Cell phone use in Dale County attracts auditor’s attention

A cell phone policy—or lack of one—has attracted the attention of auditors reviewing the Dale County books.

That is what Dale County Commission Chairman Mark Blankenship told

commissioners at a meeting Aug. 8.

It has also attracted the attention of the Association of County Commissions of Alabama, Dale County Administrator Raye Ann Calton said. “ACCA is looking into this also,” she said.

“Statewide or just us?” asked Dale County Attorney Henry Steagall.

“Just us,” Calton replied.

At issue are the cell phone bills being paid from the county’s General Fund, Blankenship explained, as he presented commissioners with a proposed cell phone and mobile device policy for county-financed communication devices. “We basically have two Verizon bills. The county manages one and one is managed by the sheriff’s office,” he said.

“Over the years all we have received from (the Dale County Sheriff’s Department) is an invoice with the total dollar amount of the bill,” Blankenship said. “We have tried numerous times over the years—even the auditors have tried—to get a detailed invoice and never been able to get a detailed invoice so we continued to pay the bill.”

During the 2015 audit, the auditors requested, and received, detailed cell phones being paid for by the sheriff’s department, Blankenship said.

“Right now it is looking like we are going to have a finding in our 2015 audit because there are some phones that look like they are being paid for that are not within the law of what we can pay for with General Fund money,” Blankenship said. “And there are others that look like it's a possible ethics issue because they serve no real job purpose.”

Blankenship said that the itemized bill revealed that at least two DCSO retirees have cell phones being paid for by the county and that several DCSO clerical staff have county-financed cell phones and iPads. “One of the bills showed that the retiree was using their cellphone more than (DCSO Chief Deputy) Mason Bynum did,” he added.

“The reason that this needs to be addressed and corrected now is that there is the possibility that when (the auditors) finalize this audit, somebody is going to have to pay some money back,” Blankenship said.

The amount of county money being spent on cell phones and other mobile devices is between $52,000 and $54,000 annually, Blankenship said. “If we reel it in to be in accordance with (the proposed cell phone policy) you are looking at a 50 percent savings.”

The savings potentially generated by adopting and enforcing a cell phone policy is equivalent to funding a 1 percent pay increase for all Dale County employees, Blankenship said.

“The problem here is that we are not being consistent across the county,” Blankenship said. “Right now every department that we have would be in compliance with this (proposed) policy except the sheriff’s department.”

Blankenship said that the itemized bill revealed that the sheriff’s department is paying for the probate judge and the revenue commissioner’s phones. “And there is $440 a month charge that is actually aviation related but is being charged to the sheriff’s department,” Blankenship said. “That ought to be charged to the aviation fund.

“The only people that have phones in the Revenue, Commission, Probate and Road and Bridge Departments are supervisory people that actually are mobile,” Blankenship said. “In the sheriff’s department there are clerks that sit behind a desk eight hours a day with desk top computers and desk phones, yet they have (county paid for) iPads and cellphones.

“It's a real issue and it’s just not right. You can’t spend taxpayers’ money like that,” Blankenship said. “If the sheriff wants to pay those out of his Pistol Permit money that's fine but with General Fund money, its pretty clear, it can’t be spent on retirees’ phones and other phones that are not official business.”

Blankenship said that the purchase order policy is not being used to purchase new phones and iPads and there is no record of where replaced equipment ends up. “We can address that just by simply enforcing it,” he said, adding that a recent iPad purchase was $1,400.

“The auditors have an issue with this stuff, too,” Blankenship said. “We have a lot of issues to work out with that and the first part is to establish a policy.”

“I’d like to learn a little more about this before I make a decision,” Dale County Commissioner Steve McKinnon said.

Dale County Commissioner Charles “Chic” Gary agreed. “Before we cut the monkey’s tail off I’d kind of like to dive into it a little bit more and break out what’s what,” Gary said. “Some of it may be needed.”

Steagall told commissioners that the issue did need to be addressed—and soon. “I agree with the chairman that this needs to be straightened out,” he said. “There are some legal and ethical issues here that need to be straightened out.

“I think we need to give the sheriff the opportunity to come justify some or all of what he is doing there,” Steagall added. “Let’s hear from him on this—but it needs to be straightened out.”

The next meeting of the Dale County Commission is Tuesday, Aug. 29, at the Dale County Government Building in Ozark. The meeting is one week later because the commissioners will all be attending a state conference on Aug. 22. The work session begins at 10 a.m. and is followed immediately by a voting meeting. Both meetings are open to the public.