A Peachtree City man has filed a complaint with a federal agency, alleging that he was discriminated against by city officials when he was not called back for an interview for the city’s stormwater manager position.

Melvin Ewing says he was far better qualified than some of the applicants the city ultimately interviewed for the position. Ewing has his own engineering consulting business and said last week that to his knowledge there have been no problems with any of the projects he’s worked on, including several in Macon.

Ewing also claims that the person hired for the job, who is white, is less qualified than he is for the position.

If the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rules in Ewing’s favor, it would clear the way for him to file a federal lawsuit with the city.

In his complaint, Ewing said the city didn’t follow its own specifications it laid out for applicants when determining who to interview. He also claims the city interviewed someone for the job who hadn’t even applied for the position.

“The city of Peachtree City discriminated against me when they selected a lesser qualified white individual,” Ewing wrote in the complaint. “The job specs indicates (sic) that if you only have an undergraduate degree, then you must have six to ten years directly related experience. The (white) selectee does not list this on the job application.”

Ewing said since he is a certified professional engineer, he met the city’s qualifications but didn’t get an interview. He also complains that the city didn’t keep an appropriate “paper trail” of why staff made its selection.

Also, Ewing argues that as a former volunteer for the city’s water and sewer authority, he should’ve been given the same chance to interview as another candidate who was interviewed and had previously served a volunteer position on the city’s planning commission.