Vehicle Mileage and Condition Reports Come In for All Departments Except One
After just over a month, I can report that all departments (assessor, Cherokee Park, community service, EMA, garbage dept., highway dept., juvenile court, maintenance, planning) responded quickly to the request for mileage/condition information for vehicles for the fiscal year that ended 6/30/05---all departments, that is, except the Sheriff's Department. See my post of September 13th.
An inventory report with mileage and condition information was something that the entire commission unanimously requested from all departments beginning with the 6/30/04 inventory and continuing with the 6/30/05 inventory and beyond. The purpose was to keep up with the mileage and condition of vehicles so there would be a record and awareness of when a vehicle or vehicles would need replacing.
The Sheriff, like everyone else, was asked to provide this information for all county-owned vehicles-- except undercover vehicles and others that are already marked out on the sheriff's inventory.
After everybody had responded except the Sheriff, I waited a while and then called Sheriff Otto Purkey to see if he had gotten the request and to ask if there was a problem in providing this information.
The Sheriff asked if there was a law that says he had to do this. I mentioned that the commission had passed a resolution requesting this information from all departments, and the Sheriff replied that he didn't think he cared to do that.
Well, OK. But exactly why doesn't the Sheriff care to co-operate? What is the problem with providing mileage and condition information? No one else had the slightest problem in this regard.
Surely it is not because of the confusion where Sheriff Otto Purkey's Department shows his brother County Mayor David Purkey's car in the Sheriff's inventory even though County Mayor David Purkey's vehicle was actually purchased with Juvenile Court money.
Just for the sake of keeping things straight, however, I hope that eventually someone will put the vehicle that the Mayor drives in the Mayor's inventory list where it belongs and put the gasoline, repair and maintenance costs for the Mayor's vehicle in the Mayor's budget, too. How can you keep up with a department's true costs when you have a department putting its vehicles and costs in another department's budget?
Maybe even sometime soon the Mayor will put a county decal on the taxpayer-provided vehicle he drives. Putting decals on county vehicles is something else that county commission unanimously voted for over a year ago, but there is something about putting a Hamblen County decal on the County Mayor's car that greatly upsets the Mayor.
The other really odd thing about both the 2005 and the earlier 2004 inventory as well is that the Sheriff doesn't show any computers, desks, furniture, or other equipment in his inventory for either year. The Sheriff lists nothing except vehicles even though it's obvious that the Sheriff's Department and the jail have computers, desks, chairs, printers, filing cabinets, and other furniture and equipment. Hopefully, someone will go back now and track down, tag, and list all the Sheriff's equipment.
Having a current and accurate list of equipment and a tag on all items helps ensure that these is a record of items like computers, printers, and scanners and that these items remain in the department.
With county vehicles, you are talking about an investment involving hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars. You obviously need to keep a close track of those vehicles and accurate mileage and condition records. The Sheriff shows about $790,000 in original acquisition value for his 45 or so vehicles. The Garbage Dept. shows about $731,000 for vehicles, and the Highway Dept. shows about $550,000 for vehicles.
There are some questions to ask about computers and other items that are shown in one department, but that are kept and used by other departments, but we'll save that for another day. There are also a lot of items that were left off the 6/30/04 inventory that are now showing up on the 6/30/05 inventory.
Inventories are important as a record of what the county has, what condition each item is in, and to help gauge what will need to be replaced and when. We seem to have improved our inventory record-keeping from last year, and we just need to complete the 6/30/05 inventory, putting all equipment, vehicles, and other items in the right place.
Next...audits. Why I pushed for state auditors in my campaign. What they have done for the county. How much we have saved-- not only on the audit itself but also by implementation of many of the new auditor's suggestions. And lots more.
Showing posts with label equipment inventories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label equipment inventories. Show all posts
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Friday, September 16, 2005
September 16, 2005 Two more vehicle reports come in
Two more county vehicle mileage/condition reports have arrived.
Most county officials are very co-operative in providing information about county (taxpayer) cars, trucks, and equipment.
Barry Poole and his staff (Bob Gouge, Jeff Wisevarver, Rex Epps, and Melody Roxburgh) at the Highway Department and Garbage Department are among those who are always co-operative and helpful. They sent in mileage/condition reports on the trucks, tractors, and equipment for the Highway and Garbage Departments. I received the reports today.
After I sent out e-mails requesting this information on Tuesday afternoon (Sept. 13), the responses have come quickly.
In fact, I need to mention that Frank Parker, director at Cherokee Park, actually handed me the mileage/condition information for the Cherokee Park vehicles and equipment at the September 12 Finance Committee meeting--right after I asked. I didn't send Frank an e-mail request because he was at the Committee meeting and responded on the spot.
Right now, I think only two small departments--workhouse and county maintenance--and one large department--the Sheriff's Department-- haven't responded yet. It really shouldn't take long for the workhouse and county maintenance to work up mileage reports since they only have a small number of vehicles.
Sheriff Otto Purkey has a lot of vehicles in his inventory, so I'm guessing it may take one or two more days for him to list the mileage and condition of each. Strangely enough, County Mayor David Purkey's vehicle is run through his brother's (Sheriff Otto Purkey's) Department instead of being listed in the County Mayor's Office/Department.
Even more strange to those who tend to think that each department or official should include the cars that he or his employees drive in that department's budget and inventory, it appears that County Mayor David Purkey's vehicle, the one that is listed in Sheriff Otto Purkey's inventory, was actually paid for and purchased with funds out of the Juvenile Court budget.
It may be that Mayor D. Purkey gave an old car to Juvenile Court and then let Juvenile Court pay for the Mayor's new car...and then Mayor Purkey's new car, the one that was paid for out of the Juvenile budget, was put into Sheriff Otto Purkey's inventory, leaving Sheriff Purkey to pay for his brother's gas, maintenance, etc. out of the Sheriff's budget instead of out of the Mayor's budget. Are we confused yet?
Maybe all this shifting explains why last year:
(1) the Juvenile Court 2004 inventory report didn't show any vehicle at all (even though Juvenile Court did have a vehicle at the time); and
(2) Finance Director Nicole Epps in 2004 asked for and provided mileage information for all county vehicles except all those listed in the Sheriff's inventory.
As I mentioned in Tuesday's post (Sept. 13), the 2005 inventory is also interesting for the pieces of equipment and other items that have apparently been left off of certain department lists. I'll have more on what appears to have been left off the 2005 inventory sometime after Commission's September 22 meeting--after I check on a few things and try to talk with the County Mayor and Finance Director about the inventory.
It appears that the same thing (leaving items off) happened with the 2004 inventory as well. Lots of equipment, computers, and even the Juvenile Court vehicle--items that were purchased many years ago and that actually should have been included on the 2004 inventory report-- were left off the 2004 report.
We need to be very careful with our inventory. Several hundreds of thousands of county taxpayer dollars have been spent on computers, phones, vehicles, tractors, and other equipment. We need to know that everything is accounted for and is where it should be.
Have a good weekend!
Most county officials are very co-operative in providing information about county (taxpayer) cars, trucks, and equipment.
Barry Poole and his staff (Bob Gouge, Jeff Wisevarver, Rex Epps, and Melody Roxburgh) at the Highway Department and Garbage Department are among those who are always co-operative and helpful. They sent in mileage/condition reports on the trucks, tractors, and equipment for the Highway and Garbage Departments. I received the reports today.
After I sent out e-mails requesting this information on Tuesday afternoon (Sept. 13), the responses have come quickly.
In fact, I need to mention that Frank Parker, director at Cherokee Park, actually handed me the mileage/condition information for the Cherokee Park vehicles and equipment at the September 12 Finance Committee meeting--right after I asked. I didn't send Frank an e-mail request because he was at the Committee meeting and responded on the spot.
Right now, I think only two small departments--workhouse and county maintenance--and one large department--the Sheriff's Department-- haven't responded yet. It really shouldn't take long for the workhouse and county maintenance to work up mileage reports since they only have a small number of vehicles.
Sheriff Otto Purkey has a lot of vehicles in his inventory, so I'm guessing it may take one or two more days for him to list the mileage and condition of each. Strangely enough, County Mayor David Purkey's vehicle is run through his brother's (Sheriff Otto Purkey's) Department instead of being listed in the County Mayor's Office/Department.
Even more strange to those who tend to think that each department or official should include the cars that he or his employees drive in that department's budget and inventory, it appears that County Mayor David Purkey's vehicle, the one that is listed in Sheriff Otto Purkey's inventory, was actually paid for and purchased with funds out of the Juvenile Court budget.
It may be that Mayor D. Purkey gave an old car to Juvenile Court and then let Juvenile Court pay for the Mayor's new car...and then Mayor Purkey's new car, the one that was paid for out of the Juvenile budget, was put into Sheriff Otto Purkey's inventory, leaving Sheriff Purkey to pay for his brother's gas, maintenance, etc. out of the Sheriff's budget instead of out of the Mayor's budget. Are we confused yet?
Maybe all this shifting explains why last year:
(1) the Juvenile Court 2004 inventory report didn't show any vehicle at all (even though Juvenile Court did have a vehicle at the time); and
(2) Finance Director Nicole Epps in 2004 asked for and provided mileage information for all county vehicles except all those listed in the Sheriff's inventory.
As I mentioned in Tuesday's post (Sept. 13), the 2005 inventory is also interesting for the pieces of equipment and other items that have apparently been left off of certain department lists. I'll have more on what appears to have been left off the 2005 inventory sometime after Commission's September 22 meeting--after I check on a few things and try to talk with the County Mayor and Finance Director about the inventory.
It appears that the same thing (leaving items off) happened with the 2004 inventory as well. Lots of equipment, computers, and even the Juvenile Court vehicle--items that were purchased many years ago and that actually should have been included on the 2004 inventory report-- were left off the 2004 report.
We need to be very careful with our inventory. Several hundreds of thousands of county taxpayer dollars have been spent on computers, phones, vehicles, tractors, and other equipment. We need to know that everything is accounted for and is where it should be.
Have a good weekend!
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