Commission Chair Joe Spoone, who is the brother of school board chairman Carolyn Spoone Holt, revised the Hamblen County Commission committees effective with the November committee meetings.
There was one committee where only one change was made. Chairman Joe Spoone removed me from the Audit Committee.
Before I was ever elected to county commission, I did research about county finances.
I ran for office because of my extensive research and concerns about county finances, school finances, deficit budgets, questionable bidding procedures, rising taxes, and the overall lack of accountability for the spending of tax dollars.
I am a fiscal conservative. I have encouraged spending reductions where possible, and I have refused to support deficit budgets.
Despite the depth of my research and my knowledge about county finances and audits, Joe Spoone took me off of the county's Audit Committee.
The previous members were Edwin Osborne, Maudie Briggs, Herbert Harville, Ricky Bruce, and Linda Noe.
The members now are Edwin Osborne, Maudie Briggs, Herbert Harville, Ricky Bruce, and Larry Baker.
I did not ask to be taken off of the committee. In fact, I had e-mailed Chairman Joe Spoone on October 5, specifically asking to be left on the Audit Committee as well as the other committees that I served on. Since I had asked to be left on but was removed anyway, I called Commissioner Baker, my replacement, to see if he had perhaps asked to be put on. He hadn't.
So what happened between October 5, when I asked to be left on the Audit Committee, and November, when I was removed from the Audit Committee? Well, there was a commission meeting on October 20th where Joe Spoone got really bent out of shape after comments were made about his multiple conflicts of interest in voting on school issues.
Joe got very upset at the start of the October 20th meeting when a gentleman from the audience brought up Joe's almost never-ending conflicts of interest, family relationships, and economic ties to the School Board.
After pointing out that Joe Spoone's wife (Charlene Spoone) is a school system employee, that Joe's brother (James Spoone) is a school system employee, and that Joe's sister (Carolyn Spoone Holt) is chairman of the School Board, the gentleman asked Joe (along with Herbert Harville and Ricky Bruce who also have close family ties to the school system) not to vote on a school issue that was in front of commission at that meeting and not to vote on school issues at future meetings because of ethical, family, and economic conflicts of interest.
Joe got mad again later in the same meeting when I commented that I agreed with the gentleman's statement that Joe has ethical and economic conflicts of interest in voting on school issues because of not just one, but at least three close personal, family, and economic ties to the School System.
Questions about Joe's conflicts of interest are actually nothing new. They've been raised before by various people and even by other commissioners.
If Joe really believes in his heart that he has no ethical, personal, family, or economic conflicts in voting on school issues with his sister Carolyn Spoone Holt serving as chairman of the School Board and his brother James Spoone and wife Charlene Spoone employed by the school system, then Joe just needs to keep saying that all his family and economic ties to the school system have no effect on him or on his vote whenever a school funding issue comes before commission.
Joe really doesn't need to get mad at those who have a different opinion. The gentleman who spoke about Joe's conflicts (Mr. Dollar) didn't say, and to my knowledge no one is saying, that Joe shouldn't be a commissioner just because of all his conflicts.
All that anyone has said is that it must be impossible, or awfully difficult, for Joe to push aside all thoughts of his wife, sister, and brother and try to forget all of his economic ties to the school system when he votes on school issues.
All Mr. Dollar said was that when there are school issues before the commission, maybe Joe shouldn't vote--to avoid even the appearance of the conflicts of interest that are so obvious to everyone.
I don't know if taking me off the Audit Committee is related to my questioning Joe's apparent conflicts of interest on October 20th. Joe never did call or e-mail me to discuss my October 5th e-mail to him with my request to remain on the Audit Committee.
Taking me off the Audit Committee and putting somebody on who has no interest in that Committee--well, it does make you wonder. Getting taken off the Audit Committee shortly after I said what everyone else knows (Joe Spoone has ethical and economic conflicts of interest in voting on school issues)--well, the timing does make you wonder. But, hey, that's fine.
I'll still attend, ask questions, and provide information at Audit Committee meetings (if there are any).
I'll still ask questions, I'll still be open, and I'll still provide information to the public like I always have.
I will continue to be a watchdog for taxpayers.
I will continue to protect and check on the spending of taxpayer dollars... whether or not I'm a commissioner and whether or not Joe Spoone allows me to serve as a member of the Audit Committee.
I will support paying down the county's debt instead of saddling our children and grandchildren with more and more debt payments.
I will not be a rubberstamp for more and more spending.
I will not be a supporter of higher taxes and deficit budgets.
In singling me out, I guess Joe just didn't realize that other commissioners and citizens make comments about Joe's conflicts of interest all the time--they just do it behind Joe's back.
Because Joe couldn't challenge or refute the truth of what Mr. Dollar had said about Joe's conflicts of interest in voting on school issues, Joe pulled out the old "attack the messenger" trick from the political dirty tricks bag.
But Joe didn't have the guts to attack Mr. Dollar who had brought up Joe's conflicts of interest.
So in response to questions about Joe's conflicts of interest, Joe didn't say that he had no conflicts. Instead, Joe ran to the Tribune to talk about my insurance plan.
Well, the facts are quite simple, but Joe left a bunch of them out.
Six commissioners are covered under the county's insurance plan: Larry Baker, Doyle Fullington, Tom Lowe, Linda Noe, Nancy Phillips, and Bobby Reinhardt.
Joe Spoone apparently had individual coverage under the county plan for about 16 months from about March 2003 to June 2004 and is now covered only under the government-provided school insurance plan of his wife Charlene as her dependent.
The article wasn't clear on whether Joe was covered under two plans (his individual county plan and his wife's school plan) for 16 months before he finally dropped his individual coverage under the county plan or whether Joe was covered only under the county plan for 16 months while his wife Charlene carried health insurance for herself and their children (but not Joe) for that 16 months before Joe finally dropped his county plan and was added as another dependent under Charlene's school health insurance.
Joe didn't mention, and the reporter didn't report, that three commissioners --Guy Collins, Donald Gray, and Herbert Harville-- don't carry county insurance because they are already covered under government-provided Medicare insurance.
Joe didn't mention, and the reporter didn't report, that another commissioner--Dennis Alvis-- is a city government employee who doesn't carry county insurance because he is already covered under the city government insurance.
Apparently 11 of the 14 commissioners, including Joe Spoone, are covered by some sort of government insurance.
So why was Joe talking about insurance and insurance plans? The issue was school-commission conflicts of interest where commissioners have moral or ethical conflicts of interest in voting on school issues because of their family and economic ties to the school system.
Now, if I or any other commissioner had a spouse employed by the school system (like Joe does), then I could see where Joe would run to the paper and cry "foul" about my comments about his school-commission conflicts of interest.
If I or any other commissioner had a brother employed by the school system and a sister who was school board chairman (like Joe does), I could see where Joe would run to the paper and cry "foul" about my comments about his school-commission conflicts of interest.
If I or any other commissioner had insurance coverage through my spouse's insurance with the school system (like Joe does), I could see where Joe would run to the paper and cry "foul" about my comments about his school-commission conflicts of interest.
But I don't have the specific and multiple conflicts that Joe does. So why did Joe run to the paper with a story that wasn't even about the school-commission conflicts of interest that Mr. Dollar brought up?
Maybe Joe just wanted to confuse things and get the discussion away from the real issue and the facts that Mr. Dollar stated so clearly: Joe Spoone has personal and ethical conflicts in voting on school issues.
Having insurance never was the issue--except in Joe Spoone's situation where the insurance is a part of bigger and multiple school-commission conflicts of interest.
With Joe Spoone, his wife's employment by the school system creates a conflict.
With Joe Spoone, his brother's employment by the school system creates a conflict.
With Joe Spoone, his sister's position on the school board creates a conflict.
With Joe Spoone, his conflicts in voting on school issues are all over the place.
joe's wife Charlene is employed by the School System. Her income and benefits such as insurance, retirement, etc. are received by the Spoone household and benefit Joe Spoone.
Joe Spoone's ethical and economic conflicts of interest in voting on school issues are there for all to see.
Joe Spoone is mad about any public mention of his conflicts of interest. Why? Because they are true. Because they are obvious. And because they can't be denied. And, in my opinion, Joe's anger has got the best of him.
Maybe Joe's anger prompted him to remove me from the Audit Committee or maybe it was just coincidence that he removed only me from the Audit Committee right after I spoke out about his conflicts of interest.
Regardless, I hope that the new Audit Committee will meet sometime soon, and I wish it well. The old Audit Committee just quit meeting after an August 2005 meeting where the County Mayor stated that he would not answer 2004 audit questions, among which were questions about his actions in switching money from fund to fund without getting commission approval as required by state law.
There's a lot to do if anyone is paying attention. There's a lot to do if anyone has the courage to tackle the problems that plague our county finances.
January 4, I will start a multi-part blog series on our county finances, and I will start with a look at recent county audits. Here is just a small preview of the information that will be provided.
Although I was not on county commission during the 2001 audit year that ended 6/30/01, I reviewed that audit. I am not a CPA, but frankly it doesn't take a CPA to spot the obvious falsity and the manipulation of county spending records and other questionable reporting in the 2001 audit.
This is why the statement "trust but verify" should be the policy of the Hamblen County Commission and of the citizens and taxpayers of Hamblen County.
Although I was not serving on county commission during the 2002 audit year that ended 6/30/02, I have reviewed that audit. I am not a CPA, but frankly it doesn't take a CPA to spot serious problems when your chief financial officers are telling the public that county finances are OK in April 2002 (Citizen-Tribune article by Robert Moore, headline "County Spending Within Bounds" April 17, 2002) and then when you get the audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002, you find that actually the county spent $923,000 more than it took in.
If county officials thought that spending $923,000 more than you were taking in meant that county spending was "within bounds" in 2002, then you have to wonder what county financial reports really mean.
In that same article it was reported that back in 2001, the audited spending in the county's four major funds (excluding schools) was $14.8 million dollars. That was false. The 2001 audit actually reported that approximately $16.5 million had been spent in the county's four major funds (excluding schools).
In other words, about $1.7 million dollars more had been spent in 2001 than the county officials were reporting. I guess the paper decided to just trust and forgot to verify the factual information it was given and was reporting.
That is why the statement "trust but verify" should be the policy of the Hamblen County Commission and the citizens and taxpayers of Hamblen County.
In the upcoming blog series, I will start with a look at the 2001 audit and then proceed to a review of the 2002 audit, an audit that showed the County with its largest deficit spending in recent history (going back as far as 1992).
How can you have more money and revenues and still end up in the hole--again?
By spending more than you take in--again.
Then we'll move to the 2003 audit, the first audit performed by state auditors. Before I took office, the previous commission had tricked the public ("pick your poison") into approving continuation of the temporary wheel tax. The previous commission, in its last official act in August 2002, then approved a 15-cents property tax on top of the wheel tax extension.
Despite the continued wheel tax revenue and new property tax money, when the new auditors came in to audit the county's books on June 30, 2003, they found that the county general government fund was "broke."
The only reason you didn't hear reports that the county was "broke" on June 30, 2003, was because the state auditors allowed money to be moved from several small side funds into the general fund to get the general fund out of the red.
If the state auditors had not approved dumping money from these other funds into the county government general fund, then the county general government fund would indeed have been officially, instead of unofficially, "broke." Wonder what that would have done for the county's bond ratings?
As it was, even with money from other funds being dumped into the General Government Fund, the General Fund on June 30, 2003, was at its lowest level since 1992.
If you are a voter and a taxpayer, it may be hard to understand how the county could have been in its worst economic position ever on June 30, 2003, when the wheel tax had just been extended and when the old county commission had just passed a 15-cent property tax increase in August 2002 on top of the wheel tax extension.
The answers are simple:
The county spent more than it took in--again.
Revenues increased, but spending increased even more--again.
In January and February, a lot of people will be going to the Courthouse to pay their property taxes. If ever-increasing taxes bother you, if your tax bill is higher than in previous years, if you are concerned about accountability and ethics and openness in government, I invite you to return to this blog in 2006 and see what has been, and is being, done with your money.
I will continue to put forth proposals to provide for more accountability, more openness, better oversight of county spending by county commission, clear identification of county vehicles (other than undercover vehicles), broader citizen involvement on committees and boards, and accurate inventories of county taxpayer property.
It has been difficult, expensive, and time-consuming to get a lot of the financial information that I have. It has required a lot of time to sift through the many documents and reports. But the taxpayers and citizens of Morristown and Hamblen County foot the bill, and they have a right to know how their money is spent.
Whether you're a commissioner or a citizen, you have the right to get government documents, you have the right to know how your money is spent, and you have a right to insist on straight answers from your government.
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