January 31, 2017
Karen Degges, former Jasper County Manager, has filed a federal lawsuit against Jasper County. The nature of the suit is listed as “Americans with Disabilities-Employment.” The suit was filed January 13, 2017 in Georgia Middle District Court in Macon.
To review—
TWG reported when Karen Degges was put on medical leave instead of the BOC firing her. (July 6, 2015)
KAREN DEGGES PUT ON 90 DAYS MEDICAL LEAVE
Posted on July 6, 2015by taxdogs
We also reported –with video—of the county attorney (Jim Alexander) allowing the BOC to go into Executive Session to discuss “medical leave.” Additionally he tried to refuse to answer the question if Karen Degges would be paid for her 90 days of leave.
WHY WOULD SOMEONE GOING ON “MEDICAL LEAVE” HAVE TO HAVE IT DISCUSSED IN EXECUTIVE SESSION?
Posted on July 7, 2015
About 2 weeks later, the BOC called a special meeting—Executive Session (July 23, 2015), and fired Karen Degges.
BOC FIRES KAREN DEGGES
Posted on July 23, 2015
Before Karen Degges was finally fired—please note: she was fired while on medical leave—the BOC ignored numerous things that were questioned by the public and TWG— from hiring more and more people, to raises for Sherry Braley; from a missing audit to higher taxes; from violations of policy to gross absenteeism. And the list goes on…..but the BOC refused to listen, would not ask questions, did not verify anything or document anything. Now they are in trouble! And so are the taxpayers of Jasper County.
The county commissioners’ attorney, Jim Alexander, gave the BOC very poor advice in this case. Based on past County Manager dismissals, there is no doubt that Jim Alexander wanted to pay Degges for 90 days if the commissioners wanted to fire her or not, and gave them the line that if they didn’t they might get sued. Well, now, look what has happened!
How much will the Jasper County BOC cost the taxpayers of Jasper County with their failure to fire Karen Degges when they should have?
TWG
Citizens, be informed and stay informed! Only by being informed, can the citizens understand what is being done and talked about, and then press our officials to make good decisions for everyone in Jasper County. That is our goal with the Taxdogs blog.
Taxpayer's Watchdog Group 
“One call that’s all”… Karen Degges knows if you can’t find a job, a lawsuit maybe easier. If that doesn’t work, disability is her next move..
Will Ms. Degges ever stop trying to milk the taxpayers?
Not only did she make up stories out of whole cloth, she helped a county employee steal money by allowing that practice to continue even though she was made aware of the situation.
She should have been fired a long time before that final day.
Ms. Degges also enjoyed unemployment benefits for quite a long time. Now that this teet is no longer available to her, she found another possible way to extort more money.
Ms. Degges, have you no shame?
Ms. Degges supposedly needed 90 days of medical leave because she had to have her hip replaced. Let her show where and when she had this surgery done. I would not be surprised if she never had any such surgery and the whole thing was just a hoax.
This will cost the taxpayers of Jasper County a lot of money, whether Ms. Degges wins or losses the lawsuit. Just to defend the suit is expensive.
Jasper County needs to hire a qualified attorney with experience in defending ADA- Employment suits. It will be expensive, but having our county attorney defending it will cost a lot more in the end.
It’s time to stop Ms. Degges in her tracks.
What do you get when you couple incompetent legal advice with lack of common sense? Strategic planning? Forward? Or for lack of better epithet for the Jasper County BoC let’s just call it what it is. Incompetent.
You might think that someone like Carl Pennamon with over thirty years of taking up space on the Jasper County Board of Commissioners would know better, but you would be wrong. The only two reasons Pennamon still enjoys a seat on the BoC is because of his lapdog status with local bankers and of course a gerrymandered district, otherwise he’d never lasted one term much less the decades he’s served the corrupt element of the Jasper County community, more commonly known as the “pillars .”
Instead of more reckless debt creating “Forward”, stupid “Strategic Planning “ or parasitic corporatism marketed as “Smart Growth “ , what Jasper County government really should try is old fashioned Honesty, Integrity and Guts. A good start would be to send the hack James Alexander along with his erroneous legal advice back to Newton County with no return ticket. That would be a great start. Let his JDA banker pal Steve Jordan wail. Who cares?
Since the BOC operated on advice from County attorney Alexander, the cost of this lawsuit should be borne by County attorney Alexander, not the Jasper County taxpayer!
Karen will probably claim she is permanently disabled by all of the stress TWG caused her by pointing out all of her conniving and wrongdoing.