THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603240049
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
Marine Fisheries Director Bruce Freeman had no right to offer one of his assistants a $23,729 raise when he promoted him to a new deputy director position, state officials said Saturday.
In fact, they said, Freeman never even got the personnel department's permission to hire that person as deputy director.
The Division of Marine Fisheries still does not have a deputy director.
Freeman announced Wednesday that Jess Hawkins had been named to the post. But state officials said Saturday that the job remains open - and Hawkins is left in limbo.
``There was no legal job offer ever made because the personnel people never would have signed off on that salary,'' said Debbie Crane, spokesperson for the North Carolina Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources - which oversees the Division of Marine Fisheries. ``What got Bruce in trouble is that he's new to the system and didn't follow the proper procedures.''
Freeman, who has led the state's fisheries division for about a year, instructed his public relations department on Wednesday to issue a press release announcing that Hawkins had been hired to fill a newly created deputy director's position ``after an extensive nation-wide search.'' The press release said Hawkins would be paid $63,231 annually. That's more than the previous division director earned.
Until January, Hawkins had been district manager for the Pamlico area fisheries management program - receiving a $39,502 annual salary. On Jan. 1, Freeman demoted Fentress ``Red'' Munden, longtime fisheries management section chief, to special assistant and promoted Hawkins to that No. 2 spot within the division, giving him the title acting section chief. Hawkins got a raise to $43,000 with that interim position - an increase of nearly 9 percent.
State policy prohibits current employees from receiving more than 5 percent raises with each pay grade they go up during a promotion. Hawkins' pay grade would have gone up two steps between being district manager or acting chief and being hired as the new deputy director.
Crane said, however, that since Hawkins was never officially named section chief and received that salary only as an interim measure that, if he had been officially hired as deputy director, he was allowed to receive an annual salary increase of only $3,950.
``Bruce offered him an almost $24,000 raise,'' Crane said Saturday. ``I don't know a soul who's ever gotten more than a 5 percent per-pay-grade increase. The state's personnel department can approve raises of more than that. . . . But that's a real rarity. And it doesn't usually happen with biologists.''
Contacted at his home Friday night, Freeman declined to comment on having hired Hawkins, having offered him such an increased salary, or having failed to follow proper personnel procedures. Freeman earns $81,000 per year. He formerly worked for New Jersey's marine fisheries department.
On Saturday, Hawkins also said he preferred not to comment. Hawkins, 40, has worked for North Carolina's Division of Marine Fisheries for 18 years. He holds a bachelor of science degree from the University of North Carolina and a master's in biology from East Carolina University.
``It's unfortunate that Jess has been caught up in the middle of this,'' Crane said. ``It's really no reflection on him whatsoever. He's still acting section chief of fisheries management for now.''
At least 24 people from across the country applied for the Division of Marine Fisheries' new deputy director post. Freeman interviewed seven, flying in several from out-of-state. The deputy director spot was created to help Freeman oversee the division's budget of more than $8 million annually, review proposed rule changes, supervise all section chiefs, review employees' performances, oversee personnel management, administer salaries and grievances, and act as the director when the director is absent.
``Bruce submitted the package on his proposed deputy-director hire to the personnel office on Monday,'' said Crane. ``It usually takes them a week at least to get word of their approval back. The personnel office in the Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources has to approve both the person being hired and the salary before that action becomes official. They were still reviewing it. But Bruce really wanted to get the word out.''
So he sent out the announcement that Hawkins had been hired before anyone above him had approved that move.
``Even if our personnel department had approved that hire and salary,'' Crane said, ``it would've still had to go through the state's own personnel office because the salary was so far above state standards. We have no salary reserve right now in North Carolina. So they never would've approved it.''
This week, Crane said, the personnel office and top Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources officials will look into Freeman's proposal to promote Hawkins.
Besides trying to hire Hawkins, Freeman has fired or moved around at least three other top fisheries employees since January.
Judy Powell, who was the fisheries division's assistant director for administration overseeing budget and personnel, is now in charge of facility maintenance and the state licensing unit.
Freeman promoted Powell's former assistant, Suzanne Gutherie, to head the division's new budget and personnel section.
On Jan. 31, Freeman fired the fisheries division's chief of law enforcement, Fred Swain - who had worked for the state's Division of Marine Fisheries for 30 years. Freeman had given Swain a positive job evaluation with an overall rating of ``very good'' just six months earlier. Freeman also refused to comment on why he fired Swain. by CNB