New Athens-Clarke County Internal Auditor Gavin Hassemer announced at a recent meeting of the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement that he’s making plans for his office to audit every department of the local government within five years—something that’s never been done before.
Hassemer—a former county planner and interim director of the Central Services Department who started work as auditor on July 1—is currently rebuilding the Office of Operational Analysis from the ground up. It’s been completely vacant since former auditor Stephanie Maddox was fired from the position in 2021. In addition to hiring for his office’s two open positions, Hassemer has also been working with a totally revamped Audit Committee to develop his first audit work plan. When finished, this plan will allow Hassemer’s team to “touch base” with many departments rapidly by doing small-scale, low-intensity audits while continuing to do more thorough audits on occasion.
According to Hassemer, the new audit committee decided to reduce the scope of most audits so ACC government departments won’t go as long without being examined in at least some capacity. In fact, there are still some departments that have not been audited since the unification of Athens with Clarke County over 30 years ago.
The mayor and commission gave Hassemer another major responsibility in August when they housed the monitor’s role for the Public Safety Civilian Oversight Board within his office. This oversight board is responsible for looking into complaints against the police and other public safety agencies, and Hassemer will be responsible for assisting them going forward. However, he hasn’t yet been given any additional staff or funding to help him accomplish this goal.
Mokah Jasmine Johnson, president of the AADM, and other attendees at the Sept. 26 meeting questioned Hassemer about whether he felt able to balance his duties as auditor with the responsibilities of public safety monitor. Hassemer had originally requested an additional full-time staff position to help him handle the monitor’s duties, but the ACC Commission turned him down.
Hassemer acknowledged the difficulties his office is likely to face but stayed positive, saying that he welcomed the increased responsibility. “Is it going to be a challenge? Absolutely. It’s something I don’t take lightly,” he said. “My hope is to meet the challenge… I’m excited about the fact that we’re able to take this in a brand-new direction.”
He may be getting some extra help soon. Next year, Hassemer said that he intends to ask for an appropriate budget for the Public Safety Civilian Oversight Board, which currently has no money set aside for it. With a budget, board members could receive better training and start to hold regular events intended to raise public confidence in law enforcement.
Depending on the number of complaints his office receives about the police and other agencies, Hassemer may also ask the mayor and commission to fund a new position in his office dedicated to public safety oversight responsibilities. If he can prove that it is necessary, he said the commission may provide the funding.
The Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement has been taking public complaints about the police for years, essentially doing the job of the Public Safety Oversight Board, but Hassemer said he’s been developing a process for his office to start accepting those complaints instead. That will be finalized after the next meeting of the oversight board. When that happens, Johnson warns that the “floodgates” will open, and he’d better be prepared.
“The complaints we receive, it’s a lot,” Johnson said. “We have a three-person team to address those complaints and research them… Sometimes, we become very overwhelmed.”Johnson was a part of a task force established by Mayor Kelly Girtz in 2019 to develop recommendations for the Public Safety Oversight Board. At that time, Johnson and other task force members recommended three dedicated staffers to assist the board. However, the ACC Commission is not yet convinced of the need. Many commissioners believe the volume of complaints will be similar to that currently received by ACC law enforcement agencies, which is low. ACCPD reports having received 44 complaints throughout 2022.
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