LAURENS COUNTY, Ga. — One of two candidates left in the Laurens County tax commissioner race was previously fired by the county, according to his personnel file.
That comes after 13WMAZ filed a public records request for Tim Aldridge's county personnel file. It showed that Aldridge started his career with Laurens County as an animal control officer in 2016.
But then in 2022, county records show he was fired for insubordination.
According to Aldridge's boss, Aldridge was repeatedly talked to about failing to respond to calls and about not filing his paperwork, his personnel file shows.
Then in February 2022, his supervisor Jeff Shepard asked him about not responding to a dog bite call where the dog possibly had rabies. Aldridge said he had called the bite victim five times, but didn't respond in person. Shepard said it was against protocol to handle bite cases that way.
That's when Aldridge allegedly cursed out Shepard, County Administrator Bryan Rodgers and the county commissioners.
According to a report from Shepard, this is what Aldridge said over the phone: "[explicit] Bryan Rodgers, [explicit] the commissioners, and [explicit] you. I'm tired of this [explicit], and I ain't gonna put up with it."
In another meeting a couple days later, Aldridge told Shepard he would beat Rodgers' "eyes out."
On Feb. 23, Rogers, County Attorney Billy Kight and HR Director Tammy Surine met with Aldridge about his comments.
According to the files, Aldridge admitted to the inappropriate language he used towards Rogers and Shepard. Aldridge said he did it because he was angry and felt like he worked harder than Shepard.
Rogers then told Aldridge about a county review that found Aldridge failed to file reports in over 150 cases over the previous calendar year.
Aldridge said he responded to those calls but didn't say why he didn't fill out his paperwork.
At the conclusion of that meeting, Aldridge was given the option to resign or be terminated due to insubordination.
Aldridge didn't resign, so he was fired.
That same day, Aldridge got into a car accident in a county car. According to his file, he was not at fault in the accident, but he said he suffered neck and back injuries.
Aldridge filed a workers comp of $140,000 against the county for his injuries.
In February 2024, the case was settled with the county for $77,500 that will be paid as an annuity of $53.61 a week for life.
As part of the settlement, Aldridge asked the county to expunge his firing and say that he resigned instead. The county refused to do that. In the settlement, Aldridge agreed he would not work for the county ever again in the future.
The next month, Aldridge qualified to run for tax commissioner.
13WMAZ reached out to Aldridge four times to ask him about the firing and never heard back from him.
We also asked Rodgers if they would like to give a statement, and he said the county wouldn't comment on a personnel matter.
Aldridge is in the June 18 Republican Primary Runoff election against Darla Brown.
There are no Democrats running in this race, and early voting began Monday.