MEMPHIS, Tenn. — There are questions surrounding prominent elected official Edmund Ford Jr. He’s currently working multiple jobs and you’re paying his salary for each one.
Ford is currently a city councilman and county commissioner, which both pay about $29,000 a year. He’s also a math teacher at Central High School. His salary for that job is unclear. WREG is trying to find out.
Ford was recently hired as Financial Literacy Coordinator for Memphis Public Libraries. That job pays $78,000 a year. He starts that job on November 26th.
Ford was elected to the county commission in August and is supposed to resign his city council seat by November 26th. County commission chair Van Turner says Ford is also going to resign his teaching position which would cut his number of publicly funded jobs to two.
Turner is confident Ford can handle his duties at the library and on the commission. Turner says Ford has juggled his time between teaching and city council effectively.
“I think it would be a different situation if there had been issues with time management or him not showing up to meetings or him not being a full participant in what was going on, but you’ve never seen or heard of that from commissioner Ford,” Turner says.
Haspel would be happier with Ford working two jobs but is still a little skeptical. After all, taxpayers are paying for it.
“I hope he’s got enough time,” Haspel says.
We called and texted Ford for comment but have not heard back.
