DHR workers plug into pay raises as consultants

Dr. Page Walley and Belyn Richardson talk the talk of appearances mattering, but it doesn’t appear to be so in practice. Appearances do matter and there is the appearance based on the information in this piece that it is who you know when it comes to working as a consultant for DHR. I will say that I don’t believe this problem is unique to DHR, but that agency is so large and has such a large workload that it probably happens more under that agency than others.

Judith Bernier, a 22-year DHR employee, retired in 1997 making about $28 an hour to take a consulting job with the agency, state records show. She joined SCB Technology as a DHR consultant in 1999 and the company bills $70 an hour for her contract work as a federal program specialist. Bernier is married to Tom Bernier, DHR’s director of child support.

Sandra Porter earned about $16.65 an hour working for DHR when she retired after 29 years in 1998, state records show. She joined SCB Technology in May 2000 and the company gets $45 an hour for her work as an asset management specialist.

Other former DHR workers who became consultants with SCB include:

Ron Marks, who left making about $28 an hour after 21 years with the state; the state paid $68 an hour for his work as a federal program specialist until he left in October.

Pamela Burkett, who left making $33.30 an hour after 21 years with the state; the company bills the state $75 an hour for her work as a federal program specialist.

Jill C. Manly, who left making $19.75 an hour after 26 years with the state; the state now pays $60 an hour for her work as a functional analyst.

If the department really understood that appearances matter than these kinds of relationships would not develop. It’s not just the fact that these contractors have ties to the department, but the exhorbitant fees they are allowed to charge.

Let me put some additional blame on the legislature, they enjoy getting attention for questioning the administration’s contracting practices, yet they usually miss the real improprieties. While their busy questioning the racial make-up of contractors they don’t bother to explore the relationships between contractors and the agencies they are contracting with.

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