I.
Election
Commission: As this Board is aware, the
Transparency Committee has attended Election Commission meetings and reported
our findings to you. At one stretch, we
attended meetings for 2 years with the exception of one month during this 2
year time frame.
Our
last discussion with this Board was about Election Commission reports not being
typed. Mr. Dunn, you asked our former
County Administrator to look into this problem and find a solution. There was no follow-up to this request that
was mentioned at a Board of Supervisors’ Meeting and to date; I don’t believe
this has been done.
Attached
to this report is a copy of one of the reports we made before this Board. This particular report is dated 15 Jun
2012. This is a synopsis of some of the
problems we have on this very important Commission.
At
the moment, you are discussing how to fill the vacancy for Beat 5 on our
Election Commission. Our Committee is
asking you not to appoint former Commissioner, Eddie Ryals for the following
reason: When our Committee asked the
Election Commissioners to follow-up on a Beat 3 resident, we supplied
information for them to move forward with their own investigation so that
Marietta Battle could either be removed from Tunica County’s voter rolls or
allowed to remain on our voter rolls.
Mr. Ryals was the Commissioner who told us there would be no
investigation as the Battles had a business in our County. Now we are all aware that having a business
in a district does not allow you to vote in said district. Voters must register and vote where they
reside.
The
time is long past and we have too many other pressing issues for us to have to
deal with the residency of elected officials in this County. Whether the problems are with the Election
Commission and/or the Circuit Clerk’s office, the problems need to be
fixed. I do know this; the Transparency
Committee is no longer going to bother with this Election Commission.
II.
Grants: Quickly
on this subject: please be aware that each time you all approve a grant it is
costing us money. Yes, even if the grant
is at 100%. A case in point is the
recent purchase of the four wheelers.
These pieces of equipment will cost us money in insurance and gas and
employee time. And for what? Why do we need them?
III.
Moonlighting:
Tunica County’s policy on Moonlighting can be found on page 18 of the current
Employee and book. We’ve included a copy
of that page in this report. The
handbook states what any full time employee must do to work outside his or her
obligation to Tunica County. One of
these obligations is to submit a written request to the Board of Supervisors
“prior” to starting another job. We have
brought this problem to the attention of the former County Administrator and we
had no success.
If
this Board finds it appropriate, would you consider asking the new County
Administrator to send a memo to all employees to remind them of this obligation
should they wish to seek employment in addition to their job with Tunica
County?
Our
search of public records can find no evidence of any letters asking for Board
approval. Attached to this report are
some names we believe are working in addition to their job at Tunica
County. These names are K. C. Hamp, John
Pickett, III, Glen Grant, Dr. Henry Hargrow, Eugene Bridges and Ann Johnson.
This
information is not new. With the changes
we’ve had in our government, this might be a good time to make sure all
employees are treated fairly.
IV.
Independent
Audit: Where are we in this process? Are
we going to be getting a final report or a report of what has been found so
far?
V.
Budget and
Claims: In May of this year, this Board approved a claim from the Sheriff’s
department for $23,675.00 to pay for a 2013 Dodge Charger. And yet, on 30 Sep 2013, there was a report
to adjust the 2012-2013 Budget. This
report showed the Sheriff’s department to be $297,000.00 over budget. This is just one example of what our
Committee found in just one month of this past fiscal year. How is this happening?
It
is concerning to hear this Board discussing not paying County obligations. Wouldn’t it be better to pay the present
claims and amend the budget to reduce the objectionable spending? Asking for a monthly report of departmental
spending is a good first step. Please
consider reducing departmental budgets to rein in spending.
One
thing is for sure, we can’t afford the new Community Center and the public
really does need more of an explanation of why our County has to borrow $850K
to purchase land for a private company.
Supporting information and or reports...
15 Jun 2012
I.
Election Commission:
A. Meetings
not being posted as required by the MS Open Meetings Law.
B. Jun
2012: No meeting held as the Courthouse was locked and only 2 Election
Commissioners showed up. Elijah Williams
and Tina Brown
C. There
has been no transcription help offered as requested by the Board of Supervisors
on 13 Apr 2012.
D. Final
purge date is 8 Aug 2012.
II.
Research:
A. “A
properly maintained voter roll contains all of the names of eligible voters who
have registered to vote in your county together with their correct address
information, and it does not contain the name of any voter who is ineligible to
vote in your county.”
1. Conclusion:
If they are not meeting, they are not maintaining.
B. “They
act as a group, through their minutes, which should be filed with the circuit
clerk of the county.
1. Conclusion:
Minutes are not being transcribed or filed.
These minutes are hand written and therefore are subject to change by
anyone who can lay their hands on these documents.
See MS Code 25-41-11 below.
1. Conclusion:
If the public is unaware of when the Tunica County Election Commission
meets, how can they get their problem resolved?
D.
Circuit Clerk:
1. “A circuit clerk is required to attend the
regularly scheduled meetings of the election commission.”
a.
Conclusion: This is not being done.
2. “A circuit clerk must also give all assistance
that he is capable of giving to the election commissioners to assist them in
the revision of voter rolls.”
a.
Conclusion: There is no computer access or
printed voter roll available during the Election Commission Meetings.
3. “A
circuit clerk keeps copies of the minutes of the meetings of the county
election commissioners. Those minutes are prepared by the election commission
when official action has been taken.”
a.
Conclusion: These minutes are handwritten and
therefore subject to alteration by anyone who has access. For the public’s protection, the Election
Commission Minutes need to be transcribed and read and approved at the next
Election Commission Meeting.
25-41-11. Minutes of
meetings
(1) Minutes shall be kept of all
meetings of a public body, whether in open or executive session, showing the
members present and absent; the date, time and place of the meeting; an
accurate recording of any final actions taken at such meeting; and a record, by
individual member, of any votes taken; and any other information that the
public body requests be included or reflected in the minutes. The minutes
shall be recorded within a reasonable time not to exceed thirty (30) days after
recess or adjournment and shall be open to public inspection during regular
business hours.
25-41-15. Enforcement
of chapter; civil penalty
The Mississippi Ethics Commission shall
have the authority to enforce the provisions of this chapter upon a complaint
filed by any person. Upon receiving a
complaint, the commission shall forward a copy of the complaint to the head of
the public body involved. The public
body shall have fourteen (14) days from receipt of the complaint to file a
response with the commission. After
receiving the response to the complaint or, if no response is received after
fourteen (14) days, the commission, in its discretion, may dismiss the complaint
or proceed by setting a hearing in accordance with rules and regulations
promulgated by the Ethics Commission.
After a hearing, the Ethics Commission
may order the public body to take whatever reasonable measures necessary, if
any, to comply with this chapter. If the
Ethics Commission finds that a member or members of a public body has willfully
and knowingly violated the provisions of this chapter, the Ethics Commission
may impose a civil penalty upon the individual members of the public body found
to be in violation of the provision of this chapter in a sum not to exceed Five
Hundred Dollars ($500.00) for a first offense and One Thousand Dollars
($1,000.00) for a second or subsequent offense, plus all reasonable expenses
incurred by the person or persons in bringing the complaint to enforce this
chapter.
Other information taken from the
Secretary of State’s website is listed below.
This information is found on the 2012 Election Calendar. We may have missed some of the dates.
10 Jan 2012:
Election Commissioners meet to purge their rolls. *NOTE: This is within 90 days
of an election – no systematic purging should occur at this time. (Miss.
8
Aug 2012: Purging:
Deadline to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from the
official list of eligible voters for the November 6, 2012 General Election –
systematic purging must cease 90 days before an election. (42 USC
1973gg-6(c)(A))
10
Aug 2012:
Purging: Election Commissioners are required to meet to purge the poll books.
(Miss. Code Ann. § 23-15-153(1)(d) (1972)) *Note – no systematic purging may
occur within 90 days of an election.
16 Nov 2012: Election Commissions: Deadline
for County Election Commissions to declare results of the General Election and
deliver certificates of elections to those elected. (Miss. Code Ann. §
23-15-601 (1972)) No candidate shall be
certified as elected unless all required campaign finance reports have been
filed. (Miss. Code Ann. § 23-15-811 (1972))
Tunica County Employee Handbook: page 18
6. Outside Employment or "Moonlighting"
"No employee may engage in employment which could cause a conflict of interest, or use his County employment for personal gain. Outside employment must not interfere with performance of duties for the county. Any outside employment must have prior approval of the Board of Supervisors. To apply for approval, you must submit a written request clearly describing the outside employment duties and hours to your department head who will send the request to the Board of Supervisors for their approval. Your first loyalty has to be to your duties with the County."
Tunicans for Transparency in Government report 5 Apr 2010 page 5
C. Beat 2: Those of us who live in Beat 2 are still
without fair representation on this Board because you will not do what is
necessary and that is to vacate the seat occupied by Cedric Burnett and hold a
special election to fill the Beat 2 place on this Board.
1. Submit
a list of staff at Henderson Funeral Home.
It has been brought to our attention that the program work for each
funeral is done by one of Tunica
County
2. There
is no record of requesting approval from this Board for part-time employment at
Henderson Funeral Home by any of these employees. I don’t think the people of Tunica County
3. Copy
of voter registration for Beat 2 showing both Cedric Burnett and Clara
Burnett’s residence as 1370
Beatline Road 1370
Beatline Road
MS
Code: 25-1-59
“If
any state, district, county, county district, or municipal officer during the
term of his office shall remove out of the state, district, county or
municipality for which he was elected or appointed, such office shall thereby
become vacant and the vacancy be supplied as by law directed.”
