Yesterday, while traveling and surfing the internet, I decided to check the online version of the Oldham Era. It was the first time that I had read anything from the Era for months as I stopped my subscription over a year ago. Once again I was reminded why I no longer choose to receive the Era. The quality of their reporting is simply less than what you would find in a high school newspaper.
In the Wednesday edition there was an article about Magistrate Scott Davis having filed a lawsuit against Kevin Eldridge who is the chairman of the Stormwater district. They interviewed Eldridge to get a response to the lawsuit. However, according to Magistrate Davis the article was written without any personal input from him.
To make matters worse the Era reported that Magistrate Davis had also filed a lawsuit against Judge Murner. My opinion is that they were trying to indicate that Magistrate just likes to file lawsuits. What the Era failed to do was finish the story by explaining to its readers that Judge Murner was convicted of failing to release information under the Open Records law. That would have only taken one more sentence, but then that would have reflected that Magistrate Davis does not file lawsuits unless they are justified.
Yes, I can continue to save my money. Once again I remind people that the Era did not cover the hearing conducted by the Police Merit Board to determine if an Oldham County Police Officer would be fired.
I challenge you to get another side to any story that the Era prints. This is not the first time that the editor of the Era has written an article about Magistrate Scott Davis that did not have all of the facts in it. The editor has ties to the Murner administration. I would hope that those ties would not cloud her vision but everything indicates that for some reason the vision of the Era is clouded where Magistrate Scott Davis is concerned. Fortunately for Magistrate Davis the circulation of the Era is not formidable. Does anyone wonder why?
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
OLDHAM COUNTY FISCAL COURT TARGET ONCE AGAIN OF A NEW WEB SITE
Once again the Oldham County Fiscal Court is the target of a web site. A new web site has been established for the purpose of bringing to the attention of the public that a "Squires' Club" now exists in Oldham County. During the current admisnistration some of the magistrates often refer to each other as "Squire". The most obvious person using the term is Judge Murner. I suppose that it may be easier to say Squire Jones than it is to say Magistrate Jones. Perhaps a sylable or two is saved.
If you would like to visit the site click here.
If you would like to visit the site click here.
Friday, February 12, 2010
MAGISTRATE SCOTT DAVIS FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST STORMWATER DISTRICT CHAIRMAN KEVIN ELDRIDGE
On February 12, 2010, Magistrate Scott Davis filed a lawsuit alleging that Oldham County Storm Water District Chairman Kevin Eldridge willfully withheld and refused to provide public information to Davis when formally requested by means of an "Open Records Request" pursuant to Kentucky law. Davis claims that Eldridge refused to provide all of the information related to bids and proposals for outsourcing the operations of the Storm Water District, which is now handled by Veolia Water.
Magistrate Scott Davis has been a foe of the methods used by the Murner administration and the Storm Water District since the formation of the District last year. He has stated that he believes that Oldham County needs to comply with the legal requirements of the environmental laws surrounding Storm Water regulations, but that he does not believe that it was necessary to form a separate District to comply with the laws nor was it necessary to charge the excessive fee that the county has mandated on homeowners, businesses, and others.
The Storm Water District has proven that Magistrate Scott Davis was correct. First, the District recently recommended that the fee be suspended for four months because it has collected excess money - imagine that. Why the District would temporarily suspend the fees but not reduce the fees is a question worth asking. My guess is that the District really wants to keep the fee at an excessive rate until the public furor over the rate subsides. Once that furor subsides there will be no suspensions of the collection of the fees and the fees will remain the same. The excessive fees will then likely be used for purposes that can disguised as Storm Water related, but are truly not.
Davis' claim that the District was not needed is also supported by Eldridge and the District because it has now recommended that the Fiscal Court consider combining the Storm Water District with the Sewer District. In my opinion, that would facilitate the channeling of Storm Water funds to the financially strapped Sewer District. Just remember everyone, follow the money trail. At the end of the money trail lies many answers to questions about control and influence in this county.
Lastly, let us not forget that Davis previously accused Judge-Executive Duane Murner of illegal secrecy concerning an open records violation and improper closed-door meeting of the Fiscal Court. Murner was convicted on both issues and Davis was proven to be correct.
To view the entire lawsuit/complaint click here
Magistrate Scott Davis has been a foe of the methods used by the Murner administration and the Storm Water District since the formation of the District last year. He has stated that he believes that Oldham County needs to comply with the legal requirements of the environmental laws surrounding Storm Water regulations, but that he does not believe that it was necessary to form a separate District to comply with the laws nor was it necessary to charge the excessive fee that the county has mandated on homeowners, businesses, and others.
The Storm Water District has proven that Magistrate Scott Davis was correct. First, the District recently recommended that the fee be suspended for four months because it has collected excess money - imagine that. Why the District would temporarily suspend the fees but not reduce the fees is a question worth asking. My guess is that the District really wants to keep the fee at an excessive rate until the public furor over the rate subsides. Once that furor subsides there will be no suspensions of the collection of the fees and the fees will remain the same. The excessive fees will then likely be used for purposes that can disguised as Storm Water related, but are truly not.
Davis' claim that the District was not needed is also supported by Eldridge and the District because it has now recommended that the Fiscal Court consider combining the Storm Water District with the Sewer District. In my opinion, that would facilitate the channeling of Storm Water funds to the financially strapped Sewer District. Just remember everyone, follow the money trail. At the end of the money trail lies many answers to questions about control and influence in this county.
Lastly, let us not forget that Davis previously accused Judge-Executive Duane Murner of illegal secrecy concerning an open records violation and improper closed-door meeting of the Fiscal Court. Murner was convicted on both issues and Davis was proven to be correct.
To view the entire lawsuit/complaint click here
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
THE GISH DOG AND PONY SHOW
I recently viewed a taped advertisement for Paula Gish. The ad featured Duane Murner, Ann Brown and Dennis Diebel. What a trio! The only thing missing was a member of the Bob Jones' family. After all, one would expect a member of the family that is providing the most financial support for Gish to also support her in the video.
Ann Brown is the person who made the decision that helped put the Oldham County School District into a lawsuit that could have dire consequences if the school board loses the lawsuit. Then there is Duane Murner, the man who increased fees and taxes in Oldham County more than any other County Judge that I can remember. We must not forget to give Dennis Diebel the credit that he deserves. He is the man who led the sewer district and resigned with the sewer district in the worst financial condition that it has ever been in. The books were so bad, according to Duane Murner, that an audit could not be done without the books being reconstructed by the county treasurer, Stan Clark. I don't believe that I would want that trio supporting me.
Two other observations were interesting. It is worth noting that Paula Gish did not speak. I do not expect to see her doing much talking anywhere as I expect someone else to be talking for her. Some things must be avoided. Frankly, I hope that there is a debate between her and the other candidate for County Judge, David Voegele. That would be worth the price of admission.
Also, I couldn't help but notice that Ann Brown appeared to be reading a script as her eyes continually glanced downward. What is it with these democrats? Do they all have to have a teleprompter or other device to assist them when they are talking?
David Voegele should hope that the Gish campaign puts this ad on television without any further polish.
Ann Brown is the person who made the decision that helped put the Oldham County School District into a lawsuit that could have dire consequences if the school board loses the lawsuit. Then there is Duane Murner, the man who increased fees and taxes in Oldham County more than any other County Judge that I can remember. We must not forget to give Dennis Diebel the credit that he deserves. He is the man who led the sewer district and resigned with the sewer district in the worst financial condition that it has ever been in. The books were so bad, according to Duane Murner, that an audit could not be done without the books being reconstructed by the county treasurer, Stan Clark. I don't believe that I would want that trio supporting me.
Two other observations were interesting. It is worth noting that Paula Gish did not speak. I do not expect to see her doing much talking anywhere as I expect someone else to be talking for her. Some things must be avoided. Frankly, I hope that there is a debate between her and the other candidate for County Judge, David Voegele. That would be worth the price of admission.
Also, I couldn't help but notice that Ann Brown appeared to be reading a script as her eyes continually glanced downward. What is it with these democrats? Do they all have to have a teleprompter or other device to assist them when they are talking?
David Voegele should hope that the Gish campaign puts this ad on television without any further polish.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
THANKS TO THE OLDHAM COUNTY ROAD DEPARTMENT
I have spoken with several people around the county today and each person has told me that the roads in their subdivision were clear despite the heavy snowfall that the county received. For this Brian Campbell and the employees of the road department are to be commended.
Yes, they may be doing what they are paid to do. However, I expect that they had to put in more hours than normal to get the roads cleared. Further, there are a lot of people who are paid to do a job, they just don't it well. Thanks to the road department.
Yes, they may be doing what they are paid to do. However, I expect that they had to put in more hours than normal to get the roads cleared. Further, there are a lot of people who are paid to do a job, they just don't it well. Thanks to the road department.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
DO YOU WANT TO HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE 2010 LOCAL ELECTIONS
As most of the readers on this blog know I frequently distribute fliers around the county to inform people of a variety of issues that impact the county, including the actions of many politicians.
During the next few months I intend to distribute several fliers to the public to help keep the public informed about the various political races. Primarily I want to ensure that the public is aware of the voting records of the incumbents, from whom they derive their funding, and their positions on issues of interest to the public. Further, I intend to inform the public about the failures of their representatives to keep themselves properly informed about the matters that they vote on and their lack of contributing anything meaningful to the fiscal court.
If you would like to assist me in the distribution of these fliers, please send an email to me at the email address on this site and include in the email contact information. Thank you.
During the next few months I intend to distribute several fliers to the public to help keep the public informed about the various political races. Primarily I want to ensure that the public is aware of the voting records of the incumbents, from whom they derive their funding, and their positions on issues of interest to the public. Further, I intend to inform the public about the failures of their representatives to keep themselves properly informed about the matters that they vote on and their lack of contributing anything meaningful to the fiscal court.
If you would like to assist me in the distribution of these fliers, please send an email to me at the email address on this site and include in the email contact information. Thank you.
JUDGE MURNER THROWS BILL TUCKER UNDER THE TRAIN
While Judge-Executive Duane Murner was throwing Oldham County Maintenance Director Bill Tucker under the train at the February 2, 2010 meeting of the Oldham County Fiscal, other Magistrates were busy defending their vote to approve the contract awarded to Classic Cleaning for cleaning of the Fiscal Court Building. At issue was the awarding of the contract and the subsequent use of jail inmates to do some of the cleaning work within the scope of the contract.
A little background is in order. Modern Maintenance was under contract to clean the Fiscal Court Building and the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) building that houses the District Court and the Oldham Circuit Court. Although the value of the contract for cleaning the AOC building is unknown at this time, the value of the contract to clean the Fiscal Court building was $25,000. As the contract for the cleaning the Fiscal Court building was about to expire, it was put up for bid again. The only two bidders on the contract were Modern Maintenance and Classic Cleaning. It must be noted that Classic Cleaning is owned by Wendi McGohon and Tina Schaaf, who are both employed in the office of County Judge-Executive Duane Murner.
In my opinion employees of the county should not be allowed to bid on county contracts. Nor should companies that are primarily owned by employees of the county be allowed to bid on county contracts.. County Attorney John Fendley said that no conflict of interest was involved at the time the contract was discussed. Further counsel should have been sought. I believe that a poll of the Oldham County residents would reflect that the vast majority of the people would agree that there appeared to be a conflict of interest.
To make matters worse, county jail inmates began assisting with the cleaning of the FC building immediately after Classic Cleaning was awarded the contract to clean the building. By Judge-Executive Murner’s own admission, inmates had never been used for cleaning the inside of either the Fiscal Court or AOC buildings and they are still not being used to assist Modern Maintenance with the cleaning of the AOC building.
The issue of using the inmates to assist Classic Cleaning in the Fiscal Court building was brought up for discussion at the last Fiscal Court meeting by Magistrate Scott Davis. From the onset of the discussion and the intense questioning by Magistrate Scott Davis, Murner immediately said that it was not his idea to allow the inmates to clean the building but rather the idea of Bill Tucker. He reiterated that Bill Tucker made the decision to start using the inmates and he made the decision to stop using the inmates. I wonder if Bill heard the train coming. In other words, if outside authorities come in to question anyone, Murner wanted his hands to be clean - pure and simple. Does he not remember that he is the County Judge-Executive, albeit in name only over the last three years, and as such he is responsible for what happens in the county.
Further, Murner claimed that the cleaning by the inmates was done under the supervision of Bill Tucker. He further stated that the inmates were being used to supplement the cleaning due to the additional salt that was being tracked into the building as a result of the inclement weather. When my wife saw the inmate cleaning Bill Tucker was not in sight and the inmate was not cleaning the floor, as he was cleaning the windows on the door. I can assure you that she is willing to testify to that in court. I wonder how other people’s stories would change if they were asked to raise their right hand and take an oath in a court of law. Murner’s story became more and more unravelled during the ongoing questioning by Magistrate Scott Davis. Toward the end of Davis’ questioning, Murner appeared shaken and unsure with his responses. There is an old saying, the truth is much easier to remember than the lie. Murner might want to take this advice to heart.
Magistrate Iva Davis, in a rare moment, decided to try and offer something to the discussion. She stated that the company having the contract would not have been able to clean the floors at the time that the inmate labor was being used, therefore she saw nothing wrong with the inmates helping. Once again let me reiterate the inmate was cleaning windows when my wife observed him. I feel certain that a poll of the other employees in the building would reflect that the inmate did more than clean the floors when an abnormal amount of dirt was being brought in by pedestrian traffic due to inclement weather.
Iva Davis went on to compare inmates doing other work in the county to the inmates doing work in the Fiscal Court building. She just doesn’t understand the issue, as is normal with her. The other inmates hopefully are not doing work that a contractor is being paid to do.
Even Magistrate Steve Church, who claims to be an affluent and knowledgeable businessman did not understand the issues. He also compared the cleaning of the Fiscal Court building to the inmates working at the recycling center or other places. Once again, hopefully the other inmates were not performing work that contractors were being paid to do.
Obviously feeling uncomfortable with the position he was in, Judge-Executive Murner once again tried to place blame on Bill Tucker. He stated that Tucker had not been happy with the performance of Modern Maintenance. Was he trying to say that was justification for allowing McGohon and Schaaf to have the contract? The problem with that reasoning is that Modern Maintenance is still cleaning the AOC building. If you were unhappy with a contractor, why would you not replace them entirely? I suppose that you could say that McGohon and Schaaf did not want to clean both buildings. Could that have been because they knew that they would not be able to use inmate help in the AOC building? More than one inquiring mind wants to know the answer to that question.
Speaking of security, my wife said that when she entered the Fiscal Court building on January 26, 2010 and saw the jail inmate cleaning, a closet door was open and there was nobody else present. Immediately she thought, “what was there to prevent this inmate from grabbing her and possibly taking her into the closet?” That thought is in no way a reflection on the inmate as my wife said that he was a very clean cut individual. It is just a natural reaction for a lot of women.
Magistrate Bob Leslie suggested that county employees not be allowed to bid on contracts in the future. Murner replied that to not allow county employees to bid on contracts would cost the county a lot of money. To say that he must be insinuating that county employees would do the job for less money. What evidence does he have to prove that? Are there other county employees that are doing work outside of the normal assigned duties and being paid for it? Are there other county employees that have contracts with the county? His statement was nothing more than a feeble attempt to justify his uncomfortable position. It was clear that Murner did not have adequate answers or responses for Magistrate Davis’ questions.
Magistrate Rick Rash offered his thought on the issue and in doing so demonstrated that he did not understand the issue either, by which nobody was really surprised. He stated that he advised the administration to stop using the inmates and that since they had stopped, there was no harm and therefore, no foul. As is the norm for Rash his reasoning is on a different plane than that of most other people.
Let me sum this up for you. The issue here is not the use of inmate labor to save money. The issue is the proper bidding of contracts. The inmate help was not offered to the other company that bid on the contract, as this was clear from Magistrate Scott Davis’ questioning of Murner. Had the use of inmates been offered to the other company, perhaps their bid would have been as low as or lower than the bid of Classic Cleaning. The foul is that both bidders were not on the same field. The Judge can argue all day long that there was no wrongdoing in the bid process, but everything appears to point to the fact that additional help was given to Classic Cleaning in a secretive manner after the awarding of the bid. At what point Classic Cleaning learned that it would receive additional help is unclear.
It all stinks and I am not the only person that smells the aroma.
A little background is in order. Modern Maintenance was under contract to clean the Fiscal Court Building and the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) building that houses the District Court and the Oldham Circuit Court. Although the value of the contract for cleaning the AOC building is unknown at this time, the value of the contract to clean the Fiscal Court building was $25,000. As the contract for the cleaning the Fiscal Court building was about to expire, it was put up for bid again. The only two bidders on the contract were Modern Maintenance and Classic Cleaning. It must be noted that Classic Cleaning is owned by Wendi McGohon and Tina Schaaf, who are both employed in the office of County Judge-Executive Duane Murner.
In my opinion employees of the county should not be allowed to bid on county contracts. Nor should companies that are primarily owned by employees of the county be allowed to bid on county contracts.. County Attorney John Fendley said that no conflict of interest was involved at the time the contract was discussed. Further counsel should have been sought. I believe that a poll of the Oldham County residents would reflect that the vast majority of the people would agree that there appeared to be a conflict of interest.
To make matters worse, county jail inmates began assisting with the cleaning of the FC building immediately after Classic Cleaning was awarded the contract to clean the building. By Judge-Executive Murner’s own admission, inmates had never been used for cleaning the inside of either the Fiscal Court or AOC buildings and they are still not being used to assist Modern Maintenance with the cleaning of the AOC building.
The issue of using the inmates to assist Classic Cleaning in the Fiscal Court building was brought up for discussion at the last Fiscal Court meeting by Magistrate Scott Davis. From the onset of the discussion and the intense questioning by Magistrate Scott Davis, Murner immediately said that it was not his idea to allow the inmates to clean the building but rather the idea of Bill Tucker. He reiterated that Bill Tucker made the decision to start using the inmates and he made the decision to stop using the inmates. I wonder if Bill heard the train coming. In other words, if outside authorities come in to question anyone, Murner wanted his hands to be clean - pure and simple. Does he not remember that he is the County Judge-Executive, albeit in name only over the last three years, and as such he is responsible for what happens in the county.
Further, Murner claimed that the cleaning by the inmates was done under the supervision of Bill Tucker. He further stated that the inmates were being used to supplement the cleaning due to the additional salt that was being tracked into the building as a result of the inclement weather. When my wife saw the inmate cleaning Bill Tucker was not in sight and the inmate was not cleaning the floor, as he was cleaning the windows on the door. I can assure you that she is willing to testify to that in court. I wonder how other people’s stories would change if they were asked to raise their right hand and take an oath in a court of law. Murner’s story became more and more unravelled during the ongoing questioning by Magistrate Scott Davis. Toward the end of Davis’ questioning, Murner appeared shaken and unsure with his responses. There is an old saying, the truth is much easier to remember than the lie. Murner might want to take this advice to heart.
Magistrate Iva Davis, in a rare moment, decided to try and offer something to the discussion. She stated that the company having the contract would not have been able to clean the floors at the time that the inmate labor was being used, therefore she saw nothing wrong with the inmates helping. Once again let me reiterate the inmate was cleaning windows when my wife observed him. I feel certain that a poll of the other employees in the building would reflect that the inmate did more than clean the floors when an abnormal amount of dirt was being brought in by pedestrian traffic due to inclement weather.
Iva Davis went on to compare inmates doing other work in the county to the inmates doing work in the Fiscal Court building. She just doesn’t understand the issue, as is normal with her. The other inmates hopefully are not doing work that a contractor is being paid to do.
Even Magistrate Steve Church, who claims to be an affluent and knowledgeable businessman did not understand the issues. He also compared the cleaning of the Fiscal Court building to the inmates working at the recycling center or other places. Once again, hopefully the other inmates were not performing work that contractors were being paid to do.
Obviously feeling uncomfortable with the position he was in, Judge-Executive Murner once again tried to place blame on Bill Tucker. He stated that Tucker had not been happy with the performance of Modern Maintenance. Was he trying to say that was justification for allowing McGohon and Schaaf to have the contract? The problem with that reasoning is that Modern Maintenance is still cleaning the AOC building. If you were unhappy with a contractor, why would you not replace them entirely? I suppose that you could say that McGohon and Schaaf did not want to clean both buildings. Could that have been because they knew that they would not be able to use inmate help in the AOC building? More than one inquiring mind wants to know the answer to that question.
Speaking of security, my wife said that when she entered the Fiscal Court building on January 26, 2010 and saw the jail inmate cleaning, a closet door was open and there was nobody else present. Immediately she thought, “what was there to prevent this inmate from grabbing her and possibly taking her into the closet?” That thought is in no way a reflection on the inmate as my wife said that he was a very clean cut individual. It is just a natural reaction for a lot of women.
Magistrate Bob Leslie suggested that county employees not be allowed to bid on contracts in the future. Murner replied that to not allow county employees to bid on contracts would cost the county a lot of money. To say that he must be insinuating that county employees would do the job for less money. What evidence does he have to prove that? Are there other county employees that are doing work outside of the normal assigned duties and being paid for it? Are there other county employees that have contracts with the county? His statement was nothing more than a feeble attempt to justify his uncomfortable position. It was clear that Murner did not have adequate answers or responses for Magistrate Davis’ questions.
Magistrate Rick Rash offered his thought on the issue and in doing so demonstrated that he did not understand the issue either, by which nobody was really surprised. He stated that he advised the administration to stop using the inmates and that since they had stopped, there was no harm and therefore, no foul. As is the norm for Rash his reasoning is on a different plane than that of most other people.
Let me sum this up for you. The issue here is not the use of inmate labor to save money. The issue is the proper bidding of contracts. The inmate help was not offered to the other company that bid on the contract, as this was clear from Magistrate Scott Davis’ questioning of Murner. Had the use of inmates been offered to the other company, perhaps their bid would have been as low as or lower than the bid of Classic Cleaning. The foul is that both bidders were not on the same field. The Judge can argue all day long that there was no wrongdoing in the bid process, but everything appears to point to the fact that additional help was given to Classic Cleaning in a secretive manner after the awarding of the bid. At what point Classic Cleaning learned that it would receive additional help is unclear.
It all stinks and I am not the only person that smells the aroma.
Friday, February 5, 2010
SEWER DISTRICT WOES CONTINUE
For the past couple of years the Oldham County Sewer District has often been at the front of the news. Their lack of capacity, inability to operate efficiently, and their financial status issues have been the center of discussions. Meanwhile Judge Murner has continued to promise that an audit of the district was right around the corner. At the last fiscal court meeting once again the subject of their finances was brought up by Magistrate Scott Davis.
State law requires that all districts receiving more than $750,000 per year have an annual audit. Magistrate Scott Davis has been inquiring of Judge Murner about the audit for several months. Murner has always said that the audit will be forthcoming very shortly. However, as of yet, no audit has been performed, and according to Murner the audit may not be done in the near future.
Murner said that the books of the sewer district are in such bad condition that it was necessary for Stan Clark, the county treasurer, to reconstruct the books as far back as 1998. Without question this reflects that the oversight of the sewer district was nil. There is a good likelihood that there were instances of misfeasance, malfeasance and nonfeasance of office by people in charge of the district over the years. However, nobody has chosen to try to bring those people to justice. They have chosen to sweep the dirt under the carpet.If the books have bben improperly maintained since 1998, it possible that an audit has not been conducted since then. What would you think if that were the case?
Knowing that the books of the sewer district were in horrible condition, Murner still asked the fiscal court to assume responsibility of several million dollars of debt. What is worse is that the majority of the members of fiscal court blindly followed his suggestion. I asked the fiscal court to at least wait until an audit was completed before accepting the responsibility of the debt but they refused to do so. The fact is that most of the members are totally irresponsible or stupid and neither bodes well for the citizens of Oldham County.
Magistrate Davis also asked that Murner explain why Magistrate David Voegele was denied access to the meeting of the Oldham LaGrange Development Authority (OLDA) meeting that was being conducted to discuss the contract proposal by Talmadge Hocker for the Oldham Reserve even though Murner was allowed to attend and he is not a member of OLDA. Murner stated he had nothing to do with the decision to keep Voegele out of the meeting and that he was asked to join the meeting because he had worked closely with OLDA during the negotiations. Murner may have worked closely with OLDA but he certainly has not shared his information with the fiscal court even though the court/county is paying for all of the legal bills for the negotiations. Considering that Murner prefers to operate in secrecy it should come as no surprise that he would not keep members of the court informed.
If my memory serves me correctly, I believe that Murner and other members of the Kinser court constantly complained about Mary Ellen Kinser keeping information from them. I challenge any member of that court to prove to me that she was more secretive than Judge Duane Murner. The present fiscal court needs major changes. All the public can hope for is that some of the people challenging incumbents are successful and that they are not willing to endure the secrecy that the present court has endured.
State law requires that all districts receiving more than $750,000 per year have an annual audit. Magistrate Scott Davis has been inquiring of Judge Murner about the audit for several months. Murner has always said that the audit will be forthcoming very shortly. However, as of yet, no audit has been performed, and according to Murner the audit may not be done in the near future.
Murner said that the books of the sewer district are in such bad condition that it was necessary for Stan Clark, the county treasurer, to reconstruct the books as far back as 1998. Without question this reflects that the oversight of the sewer district was nil. There is a good likelihood that there were instances of misfeasance, malfeasance and nonfeasance of office by people in charge of the district over the years. However, nobody has chosen to try to bring those people to justice. They have chosen to sweep the dirt under the carpet.If the books have bben improperly maintained since 1998, it possible that an audit has not been conducted since then. What would you think if that were the case?
Knowing that the books of the sewer district were in horrible condition, Murner still asked the fiscal court to assume responsibility of several million dollars of debt. What is worse is that the majority of the members of fiscal court blindly followed his suggestion. I asked the fiscal court to at least wait until an audit was completed before accepting the responsibility of the debt but they refused to do so. The fact is that most of the members are totally irresponsible or stupid and neither bodes well for the citizens of Oldham County.
Magistrate Davis also asked that Murner explain why Magistrate David Voegele was denied access to the meeting of the Oldham LaGrange Development Authority (OLDA) meeting that was being conducted to discuss the contract proposal by Talmadge Hocker for the Oldham Reserve even though Murner was allowed to attend and he is not a member of OLDA. Murner stated he had nothing to do with the decision to keep Voegele out of the meeting and that he was asked to join the meeting because he had worked closely with OLDA during the negotiations. Murner may have worked closely with OLDA but he certainly has not shared his information with the fiscal court even though the court/county is paying for all of the legal bills for the negotiations. Considering that Murner prefers to operate in secrecy it should come as no surprise that he would not keep members of the court informed.
If my memory serves me correctly, I believe that Murner and other members of the Kinser court constantly complained about Mary Ellen Kinser keeping information from them. I challenge any member of that court to prove to me that she was more secretive than Judge Duane Murner. The present fiscal court needs major changes. All the public can hope for is that some of the people challenging incumbents are successful and that they are not willing to endure the secrecy that the present court has endured.
Monday, February 1, 2010
ARE CRIMINAL CHARGES IN OLDHAM COUNTY'S FUTURE
Recently, the Oldham County Fiscal Court awarded a contract to clean the Oldham County Fiscal Court Building to a company called Classic Cleaning. At the time I thought that it was a conflict of interest as Classic Cleaning is owned by Wendi McGohon and Tina Schaaf, both of whom are employed in the office of Oldham County Judge-Executive Duane Murner. Further, there was another company that sought the contract through a bid.
Approximately one month ago I received an anonymous letter advising me that Oldham County Jail inmates were cleaning the Fiscal Court Building and that McGohon and Schaaf were not actually performing the work. On January 26, 2010 my wife personally witnessed an inmate cleaning the Fiscal Building. Additionally, I have been informed by at least three other people that inmates were being used to clean the building.
Upon receiving the anonymous letter, the first question that I asked myself was “Did the bid request for proposals make the inmate help available to the other bidder involved in the process?” I doubt that it was, and have heard that it was not. When was the decision made to allow the contractors to use inmates to clean the building? Frankly, this smells like “bid-rigging”.
I intend to do more investigating of this matter. I believe that there is enough information and witnesses available at this point to take the matter to authorities outside the county. I have been told that the county has stopped allowing the inmates to clean the Fiscal Court Building due to complaints, including those made by individuals working in the Fiscal Court Building. However, the toothpaste is already out of the tube and if you have tried to put toothpaste back in a tube, you know that it is almost impossible. The fact is that any other bidder on the contract should have a basis to file suit against the county unless something is done to make the losing bidder(s) “whole”.
It is a shame that a county which has enjoyed the reputation that Oldham County enjoyed just a few years ago now seems be under a cloud all the time. If this trend continues Oldham residents will be looking for “vanity” license plates that don’t reflect their home county.
As I say, stay tuned. Certainly more will follow on this issue.
Approximately one month ago I received an anonymous letter advising me that Oldham County Jail inmates were cleaning the Fiscal Court Building and that McGohon and Schaaf were not actually performing the work. On January 26, 2010 my wife personally witnessed an inmate cleaning the Fiscal Building. Additionally, I have been informed by at least three other people that inmates were being used to clean the building.
Upon receiving the anonymous letter, the first question that I asked myself was “Did the bid request for proposals make the inmate help available to the other bidder involved in the process?” I doubt that it was, and have heard that it was not. When was the decision made to allow the contractors to use inmates to clean the building? Frankly, this smells like “bid-rigging”.
I intend to do more investigating of this matter. I believe that there is enough information and witnesses available at this point to take the matter to authorities outside the county. I have been told that the county has stopped allowing the inmates to clean the Fiscal Court Building due to complaints, including those made by individuals working in the Fiscal Court Building. However, the toothpaste is already out of the tube and if you have tried to put toothpaste back in a tube, you know that it is almost impossible. The fact is that any other bidder on the contract should have a basis to file suit against the county unless something is done to make the losing bidder(s) “whole”.
It is a shame that a county which has enjoyed the reputation that Oldham County enjoyed just a few years ago now seems be under a cloud all the time. If this trend continues Oldham residents will be looking for “vanity” license plates that don’t reflect their home county.
As I say, stay tuned. Certainly more will follow on this issue.
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