ANDERSON — In an effort to meet a projected budget shortfall of $4.9 million by 2010, Anderson City government has eliminated 45 positions since January 2008. Because of the layoffs, city employment practices, including the hiring of relatives, are being scrutinized closely by the community, as reflected in comments at public meetings and phone calls to The Herald Bulletin.

A few names show up again and again in the city payroll.

The Ockomons, Joneses and Clendenens occupy city posts from mayor, city councilwoman and fire chief down to water utility worker and water pollution control employee. While many of these family members were hired over decades and throughout different mayoral administrations, some in these families and others have been promoted or added to the city employee roster since January 2008, when Democratic Mayor Kris Ockomon’s administration took office.

With no local ordinance limiting the hiring of relatives, department heads can hire whomever they choose, related or not.

City officials say those who have been hired are best for their jobs — often scoring high on merit tests in the cases of some police and fire workers, according to Ockomon. For example, Anderson Police Department Chief Darron Sparks’ son, Zane Sparks, was hired onto the police department this month. Zane Sparks, according to APD instructor Mike Anderson, tested in the top five of more than 100 applicants.

But others question the motivation behind the appointments and whether a City Hall peppered with family members is the most effective way to govern.

Madison County Republican Party Chairwoman Darlene Likens said nepotism — hiring family members over other, possibly more qualified applicants — has happened in city government for years.

“It always seems like there has been that,” she said. “A father may hire their son or they may hire a brother or sister-in-law. Whether it’s right or not, I don’t know.”

Likens, herself a department head for the county in her job as Madison County treasurer, said she had never hired family members and never would.

“I just think you kind of need to stay away from those things,” she said. “I personally don’t feel (hiring family members) is what I would do. I think (public officials) have to answer to their own conscience and they should do what is right.”

Former city employee Leanne Walters said she wished the city had a policy in place that would keep people with family members working for the city from getting city jobs. Walters said she was hired for part-time work in 2000 before becoming a full-time employee eight months later. She was laid off from the Parks Department in April.

“I didn’t think that was real fair,” she said. “Maybe it’s because I don’t have friends or family that work for the city. I got my job on my own.”

Mayor appoints family members

Among those hired or promoted since Ockomon took office is the mayor’s brother-in-law, Jerry Burmeister, who was appointed to the position of deputy chief in the fire department at the start of the Ockomon administration. The mayor said he worked with fire chief Dave Clendenen — whose family has a long history in the Anderson Fire Department — to select Burmeister for the deputy chief’s position.