which was one of around 30 submitted, rested on the lack of detail provided concerning his 10-year career in law enforcement with various agencies. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter and breaking news alerts. Randolph's application was also not included in the 12 obtained by Patch after a short list was formed and recommended to the City Council for consideration before being passed on the city's HR department, which was then tasked with providing a composite ranking of the highest-scoring candidates based on the Council's individual responses. Patch was able to obtain a copy of Randolph's application, which details his experience on the Guin City Council and in other endeavors. However, the only professional experience listed in the required fields focused on his work for Millar Chiropractic. "I was given a phone call to say I had not filled out the last two places on the application about my work record," Randolph told Patch on Tuesday. "My answer to that, I gave 25 years worth of work on my application, there were five law enforcement places I had worked at and there were only two slots on the back. I couldn't have done that and didn't even deem that was necessary because of the phone call made to me." While the empty job history on the application did result in concerns, interim City Administrator Hardy McCollum told Patch that the 30 or so applications received by the city was pared down to a dozen, providing ample qualified options to recommend to the Council. Randolph alleged personal and political bad blood in the decision to not recommend his application, while McCollum insisted it simply didn't make the cut when stacked up against other applicants. "At last night's meeting, I assured him his resume and job application got the same review as any of the others did," McCollum said. "We had 12 qualified applicants and that was more than enough to choose from. Somebody had to identify him to me last night because I have never met the man, so I don't have a political agenda. My only agenda is to do what I told the folks I would to do serve in Northport and do right by Northport." Council President Jeff Hogg told Patch ahead of interviews beginning Monday night that while he could not comment specifically about an Admin Committee matter, he is personally displeased with how the hiring process has gone thus far. "The problem is, that sometimes we have an old mindset and way of thinking," he said. "We are too wrapped up that we can't see the forest because of the trees ... In my opinion, there are numerous flaws of which I have chosen to voice my concerns internally. I feel we should take a step back and address those concerns prior to interviewing anyone for this position." Despite assurance given that he had been considered during the hiring process, Randolph doubled down on his claims, asserting that McCollum and other members of the admin committee acted deliberately in leaving his name off the list of 12. He then claimed that Mayor Bobby Herndon and District 1 Councilwoman Christy Bobo were both absent from the Admin Committee meeting where applications were vetted for recommendation to the Council — a notion that City Attorney Ron Davis said was partly false, due to Bobo being present during the discussions. Davis then pointed out that Randolph's was one of three applications that were close to making the cut as the final recommendations were hammered out, but was ultimately passed over by the committee's two council members: Bobo and District 3's John Hinton. Randolph also claimed Herndon encouraged him to apply for the position, after also being a supporter of his failed run for city council, which he says underscores his questions about why his application did not receive more consideration than it did. "At best, I think it is inappropriate that the interim [city administrator] was not only allowed to be on the Admin Committee, but was allowed to vet applications for the position that would take his place," Randolph said. "At worst, I believe it's discrimination." While McCollum lamented the bad blood brought to the surface during the hiring process, he reiterated that it was all done above board in the same manner as all other hires. "When you get down to it, when you've got 30 applicants and you hire one, are the other 29 going to be mad? That's just the facts of life," McCollum said. "I hate he feels that way, but I can assure you this was totally done as a blind draw kind of thing. We had the checklist to run by to meet qualifications and it's a pretty good stretch when you have somebody say their experience in local government is they were a police officer. We are talking about an administrative position." Interviews are set to begin at 5:15 p.m. Monday with Northport Police Chief Gerald Burton as the first up and Hogg said the four finalists selected through the composite scoring all show promise. However, he insisted numerous quality candidates are being left out of interview process. Click here to read more about the current finalists. "I feel like it is a disservice to the citizens of Northport for not trying to find the best and most qualified candidates rather than finding ways to eliminate and discriminate others," he said. Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Tuscaloosa Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of our latest sponsors? Email any and all inquiries to me at [email protected].