It doesn’t take an MBA from Wharton to know that when you hire financial managers, to manage billions of dollars on the taxpayers’ behalf, that they should have a stellar personal financial and other history. Nonetheless Peter Aman as chief operating officer (COO) of the city of Atlanta restructured the Watershed Department in 2010 hiring Jim Beard as the chief financial officer and then later helped promote him to CFO of the city.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/coral-gables/article2213157.html
According to the Miami Herald (10/14/2017):
“Federal court records show that a Jimmie Anthony Beard filed for Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy in U.S. Southern District Bankruptcy Court in Miami in August 2004. Other records also show that he had 14 tax liens associated with a company he was once involved with, three suspended driver’s licenses, in addition to other issues.”
This came out 4 years after Aman hired Beard when Beard was trying to leave Atlanta to become the city manager of Coral Gables. Beard’s credit rating had to be very low at the point Aman hired him and then promoted him. Generally speaking, an exceptional credit score would be a prerequisite for hiring these positions.
Could you imagine a public company or another government hiring a person with that background to manage billions of dollars?
Obviously, the city of Coral Gables found it unacceptable. Again from the Miami Herald:
[City of Coral Gables Commissioner] “Lago said Tuesday that Beard “had issues the City wasn’t aware of until the last minute”
While Beard withdrew his name, it was clear that his personal financial background and other matters were unacceptable to the city of Coral Gables and they were frankly surprised that coming from Atlanta as CFO— his personal financial background could be so troubling.
I’d like to know from Aman what criteria he would use for selecting managers, particularly those in charge of our money? Doesn’t personal bankruptcy, tax liens and suspended driver’s license factor into the equation?
Consider this June 20, 2010 Atlanta press release:
“After receiving the search committee’s recommendations, Mayor Reed and Chief Operating Officer Peter Aman individually interviewed five candidates and then narrowed the list down to three finalists for both the Chief Financial Officer and Commissioner of Public Works positions.”
If this is an example of what Aman would do in the mayor’s office (Aman is a candidate for mayor on the Nov. 7 ballot), I certainly don’t want to take the chance.
Author Justin Wiedeman is a certified public accountant and lifelong Atlantan.
