BOC letter to Fortson: Notice of Proposed Termination of Employment

Errors in budgeting projected revenue: Among your duties has been preparing the annual budget for projected expenditures and revenues. In two consecutive years, the same error occurred resulting in the false budgeting of $500,000 in projected revenue that did not exist and was not received. This error was avoided in a third year only because the county’s independent auditors identified and corrected the error.

Failure to handle claim for unemployment benefits correctly: Ms. Melinda Spence resigned and made a claim for unemployment benefits. You did not answer the notice from the Department of Labor (DOL) in a timely manner. The DOL called you for a response, but the DOL’s files indicate statements from you differing greatly from your version of what you said. Then when the decision awarding benefits was received, it was not brought to the board’s attention nor appealed in a timely manner.

Failure to implement auditor’s recommendations: The county’s independent auditors have made recommendations in the annual audits which you have failed to implement. Timely implementation of those recommendations would have prevented or minimized the employee fraud that has come to pass.

Continued accounting errors: You have made other errors in county accounting. For example, you very recently ran a payroll and cut checks to employees that were in error, requiring cancellation of issued checks, issuance of corrected checks, and correction of payroll accounting entries.

Failure to keep board of commissioners informed of significant issues: As previously noted, you failed to inform the board about the Spence unemployment benefits situation. You also failed to inform the board immediately of the discovery that funds were missing and also instructed employees not to disclose it to the board.

These incidents constitute violations of the following sections of the Madison County Personnel Policy: section 14 (B) (7): negligence, inefficiency, or incompetence; section 14 (B) (19): misconduct.

You may appeal this proposed dismissal action by following appeal procedures outlined in Sections 14 and 15 of the Madison County Personnel Policy.

The first step for appeal is a written response or request for conference pursuant to Section 14 (3) (C) of the policy, which consists of (I) submitting to the Madison County Board of Commissioners or its designee a written response, including the written statements of others, to the proposed action, or (ii) conferring with the Madison County Board of Commissioners or its designee in person to contest the proposed action, or (iii) both.

If you choose to initiate appeal as outlined in the preceding paragraph, your written response, and/or written request for a conference must be submitted to Human Resources Manager Donna Sisk within three (3) working days of the date hereof. If you make no response or request, you shall have no further right to appeal. The board has designated board vice-chair Wesley Jordan as its designee to consider a written response and/or conduct a conference, and render decision thereon, pursuant to Section 14 (3) (C) of the policy. Decision will be rendered prior to the effective date of termination (including any extensions thereof).

If you pursue the first step of appeal as outlined above and are dissatisfied with the decision rendered, you may appeal that decision to the personnel hearing officer. A request for appeal to the personnel hearing officer must be submitted, in writing, to Human Resources Manager Donna Sisk within five (5) working days of the effective date of termination as stated in first paragraph of the notice. Further details regarding procedures for appeal are found in Section 15 of the Madison County Personnel Policy.