Madison County commissioners agreed to accept the cup and head to the stall, intending to show that they are willing to be randomly tested for drugs, just like they expect of county employees.
“Maybe they can look at my shoulder while I’m there,” joked Chairman Wesley Nash of his visit to Regional First Care, which conducts drug tests for the county.
Commissioner Bruce Scogin asked the county attorney if the gathering of commissioners for urine analysis would constitute an illegal meeting, then audience member Danny Andrews jokingly warned Scogin not to tap his foot, drawing laughs from the audience.
But the commissioners weren’t laughing about the state of drug testing among Madison County employees.
County clerk Morris Fortson reported that only one random drug test has been performed in the past three years. He said Regional First Care dealt only with the county’s former personnel manager, who recently resigned.
“From what I understand they were waiting on the human resources director to provide them with a roster (of those to be tested),” said Fortson.
Commissioner Stanley Thomas said he was appalled, adding that failure to test employees regularly opens the door for a myriad of legal troubles.
“One in three years is totally, totally unacceptable,” said Thomas.
However, former county personnel director Connie Riley said that the report of only one person being tested in three years is untrue.
“The report that only one person was tested in the last three years is a complete fabrication, and the beginning of what I anticipate to be a long list of accusations that ‘someone’ wasn't doing their job,” wrote Riley, in an email to The Journal. “… If the board would like to start pointing fingers at who's not doing their jobs, I suggest they start looking within their current staff. Employees at the road department, sheriff's department and EMS Service should be able to verify that they have been tested more recently than over three years ago.”
Riley resigned April 21, saying in her resignation letter that she has “witnessed my position, that of my co-workers and entire departments being demoralized and debilitated.”
Fortson said that Regional First Care confirmed Monday that there had only been one test.
The board recently agreed to test 10 percent of county employees randomly four times a year. And the group agreed Monday to be first up at the stall, with each planning a trip to Athens Tuesday morning for a screening.
