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Wagoner council approves hire in street department and waives nepotism rule; one member objects
Summary
The council approved hiring Joseph Lehi Murphy to the street department and waived a provision of the employee manual related to relatives working under a supervisor; Councilmember Sampson voted no and stated a preference to keep anti-nepotism rules strict.
The City of Wagoner council voted to hire Joseph Lehi Murphy as a street department employee and to waive section 205 of the city employee policy manual, which addresses relatives working under a supervisor.
Council discussion identified that Murphy is related to an existing employee (described in the meeting as Thomas' uncle) and that the cemetery is supervised by the street department. The waiver asked the council to allow the hire despite the family relationship.
A motion to hire Murphy and waive the nepotism provision was made and seconded. The roll-call vote recorded yes from Wright, Butler, Wagner, Abernathy, North and Higginbotham and a no from Sampson. During discussion Sampson explained his no vote as a policy-preservation position: he said that when governments have relatives working in the same department, policy usually requires assignment to a different department or other mitigations to avoid supervisory overlap.
The public record from the meeting does not show conditions attached to the waiver (such as reassignment or supervisory firewalls) nor a named effective date for Murphy's employment.
