Why the Columbus HR director left her job after the city paid her legal fees
Reather Hollowell retired Dec. 31 as the human resources director for the Columbus Consolidated Government.
Hollowell served CCG for over 39 years, Mayor Skip Henderson told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email Monday, including the past 13 years as HR director.
The mayor, department heads and other CCG employees honored Hollowell at a luncheon “for the outstanding and professional way she did her job,” Henderson said.
Hollowell began working for CCG in 1986. She was assistant HR director when she was nominated to be the department head in 2014 after Tom Barron retired.
Columbus Council clashed over paying Reather Hollowell’s legal fees
Last summer, the Columbus Council clashed over paying Hollowell’s legal fees incurred while defending herself during the investigation into CCG’s finance department.
Hollowell’s job title was listed in a letter from Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Don Kelly requesting to be recused from the case, which led to Hollowell acquiring outside counsel to represent her. At the conclusion of the investigation, no criminal charges were filed against Hollowell.
Although they agreed to pay Hollowell’s legal fees, members of the Columbus Council argued her lawyer, Chuck Boring, charged too much.
The city has listed job ads searching for the next human resources director, offering a salary range between $115,000 and $125,000. Hollowell’s last salary as HR director was $130,823.94, according to the L-E’s database of CCG full-time employee salaries.
