SALVAGE: Been there, resolved that

The issue of salary salvage was addressed in 2013 by the BOCC or Todd Tondee, Jai Nelson and myself. The issue came before us when then County Clerk Cliff Hayes distributed year end bonuses to some of his staff with salary salvage dollars just as Clerk Jim Brannon just did.

At that time, Prosecutor Barry McHugh’s staff offered an opinion that for Clerk Hayes to do it was legal because the dollars had been budgeted to his departments. The Prosecutor continued on in his opinion that this was legal “without specific direction” from the BOCC on how county dollars were to be spent.

The BOCC of Tondee, Nelson and Green then proceeded to adopt a policy that gave specific instruction that said no salary salvage was to be distributed without prior approval of the BOCC. The policy also addressed money for capital projects and everyday operations expenses. That policy is still in force today. Unfortunately, due to the turnover of the BOCC, none of the current BOCC members were aware of the policy. The BOCC now has been provided copies of the policy.

I do not know if Clerk Brannon came and requested BOCC approval to distribute these recent dollars. I am confident Clerk Brannon was made aware of the policy when he assumed office upon the passing of Clerk Hayes.

An additional comment I might add is that the reason the County Clerk has been able to process these payments, whether it was Clerk Hayes or Clerk Brannon, is that the Finance Department reports directly to the County Clerk. This is the department that processes all checks for the county. Other county elected officials could not do this because they don’t have the ability to write checks.

DAN GREEN

Hayden