Once Upon a Time

On May 24, 2012, the Jefferson County Commissioners were presented with a $20,557.81 voucher that was already paid to Ralph Armand, former Health Dept. Administrator.

This request was approved by the Commissioners and acknowledged, without reviewing the the hand written scribbles and calculations comprising the request that was also unsigned by its creator and lacked support documentation or certification by the county attorney, as required by State Board of Accounts. Kudos to Commissioner Tom Pietrykowski for truthfully admitting that he was informed that this appropriation was for “unemployment” and not for compensatory and vacation time.

The Health Dept. Administrator is an exempt position and is ineligible for overtime or compensatory time. However, Auditor, Celeste Reed confirms that it was her writing that validated the request that paid Ralph Armand for 236.25 alleged comp hours earned entirely during two declared emergencies; flooding in 2011 and the Mar. 2, 2012 tornado.

These hours cannot be verified in public records, but this is a fairy tale, so lets assume our Auditor can provide proof of prior authorization for the alleged hours worked in addition to the weekly salary base of 35 hours. Mr. Armand is paid now for 33.7 days of compensatory time for these two events.

And the cover up continues by denying the public access to the Employee Service Record in violation of the Access to Public Records Act (APRA).

Heigh Ho, it’s off to the Public Access Counselor and State Board of Accounts we go …

7/25/2012 Update: Surprise, the State Board of Accounts identified several accounting anomalies resulting in this exact type of misappropriation. A slap on a wrist. Council person Laura Cash-Boldery never returned my calls or followed up on this issue as promised. Fast forward to 2016 … the county is still unable to balance certain accounts and an investigation is ongoing with council president Cash-Boldery in the lead.

Admin’s Note: These concerns were presented to the Commissioners in a public meeting on Thursday, May 24, 2012. Our local paper has again shown their own media bias by failing to report on all agenda items, including this telling public discussion.