Residents recently resurrected a debate about whether Mayor Craig Lowe’s aide was hired under proper circumstances.
At a City Commission meeting March 1, Gainesville residents disagreed with the decision to hire Garrett Garner in 2010 and to give him a pay raise in 2011. They said the job was not advertised, and the position didn’t exist before Lowe took office.
Lowe countered, saying the temporary employee hiring process was fair and done according to policy.
“The mayor needs to hire someone he knows to be competent, trustworthy and dedicated to the community,” Lowe said. “His position is rock-solid.”
Garner said the city’s human resources department contacted him shortly after Lowe was sworn in as mayor. Garner filled out an application about his qualifications, but there wasn’t an interview. He said he didn’t know if anyone else was competing for the job.
He is paid $22.06 per hour.
Opponents say the job wasn’t advertised and that Garner was hand-picked after Lowe’s election.
Resident Juanita Miles Hamilton said this is an issue about breaking from policy, rather than an attack at Garner himself.
“All those policies are in place for a reason, so all applicants have a chance,” she said. “And that’s just not what happened.”
Lowe said the criticism is simply post-election flak since the criticizing residents were supporters of candidates he didn’t back in the recent city election.
“Their candidates lost. My candidates won,” he said. “And they are mad.”
Garner, 25, graduated from UF in 2009 with a degree in history, and he completed minors in environmental science and urban and regional planning. He is engaged and owns a basset hound mix named Maya, after Maya Angelou.
Garner was Lowe’s campaign manager in 2010 when Lowe ran for mayor.
Lowe said it’s a common practice to hire a mayor’s aide and that Garner has proven indispensable during his term.
Lowe said Tallahassee’s mayor has three aides, Miami Beach’s has two aides and the mayor of Chapel Hill, N.C., has one.
He said Garner has helped him deal with the Quran-burning controversy, sift through issues surrounding the Cabot-Koppers Superfund site, boost Southwest Second Avenue economically and double the amount of airlines flying out of the Gainesville Regional Airport.
Garner started talks with different businesses to bring them to town, he said, including Totuit.
Lowe said Garner researches issues, goes to meetings on his behalf and helps to expand the city’s economy. Garner said he also helps the mayor by reviewing meeting agendas.
He said his background makes him a great fit with what Lowe wants to do.
Garner said his grandmother worked for the South Carolina Department of Social Services and his grandfather was a police sergeant in Florence, S.C., setting an example of the importance of public service.
Hearing about his mother’s job as a computer software programmer around the dinner table sparked his interest for technology, he said, which meshes well with Lowe’s vision of a high-tech economy in Gainesville.
Those who question the hiring process say they want the issue reassessed.
Miles Hamilton, along with three others, spoke at the March 1 meeting about how Garner was hired.
“I am just concerned about the violation of city policy,” she said.
She said the worst part is that now that position can’t be taken by a Gainesville city employee, and she said processes like this don’t promote upward mobility.
Garner said he deals with the criticism by putting his mind on his work.
“I have learned not to focus on the criticism,” Garner said.
Contact Ben Brasch at bbrasch@alligator.org.
