City Manager Enjoys Tackling Challenges

(Editor’s Note: This is another in a series of meeting the community’s public service employees who take care of the residents and businesses in Jasper County and the city of Monticello. This week, Kim Joris introduces us to Monticello City Manager Lathaydra Sands.)

Coming on board as City Manager of Monticello just 10 months ago in July 2022, LaThaydra Sands is not new to Monticello. A Jasper County resident for over 20 years, she is originally from Appling, Ga. She welcomed the move to Monticello those many years ago to be closer to her mother, her siblings and other family members who live in the area.

LaThaydra is also not new to working within city government. She has worked in various capacities within the halls of city government for over 18 years. And she is not new to working for the city of Monticello. From 2013 to 2019 she worked at City Hall in the front office area, handling billing and other duties as the City Clerk. She left her job as City Clerk in 2019 to become the City Administrator for Lithonia, where she worked until she came home to start her tenure as Monticello’s city manager.

Married for 17 years, LaThaydra has known her husband Amantae Sands since 1999. They are parents to two daughters, Kennadi who is currently on break from college and working in a doctor’s office and Mckenzie who is finishing her junior year at Georgia Southern College and one son, Chevy, who is finishing his junior year at Jasper County High School. A few weeks ago they added their first dog to the family, a now 12 week old golden doodle named Polo.“They cry more than babies!,” she laughed, telling me it was hard work having a puppy in the house.

“We’re a family of public servants,” she shared when asked about her career working in government. Her husband, Amantae, is a sergeant with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, and LaThaydra, the oldest of four siblings, shared that two of her three siblings work or have worked in public service, a brother-in-law in enforcement and a sister who worked in the prison system.

LaThaydra oversees an annual budget of $12.9 million, several city departments and a workforce of 29 employees. City bills have to be paid, streets and city parks have to be taken care of and she ensures the city’s over 2,500 residents (according to the 2020 census) have utilities that include gas, electric, trash pick- up and water and sewer at their homes and businesses.

She is passionate about the importance of the census for cities and towns, explaining that census numbers help communities get their fair share of money from the hundreds of billions of dollars available from grants and federal funding for things like hospitals, schools, roads and public works and how that money is spent every year for the next decade.

At times there are challenges at work. “I’m always trying to look for a positive. I think that helps in overcoming the challenge,” she said. “I’m flexible, too. I might think I’m going to work on one thing, but another priority appears and I have to work on that instead. It’s all about finding balance,” she said.

Sometimes people do say hateful things she told me. Especially about the utilities bill. Monticello bills all of their utilities as one bill, meaning gas, electric, trash and water and sewer are lumped together for a total bill, making it seem as if the utilities are high if one only looks at the total, rather than look at what that total includes.

At the request of a resident, the city explored sending out bills twice monthly, but the cost to do twice monthly billing would double and end up costing more for the city and its residents. LaThaydra shared that her door is always open to talk with residents about their concerns, especially those residents experiencing an emergency.

If things start to get hard for her or her employees who are on the front line, she reminds herself and tells her employees QTIP or Quit Taking It Personally, an acronym she learned through her association with the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA). She explained she believes most people are good folks but sometimes anger seeps in and wins. “It hurts. We are human,” so when the anger wins and hateful things come out of peoples’ mouths, she reminds her employees the anger isn’t personal, it is people who are just angry.

A bachelor’s degree in science with a major in accounting, certification and training as a Finance Officer (Level I and Level II) and a Human Resource Manager and training as a Crisis Coordinator and in Municipal Revenue, Regional Economic & Leadership Development, LaThaydra is confident and excited in her role as City Manager.

“I love working in a small town. You actually get to know your customers. This is a person staying here in the community, not just a person moving on,” LaThayrda offered.”It’s fun getting to know the residents,” she said. “The good thing about being here is I can see a direct impact. It feels good to be back home,” LaThaydra said.

Resident can learn more about the city of Monticello and its services next week during the annual Georgia Cities Week, a weeklong event sponsored by the GMA that includes a meet the staff day and information classes on utilities, budgeting and home buying.

The city of Monticello office, open Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., is located at 123 West Washington Street, Monticello. It can be reached via phone at 706-468-6062.