TALLADEGA Water and Sewer Board general manager George Montgomery will be retiring, effective Nov. 1, according to documents filed with the Retirement System of Alabama.The embattled Montgomery, whose department has come under fire in a series of scandals over the past five years, has been general manager since the position was created in 1991. The latest scandal to hit his department is an investigation by the FBI and the Criminal Division of the Environmental Protection Agency over well contamination in the city.
His contract normally comes up for renewal every October, but discussion of it is not listed on the agenda for today's meeting.
RSA General Counsel Bill Kelley and Legislative Counsel Lindy Beal said Tuesday that Montgomery has already filed paperwork that will allow him to begin drawing his full state retirement benefits at the end of the month. At that time, he will have paid in 25 years and six months.
Montgomery had paid in for 24 years and 10 months as of the end of September. This figure includes an eight month credit purchase from 1978 and 1979, when Montgomery was working as assistant city clerk in a probationary capacity. He bought back this time in February, according to Beal. It may also include an additional purchase of three months, although the RSA records were not clear on this issue.
The balance comes from the conversion of 131 days of unused sick leave, which translates to approximately seven months, according to Kelley.
What steps, if any, the board will take to fill the position today remained unclear Tuesday night. Board member Lawrence McGraw was the only one of five members available for comment, and he stated that he believed Montgomery's contract would, in fact, be a topic of discussion.
Over the last year, the position descriptions for board assistant manager (formerly board superintendent) and board secretary/bookkeeper were extensively revised, redistributing a great deal of Montgomery's authority, however.
Work history
While serving as city clerk, Montgomery ran successfully for mayor of Talladega in 1987. At that time, the mayor also served as the general superintendent of the water board, and received a $300 per month stipend in addition to the mayor's salary.
In September 1988, while George Montgomery was mayor and board general superintendent and his brother Jake Montgomery was serving as general counsel to both the city and the board, a series of ordinances was passed that essentially made the board financially independent from the city.
When the board was created in 1965, the city granted them a 30-year franchise and created a subordinate lien bond totaling $200,000. The board was to pay on this bond in installments of $1,337 per month at 5 percent annually, starting Aug. 1, 1967. No money ever actually changed hands, though.
In 1988, the board's franchise was extended for another 30 years, and the board's debt stemming from the subordinate lien bond, which then totaled $677,368, was essentially forgiven.
The board's debt to the city was refinanced interest free, with the principal to be paid off in installments of $5,000 per month from Oct. 1, 1988, to Dec. 1, 1999. The city's total fire hydrant rent at this point, according to the terms of the ordinance, was up to $5,000 per month through 1995. The city agreed to extend the payments to 1999 to coincide with payment of the board's debt.
The position of general manager was created in 1991, when George Montgomery lost his re-election bid to Larry Barton. Barton was kept on as a consultant, earning the same stipend the mayor traditionally got, but the consultant position was never refilled after Barton went to prison on theft charges.
Recent troubles
George Montgomery's stewardship of the board has been turbulent over the past several years.
Beginning in 1998, The Daily Home uncovered numerous instances of ethics violations and outright theft, resulting in four former board members Howard "Rip" Williams, Jim Armstrong, Clarence Henderson and Raymond Tapley pleading guilty to various felonies.
Although George Montgomery was never indicted, an audit by the state Office of Examiners of Public Accounts did cite him and former board superintendent Robert O'Neal in at least two instances for possible ethics violations.
Both were paid amounts of $700 per race by the Talladega Superspeedway for services performed during as many as four race weekends.
The audit said "testimony indicated the payments were made directly to them, (for tasks) performed outside their normal duties, which were performed outside normal working hours. Hourly board employees were paid for similar work, and the board was reimbursed by the speedway. Acceptance of these payments may have been a violation of the state ethics law."
The audit also questioned pay raises given to Montgomery and O'Neal in June 1997, in the amount of $10,000 per year. "Initially, this amount was paid to them in the form of a check from the board's operating account," it said. "This amount was given back to the board and then was paid through the payroll fund. Testimony indicated that a supervisory employee retired and the duties of the manager and superintendent increased, (but) no formal approval of this raise was noted in the official minutes."
In 2002, private auditors determined that employees had managed to steal some $91,000 in board funds. Three employees were fired, and one recently pleaded guilty to theft of property.
That audit places most of the blame on former bookkeeper Cookie Adair, but Adair said in a written statement that George Montgomery was made aware of the problem, adding that board policy prevented her from detecting the problem sooner. She added she had been asking for many of the recommended changes for months or years.
George Montgomery refused to comment.
The theft also resulted in a lawsuit brought by The Daily Home when the board's attorneys claimed to be exempt from the state Open Records Act as justification for their refusal to turn over requested documents. Circuit Judge Jerry Fielding ruled that the open records statute did, in fact, apply, but the board is appealing that ruling to the state Supreme Court.
George Montgomery's most recent troubles stem from another Daily Home investigation, which uncovered the continued use of a tainted city well on Grant Street in violation of orders by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Grant Street well has, to date, spawned both a class action lawsuit and a criminal investigation by the EPA and FBI.
