WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Warner Robins Councilman Daron Lee is asking questions about the city's employees and how he says they're being treated.
Some of his comments at Monday night's city council meeting spotlighted his concerns.
"I don't see why you can't work in a place where you can't voice your concerns without being scared about being terminated," said Lee. "That's slavery. That's indentured servitude."
Lee was discussing complaints he's apparently received about working conditions for part of the city workforce.
'We have a system where friends hire friends and job descriptions are professionally-dumbed down just to hire people who are not even qualified," he said. "It's a shame."
At the meeting, Lee said his comments weren't all about race.
"It's not just blacks. There are some whites who, just because they're not going along with the status quo, they're being mistreated as well," he said.
When we asked him after his speech, Lee said he was not referring to any specific department or incident.
However, in an open records request, we obtained emails that show earlier this month, Lee requested a number of details about the public works department, including every employee's race, sex, and pay grade.
The results show in a department of 80 people, about 59% of employees are white and around 37% are black.
Of the white employees, about 53% are paid more than the average pay grade in that department.
However, only 10% of black employees are.
Assistant public works department director Krag Woodyard, who is currently running the department since their director retired, declined to comment for this story.
So far, WMAZ has not found evidence that corroborates Lee's broader claims about preferential hiring and retaliation for raising issues.
Councilman Lee did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.