Hershey Report (8/4)

Traditional Media Coverage

1. Warnings issued to Hershey board after investigation by auditor’s office

   Aug 4, 2017 | The North Platte Telegraph

   By Tammy Bain
   
   
   Despite a verbal agreement to let Hershey’s village superintendent use his personal vehicle for municipal work after a DUI conviction, he continued to drive municipal vehicles, the Nebraska State Auditor’s Office said in documents released Thursday.

Traditional Media Coverage

1. Warnings issued to Hershey board after investigation by auditor’s office

   Aug 4, 2017 | The North Platte Telegraph

   By Tammy Bain

   Despite a verbal agreement to let Hershey’s village superintendent use his personal vehicle for municipal work after a DUI conviction, he continued to drive municipal vehicles, the Nebraska State Auditor’s Office said in documents released Thursday.

   In addition, the superintendent was allowed to charge gas for his personal vehicle to the village account, a practice the auditor’s office questioned.

   The auditor’s office recently investigated transactions and records in Hershey after receiving anonymous reports to its hotline of improper action in closed meetings of the village board. The office also received allegations of unauthorized vehicle use and improper spending by its maintenance superintendent. The village’s Facebook page lists Ronnie Stewart as the maintenance superintendent.

   While the auditor’s office decided against a full audit, it issued warnings and suggestions to the village board.

   When reached for comment, Village Clerk LeAnn Ellis said, “Everything the board does is in the best interest of the village of Hershey.” Ellis declined to comment further, referring to the village’s official response in the documents.

   In early 2017, Hershey’s maintenance superintendent was convicted of driving under the influence. His driver’s license was revoked for six months, but he installed a breathalyzer interlock device to continue using his personal vehicle as allowed by Nebraska law.

   At a January meeting, the village board moved to meet in executive session to discuss personnel issues.

   After discussion, members agreed to let Stewart use his personal vehicle for municipal work so that he could use the breathalyzer. However, the agreement was verbal only — not written — and the board voted on the matter while still in executive session.

   That violated Nebraska’s Open Meetings Act, according to the auditor’s office. The Open Meetings Act states that while matters discussed in executive session can remain confidential, they must be voted on in open session. The Open Meetings Act also states that minutes taken at open meetings must record all decisions made, deeming the verbal agreement a violation.

   In its written response to the state auditor’s office, Hershey officials acknowledged “that the Board of Trustees may have avoided this issue had they taken formal action after coming out of executive session.”

   When it came time to use his own vehicle for work, the maintenance supervisor charged gas to the village’s gas account for his personal vehicle.

   At Hershey’s Kwik Stop, village employees can charge gas purchases for municipal vehicles to the village.

   Hershey “lacks adequate control over its gas purchases when the village maintenance superintendent is allowed to fill his personal vehicle” using the charge account, the auditor’s letter says. “The personal vehicle would most likely be driven for more than simply municipal business.”

   The letter adds that it would be hard to track specific work uses versus the superintendent’s personal use, and instead suggested asking the superintendent to record his mileage to be reimbursed later.

   In the village’s response, officials agreed to revoke the maintenance supervisor’s credit at the gas station for his personal vehicle. However, the village’s statement said, the superintendent signed off on gas purchases for village-owned equipment or gas cans, not because he was operating the equipment, but because “he was the only person authorized to sign for gas.”

   “He was present not as an operator of equipment, but rather as a passenger in a vehicle or equipment operated by an assistant,” the village’s statement said.

   Despite being allowed to use his personal vehicle and being legally prohibited to drive anything without an interlock device, the auditor’s office wrote, the superintendent still operated village equipment. The letter lists a pickup, dump truck, truckster, tractor, backhoe, grader, Bobcat skid-steer loader and a John Deere mini excavator.

   In addition to breaking state law, permitting the superintendent to drive his own vehicle and to operate city equipment with a revoked license created potential liability issues for the village.

   In its response, village officials wrote that they asked the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office about the maintenance supervisor’s use of city vehicles. A sheriff’s deputy told the village that the law prohibits someone with a revoked license to drive on city streets, according to the statement. “The maintenance superintendent’s operation of equipment was restricted to operation on village property only,” officials wrote. “The maintenance superintendent did not operate any type of vehicle or piece of equipment on village streets during the period which he was prohibited from driving without ignition interlock.”

   Village officials said they also informed the village’s insurance carrier about the maintenance supervisor’s DUI conviction.

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