Dougherty County Commission fires county administrator in 4-3 vote

ALBANY — Dougherty County Administrator Michael McCoy was fired during a Monday commission work session after the board discussed personnel matters in a closed session.

Commissioners Victor Edwards, Gloria Gaines and Clinton Johnson were joined by Commission Chairman Lorenzo Heard in voting to terminate 25-year county employee McCoy, who served as assistant county administrator before being named administrator about four years ago.

After commissioners returned from the closed session, Heard made comments about the recent hiring of Barry Brooks as assistant county administrator, said Commissioner Anthony Jones, who along with Commissioners Ed Newsome and Russell Gray voted in support of McCoy. The chairman also made the motion to fire McCoy and included a provision to rescind McCoy’s hiring of former Albany employee Barry Brooks as assistant county manager.

“The chairman was highly upset that Mike had hired the assistant county administrator without at least talking to him and consulting with us,” Jones said. “He was not happy at all.”

The chairman also alluded to seating arrangements at the Pentagon during a recent trip to Washington, D.C., Jones said.

“We’re without an administrator and an assistant administrator, and we’re in the middle of the budget,” Jones said. “I don’t know where we go from here. I don’t know what’s going to happen from here on out.”

McCoy has been a good employee during his lengthy tenure with the county, the commissioner said, and he said he had hoped that something could be worked out.

“I was hoping that was not coming down,” Jones said. “I didn’t see the termination coming. My thoughts are, I thought it was something where they can sit down and talk, Mike and the chairman, and pick up and go on, like you do in golf. In golf, you pick up the ball and go on to the next hole.”

Both Jones and Edwards referred questions to Heard, who they expected to make a statement on the firing on Monday or the next day.

“We let him go,” Edwards said. “The chairman is the one doing all the speaking on it.”

Asked why he cast the vote to terminate McCoy, Edwards said it was due to “job performance.”

“It’s all about job performance,” he said. “From my perspective on job performance and getting things done for the county … from fans (at Robert Cross Park), speed bumps. Why did that take a year?

“We have capable department heads that will continue to serve the county as efficiently as possible. (If) you’ve been around four years, you see how long it takes for staff to get services delivered to my district.”

A telephone message left for Heard on Monday afternoon was not returned.

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