GDOT worker forged reports
A dated system that treats some state workers like tenured professors will likely allow one of them to retire next week with full benefits — despite having confessed to forging dozens of bridge inspection reports.
David Simmons, a nearly 30-year veteran of the Georgia Department of Transportation, admitted he falsified 54 reports since last fall after superiors noticed he and partner Gerald Kelsey recorded a much higher number of inspections than possible in the time allotted.
Kelsey has resigned — although he admitted no wrongdoing — after nearly 10 years with the department.
The pair was assigned some 1,300 bridges in portions of DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett and Rockdale counties. GDOT will re-inspect 400 of those bridges, including the 54 Simmons admitted lying about.
Commissioner Gena Abraham said the department does not believe any of the bridges are unsafe but is still investigating fast cash online.
At the same time, she decried the protections granted to state workers like Simmons, a "classified" employee whose privileged status would make it hard to force him to resign or strip him of his benefits. Simmons plans to retire effective Feb. 11.
Abraham said she has been inundated with requests from GDOT staff to investigate other "issues" and will be looking into them as part of her mission to weed out inefficiency and other problems in the department.
"I'm still very uncomfortable that we're getting eight hours of work for eight hours of pay," Abraham said. "I hope this sends a clear message to my employees."