Commission hears more talk on payments

Friday, February 22, 2008 12:29 PM EST article source

Lawrence County officeholders Thursday continued to take each other to task over recent stories about a fired courthouse employee and about who did — and didn’t — do their job.

Some also weighed in on courthouse job duties.

In a letter to the commission that was read aloud during the meeting, Lawrence County Auditor Ray T. Dutey said in February 2007 when the Lawrence County Board of Elections fired then-director Mary Wipert, deputy elections director Eric Bradshaw verbally informed Lawrence County Chief Deputy Auditor Chris Kline Wipert had been let go.

Bradshaw was told then he needed to place a formal termination date on the

next payroll as well as any accumulated sick leave or vacation days that Wipert was owed. The letter also claimed Bradshaw was told Wipert would need to be given information on Cobra (short-term extension insurance).

“When the next payroll came around the payroll officer from my office had not received any of the above information,” Dutey wrote in his letter. “The payroll officer physically went downstairs to the office of the board of elections to help fill out Cobra notification to ensure it was done correctly. At that time the payroll was sent to my office with Mrs. Wipert remaining on the payroll. This payroll was signed by both the newly installed director and deputy director. The payroll was questioned but we were told it was correct.”

In his letter, Dutey said Wipert remained on the payroll until the pay period ending Sept. 21, 2007, and each payroll was signed by either director Cathy Overbeck or deputy director Bradshaw.

“The question of why guidance wasn’t offered is invalid; guidance was given, it just was not followed.”

But Bradshaw said this was not the case.

“We are sticking by the same story,” Bradshaw said. “We did what we were supposed to do, told to do.”

Dutey said elections board member Karen Matney Simmons did indeed contact his office about why Wipert was still on the payroll and getting benefits and was told she was and that Bradshaw and Overbeck had signed off on each payroll.

“If Mrs. Simmons knew of this information in June or July and didn’t think it was correct, why didn’t she take action then?” Dutey asked in his letter. Dutey pointed out that it is not the auditor’s office’s job to oversee other officeholders.

At the end of the letter, he accused Commissioner Tanner Heaberlin of using the distasteful tactics such as the matter with Wipert to get attention for himself. It was Heaberlin who, at last week’s commission meeting, asked why Wipert had been paid and received insurance and other benefits for months after she was terminated.

Commissioner Jason Stephens also took issue with the way in which Heaberlin brought up the matter of Wipert’s firing. He understood that while Heaberlin, being new, may have had questions, he did not have to discuss personnel issues in public.

“Unfortunately her name (Wipert’s) was in the papers again,” Stephens lamented.

Recent commission meetings have drawn a small audience of interested citizens, who also had opinions they shared.

“Wherever he got his information, they should have given him all the information before they gave it to him,” former elections deputy director Ella Lawless said of Heaberlin.

Stephens added that the Lawrence County Prosecutor’s Office had issued an opinion last year that Wipert’s sick and vacation leave being paid in biweekly was not a legal problem. At the time, the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office refused to weigh in at all on what it perceived as a personnel issue.

But Heaberlin insisted that he was simply asking a question last week and wanted an answer. He said he did not mention any specific individual, it was Chief Deputy Auditor Chris Kline “outted” Wipert as the former employee in question.

Heaberlin said while some may not have liked his asking questions, others have told him they appreciate it.

“From what I have gotten from the public, they seem glad I did it,” Heaberlin said. “I was at the gas station the other day and someone stopped me and I thought, ‘Oh no,’ but they said they were glad I did it. I think people have lost trust in us, especially in light of recent events and we need full disclosure.”

Heaberlin said he thinks people want change at the courthouse, not the status quo.

Also at Thursday’s meeting, Lawrence County Treasurer Stephen Dale Burcham told the commission a letter given to them last week by Dutey contained some inaccuracies and he wanted to set the record straight about the goings-on in his office.

Burcham said his books are always reconciled, contrary to what Dutey’s letter had stated. Burcham also said his office and the auditor’s office should work together on county financial issues.

“It’s unfair to point the finger in one direction when both are obligated to the county and the citizens of Lawrence County,” Burcham said.

“I appreciate you. I think we need to work together,” Commissioner Doug Malone agreed. “When you point a finger there are three pointing back at you.”

Dutey later said he has proof Burcham’s books were not balanced.