Personal Use Of County Assets By Elected County Officials And County Employees

Published by Jimmy Oldsun, Investigative Reporter

County-owned telephones, computers, vehicles, and other assets ..... Do you think elected county officials and employees should be able to use these things for their own personal purposes?  Do you think elected county officials should be attending to their own personal business during normal office hours when they are being paid to do the work of the county?

You say no they shouldn't!  I happen to agree with you completely!  And I think most of the hard-working citizens of Gasconade County agree as well.

During the past several months I've been investigating the extent of this problem here in Gasconade County.  My confidential sources have pointed to a few incidents where county vehicles have been used for the personal purposes of a county employee.  I currently have in my possession several emails of a political nature which have absolutely nothing to do with county business and which were date and time stamped during the normal office hours of one of our prominent elected officials.  I presume these emails were sent out from a county-owned computer.  These emails were not sent directly to me, but were forwarded on to me by one of the original recipients.  Were I to publish these emails, the elected county official who originated them would be very embarrassed.  For now, I have chosen not to identify this official.  However, if I continue to receive more personal emails from this official which are date and time stamped during her normal office work hours, I will change my mind and blow the whistle!

The information I have has been turned over to my elected representative on the County Commission.  I have asked him to disuss these issues with the state auditors who are currently in town.  It is my position that these issues need to be further investigated.  Official audits of telephone and computer records need to be conducted.  Elected county officials who have access to county vehicles and who have employees under their charge should be interviewed about the policies regarding personal use of county assets within their departments.

Do you have any information regarding the personal use of county-owned assets here in Gasconade Reports?  If you do, I urge you to contact the state auditors who are currently working four days per week at the County Courthouse.

Jimmy Oldsun
Investigative Reporter
http://www.hermannhearsay.blogspot.com/