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County Commission Puts Private Gain Ahead of Public Trust.
Columbia County’s Working Families Take It On the Chin -- Again.
Part I
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$9,100 represents more money coming out of Columbia County’s till, which the Good Old Boys continue to treat like their own private treasure chest.
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Columbia County Florida (posted Nov. 24, 2008)
By Stew Lilker
On November 20, 2008, in another brazen assault on the public trust, the Columbia County Board of Commissioners (BCC) and the County Manager, Dale Williams, looked the other way as contract engineer John Colson insulted the working families of Columbia County by refusing to detail his billing hours and then, adding insult to injury, referred to a Columbia County resident, or residents, who questioned his billing practices as the "audience idiot."
While the Board of County Commissioners takes great pride on the installation of GPS tracking devices on county graders, enabling them to tell where and what a $12 an hour grader operator is doing every second of the work day, when it comes to the $111 an hour John Colson, they take as much pride in making sure he is completely unaccountable.
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Other than a letter head, this is all the detail in the invoice that the Board approved for John Colson on the night of October 16, 2008
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$9,100 rubber stamped by the County Commission without a word of supporting documentation.
This story really begins at the October 16, 2008 BCC meeting, when Mr. Colson, as he has been doing for years, again submitted an invoice with nothing more than a lump sum number. It said in relevant part: "Due: 10/30/08; 82 hours @ $111 per hour -- Amount due -- $9,102." That was it, with not one word more of explanation, Mr. Colson submitted a bill the same way he has been doing it for years. $9,102 for two weeks of work.
In our sister county, Union County, that represents more than
six months of work for the average worker. In Columbia County, where the money comes from to pay Mr. Colson, ninety one hundred dollars represents about
five months of work for the average worker. For Mr. Colson, $9,100 represents more money coming out of the Columbia County grab bag, which the Good Old Boys continue to treat like their own private treasure chest.
Your reporter, who is also a resident and property owner in Columbia County, and the editor of the ColumbiaCountyObserver.com, after watching the County Commission rubber stamping Mr. Colson's undocumented invoices month after month, addressed the Board. The conversation went like this:
COUNTY MANAGER DALE WILLIAMS: Item five is a invoice from Donald F Lee and Associates and it is for the services rendered by a Mr. John Colson, who performs the services of county engineer for the county.
THE OBSERVER: It appears to be in the land that I come from, this is two weeks worth of work for nine thousand dollars ... but there's nothing specifically stating what jobs he worked on and how much time he worked and what we're paying $9,102 for. It just says 82 hours. I would respectfully request that until the board has a chance to look at these items that to approve a lump sum of $9,102 is at this stage of the game, I would think, a little irresponsible. There is no backup. I have never seen any backup for all the time I've been looking at this. If we are going to pay Mr. Colson $110 dollars an hour, I for one think the board should know what you are paying $110 an hour for... This has been going on for sometime... I would ask that this be pulled until the board gets some information that shows you what you are spending $9,000 for.
CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Thank you Mr. Lilker. Mr. Williams, do you choose to respond?
COUNTY MANAGER DALE WILLIAMS: The Boards' pleasure. Obviously the invoice was for 82 hours. The diaries that are kept (emphasis added) justifies the time spent. I don't know whether that's what you are looking for or whether you want an itemized bill, much like Marlin [County Attorney Marlin Feagle] would prepare, which actually tells you specifically, hour for hour, day by day what project was being worked on, what site was being visited, or etc. We've never asked him to keep that type of detail, but I know you can extrapolate it from the diary. And so, it's really the board's pleasure.
CHAIRMAN WEAVER: (to the Board) Anybody wish to pull it off. Not seeing anyone...
The County Commission, unanimously voted to pay the invoice without a shred of evidence or asking to see the "diary" that County Manager Dale Williams said existed.
Earlier that evening, the Board proved once again that there shall be no arms length transactions in Columbia County. Richard Powell, of Powell and Jones, the county's external auditors and accountants, gave his presentation of the audit to the Board. In discussing a small accounting fault in the Clerk's office, he said the Clerks office, "Had one small one (error) regarding travel vouchers. We found one instance where per diem payment was accidentally miscalculated and the employee was over paid. We recommend that travel vouchers be carefully reviewed prior to being paid."
It is unknown why Mr. Powell, never picked up the absence of any justification for the invoices of John Colson.
This part of the story concluded at the end of the meeting, when the Observer again addressed the Board regarding the
invoices of John Colson.
THE OBSERVER: Com. Williams said that he doesn't want to accept invoices without justification. That's what he said earlier, right? Commissioner Williams said that.
COMMISSIONER RONALD WILLIAMS: I said what?
THE OBSERVER: Somebody want to help him please.
COUNTY MANAGER DALE WILLIAMS: He's referring to your comment, the last comment you made, where you directed staff to make sure that in the future there is support on the agenda for the invoice that is submitted, as opposed to just the hours.
COMMISSIONER RONALD WILLIAMS: And that will cut out some filibustering?
COUNTY MANAGER DALE WILLIAMS: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER RONALD WILLIAMS: That's the reason I want it done.
THE OBSERVER: Do you have any idea what he means by that?
COUNTY MANAGER DALE WILLIAMS: I perfectly understand exactly what Commissioner ...
THE OBSERVER: Wants? What Commissioner Williams wants? Can you tell me? So I know.
COUNTY MANAGER DALE WILLIAMS: Yeah. Basically, what Commissioner Williams has asked me to do, and I will comply, is in the future, when you see the same invoice for the same services, you'll see some documentation backing it up as to what it's exactly for.
THE OBSERVER: Thank you. and we haven't received that before?
CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Times up, Mr. Lilker. We're not playing
COUNTY MANAGER DALE WILLIAMS: (tries to answer) Typically, we only (Chairman Weaver gavels the County Manager down) we only talk about hours, not.
CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Mr. Williams. Thank you. That's it. Mr. Lilker, that's it. Anyone else to address the board?
The meeting adjourned.
Wednesday -- The rest of the story:
Part II the November 20, 2008 BCC meeting and more about the "audience idiot."
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