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Hearing is held on recall effort
By RICHARD HARRIS
(From the February 28, 2007 issue)
Superior Court Judge Ben Miller is leaving the file open until the close of business next Monday, March 5, before issuing a ruling on Marion County Commissioner Frank Powell’s request to stop the Coalition for the Betterment of Marion County from proceeding with an application for recall against him.
Judge Miller listened to testimony for several hours on Monday, Feb. 26 in
Earlier in the hearing the judge had read a statement dealing with it being against the law for a person to give or receive money when handling or signing a petition. He then asked Coalition Chairman Bryant Vaughn if there were such statements included on the petition and Vaughn answered “no.”
Attorney Alfonza Whitaker, representing the coalition, called seven of its members to testify. They were: Jere Smith, Joanne Watson, Bryant Vaughn, Ralph Forsyth, Carol Sue Streeter, Oscar Pierce, and Mary Jo Page. Commissioner Powell was not represented by an attorney and handled his side of the hearing. Below are some of the (paraphrased) general questions Whitaker asked to witnesses, as well as some of the responses the witnesses gave when cross-examined by Powell.
Availability to Constituents
The recall petition application stated that Powell was not “available to discuss concerns of constituency” and Whitaker asked many of his witnesses if they had ever tried to contact Powell by phone. The answers, however, did not seem to elicit the responses Whitaker expected.
Two coalition members said they had never attempted to call Powell and one of those (Joanne Watson) said she was sure he would be accessible if she did call him.
Oscar Pierce said he did not believe Powell’s claim that he was
accessible to the public 24 hours a day, noting that he did not even know if Powell had a phone number available to the public. Powell, however, responded by asking Pierce if he had ever looked for the name “Frank Powell” in the phone book, to which the answer was “no.”
Ralph Forsyth said he had called Powell on the phone twice. He said the first time he called was to voice his concern about an issue dealing with Pasaquan and that Powell was very nice and helpful, even staying on the phone with him for around an hour. He said the second call was about the new garbage system and that Powell abruptly answered that “it’s a done deal,” and did not want to discuss it. Powell responded by asking if his “done deal” answer was appropriate since the contract had already been signed. He also asked Forsyth if he had ever not been available to talk, to which Forsyth answered “no.”
Jere Smith said he had called Powell once and that while Powell took his call, he refused to discuss the new roadside garbage service, instead repeatedly stating, “I will not argue with you.” Powell countered by saying that he discussed two other issues of concern with Smith during the phone call (but that was disputed by Smith, who said they did not discuss other issues).
Mary Jo Page said all of her efforts to contact Powell had been successful.
Closed Meeting?
Many of the witnesses testified about a particular Commission meeting in which the new garbage system was to be discussed, noting that not everyone who wanted to be inside the building for the meeting was allowed to do so. Some coalition members said they thought that was a violation of the Open Meetings Act, because the Commission should have expected a large crowd and should have relocated the meeting to a larger meeting place. They also said there were tables that could have been removed to make more room for people.
The county’s safety officer, Travis Welch, testified that he had read in the paper that the coalition was hoping for up to 1,000 people to attend the meeting, so he called the State Fire Marshal and asked for guidance about how many people he could allow into the building without violating safety regulations. He then made the decision to stop people from going into the building after a certain number. He also testified that he had not discussed the issue with commissioners in advance.
Meeting Procedures
One of the main concerns of the witnesses for the coalition was the way meetings are conducted. There were many complaints about the lack of a speaker system in the regular meeting room, with many people saying it was difficult to hear what was going on. There were also repeated complaints about Powell and the rest of the commissioners often whispering to each other while deliberating issues.
As noted previously, the judge’s closing comments included instructions for Attorney Whitaker to supply the court with a reference to a law that makes such whispering illegal.
Witnesses also stated that the minutes of the meetings do not include all of the details of what happened in the meetings, and also complained about how agendas were handled before the meetings.
In response, Powell attempted to read the opinion of the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), which had previously received a similar written complaint from a member of the coalition about these issues. The judge did not allow the AGO’s opinion to be read or placed into evidence, ruling that it would be hearsay unless someone from the AGO was actually present in court to discuss it. As previously reported in this newspaper, the AGO released an opinion that the Commission did not violate the Open Meetings Act.
Lack of Proper
Oversight/Waste
One of the major points that the coalition tried to make was their belief that Powell had failed to provide adequate oversight of the government and spending. Several points were made by the witnesses on this topic.
Garbage: The establishment of the new roadside garbage pick-up service was included in this debate. Witnesses said Powell and other commissioners failed to seek the will of the people before making a decision, and then even after voting to approve it were unable or unwilling to discuss the basic details (including how much the fee per household would be).
Witnesses also said they believe the decision to implement roadside garbage pickup raised taxes (the total of property taxes + the garbage fee) to the point that it would constitute mismanagement. Vaughn noted that many local residents are classified by the government as living in poverty and said he feels the added expense is an unreasonable burden.
Front-End Loader: In addition to the garbage issue, there was much discussion about the county’s use of a front end loader, with witnesses saying it was driven on the highway too much and that such wear-and-tear was bad for the vehicle, which they say should be transported to the job site rather than driven. Powell said they have reduced the amount of time it spends on the road.
Taxes: The level of taxation was also a big issue with some of the witnesses, who believe it was mismanagement to let taxes get as high as they are currently. Ralph Forsyth called it, “taxation without representation,” and asked, “What are we getting for our money?”
Mary Jo Page said she believed it was mismanagement for the county to try and take on so many projects at once and that they may have been able to keep taxes lower by spreading projects out over a longer period of time. She also was not pleased that Powell and the other commissioners did not agree with her suggestion to hire a qualified county manager (the county has a clerk position, but not a manager) to help oversee government operations.
Powell acknowledge that while the millage rate has not gone up, total property taxes did rise due to a revaluation of property values. He also did not dispute that other taxes have increased, but he does not believe it was due to mismanagement.
EMS: Carol Sue Streeter testified about issues related to the Emergency Medical Service (EMS). She said Powell had not supported the hometown EMTs and noted that the EMS now has all “out-of-county” people, which she says has resulted in slower response times to emergency calls. She said it was because her husband did not receive enough hours on call locally that he had to also work in other counties, noting that he was shot and seriously injured responding to a call in another county. She also said some EMS equipment was missing from a locked room, and noted that the county paid for a piece of equipment for the Talbot County chief, who also works for Marion County.
Powell responded that the Sheriff’s Office was investigating the missing equipment, and asked if it was possible that the Talbot County chief needed the equipment to perform duties while working for Marion County.
Use of Vehicles: There were also complaints about county employees driving work vehicles home. Powell said four or five people in the Water Department take work vehicles home, but it was because they were always on call and that it works out well with them being able to respond in a timely manner to water line breaks in various parts of the county. He said there is also one person in the Road Department who takes a vehicle home, but that employee is on call 24 hours, seven days a week.
Clarification
During the hearing one witness testified that she did not like it that the County Commission voted to give money to Pasaquan. The Commission, however, has never voted to give money to Pasaquan. The Commission as a whole did agree to act as the fiscal agent for the Pasaquan Preservation Society if the society, on its own, secured a grant from the state or federal governments (essentially agreeing to handle the grant money for them). Frank Powell, however, was the only commissioner to vote against it.
Editor’s Note: It is not possible to include every detail discussed during the hearing in this newspaper article.