Part 6:  The Lindsey Report, Wherein We Pore Over and Plod Through Their Engagement with the Sheriff's Department.

The Tug of War and Words Continues

Background: In June of 2005, the Allegany County Commissioners hired a CPA group from Annapolis to do an audit of the Sheriff's Department to "review the overtime and off-duty policies, procedures and internal controls pertaining to the Allegany County Sheriff's Office."

This request was on the heels of a prior audit of a similar nature that was conducted by George Stottlemyer, investigator for the Frederick County Sheriff's Department (see Part 4 of "The Raging Controversy of the Allegany County Road Patrol" for complete details).  Stottlemyer delved into off-duty overtime for the years 2003 and 2004, and found glaring problems in adhering to legal requirements for off-duty pay, as well as "a lack of compliance by the Sheriff's Office with regard to the policy and procedures previously adopted." Also of note in the conclusion was that "official records regarding the incidents under investigation identifying who worked, and the actual hours worked, are non-existent, and other information available is very limited and sketchy."

The audit was done at the behest of the Commissioners in order to follow up on the policies regarding off-duty overtime and to try to come to terms with some of the reasons behind the persistent budget deficits of the Sheriff's Department. The focus of the audit was on record keeping, excessive court overtime, compensatory time, and overtime overhead.

Overtime hours, both on- and off-duty, were examined for the periods Jan. 1, 2004 - March, 2006.  For on-duty overtime there were three "immaterial" discrepancies noted that did not cause any reason for concern.

For off-duty overtime, however, there were several instances noted that hit smack-dab in the face of credibility. Invoices submitted by one of the deputies reported that he had worked 47 hours of overtime. On first thought, you might reasonably believe that this isn't all that many hours of overtime, until you take into account that the entire function was for a grand total of 48 hours. In other words, this inexhaustible, somnambulistic officer claimed that he essentially worked non-stop for two complete straight days. I can see him now: lids propped open with toothpicks, mouth yawning constantly, and feet tripping over themselves. The prior year, the same officer, for the same event, had reported once again working 47 out of 48 hours. I guess you can give the benefit of doubt and conclude that this person is related to Hercules and requires naught for sleep or rest, but according to the audit, "since only total hours worked are reported, and not actual times, it is not possible to determine any instances of the same hour being charged twice."

There were eighteen off-duty events that occurred from 1998-2005, but requests for information were returned from only ten of the vendors. Three of these did not comply with the required Allegany County policy of having the officers paid by check, with direct payment to the Finance Department, but these were the same ones previously investigated by the Stottlemyer Report. As in the prior conclusion, the Lindsey Report commented, "The three events discussed in that report are in violation of both the December 23, 1997 policy letter and Sheriff Goad's February 13, 1998 letter agreeing to abide by those policies." In addition, "the unavailability of records may be in violation of letters ......advising against destruction of record."

Given the fact that forty-five percent of the sponsors of off-duty events failed to respond, no opinion could be rendered in those cases as to whether or not there was compliance with written policies. Lacking any records for independent review makes it easily understandable as to why eye-brows might be raised in a demeanor of distrust. With a track record as previously demonstrated, it has to make you wonder if there is not an ulterior motive as to why there was not full transparency.

Vouchers submitted for overtime due to court appearances were also investigated, and while no discrepancies were found, it was pointed out once again, in a rather blunt appraisal, that "since reported overtime does not include the time of the hours worked, it is unlikely that our procedures would have brought such an instance to our attention." In other words, "double-dipping" may or may not have occurred: there was no way to know for sure, as there was the repeated finding of inadequate record-keeping. "We found most off-duty overtime is not recorded on overtime vouchers. Documentation is sporadic at best, and frequently is entirely non-existent."

The same problem arose when trying to search for any duplication of compensatory time requests. Per Lindsey, "we were unable to test for duplication of time due to inadequate records at the Allegany County Sheriff's Office." The issue of compensatory time and how it contributed to the road patrol going over the budget was also addressed, with the conclusion that, "In effect, the original one hour worked (for which compensatory time was earned and overtime paid) costs the County 2 ½ times the deputy's original hourly rate." The recommendation was made to eliminate this practice (which would require negotiating with the union) and "cash out accrued comp time balances on July 1 of each year at each deputy's hourly rate."

Assertions made by the Sheriff that the County Finance Department owed money to his department due to withholding of  payroll taxes and overhead costs from grant money was also addressed.  The conclusion, based on a reading of pertinent federal and state guidelines for grants, indicated that "all monies retained by the County as payment for payroll taxes and overhead costs were retained properly."

It had previously been noted that overtime expenses were the primary reason for chronic budget deficits in the Sheriff's Department, and a considerable portion of the overtime resulted because the Sheriff's Department was doing its own radio dispatching. A man at the desk manning the mike took up hours of work that could have been put to better use by having him on the road and thus reducing the need for overtime. This inefficient use of manpower was supposed to be corrected in July 2005, when Allegany County consolidated all emergency dispatch functions into a single 911 Office. In spite of this, the number of overtime hours did not decrease, and the report concluded that "it appears that a large part of the decrease in manpower shortage-related overtime has been replaced with overtime due to court duty." If fact, the number of overtime hours for court time more than doubled. Sort of reminds you of the carnival game where you hit the prairie dog on the head, only to have another one immediately pop up from another hole: knock the overtime down in one area, and presto, it pops up in another spot.

A rejoinder had been offered that this increase in court overtime came about because more tickets were being written during implementation of grant-funded projects such as under-age drinking, school bus safety, and DUIs. Yet, when Lindsey took a look at the figures, there was only a very small increase in time spent on grant hours, and certainly not enough to satisfactorily explain the considerable jump in time spent in court. A further concern was that the Sheriff"s Department did not track the reasons why overtime was worked, nor track the number of tickets written. "The Sheriff's department is unable to provide detailed reasons for over-budget overtime. Although some overtime expenses cannot be anticipated, repeated overages indicate lack of analysis." It was highly recommended that "the number and type of tickets written by deputies should be tracked in a simple, computerized database."

In summary, it is quite apparent that the authors of the Lindsey Report found significant issues in the operational management of the Sheriff's Department. Their recommendations were fairly straight-forward and seem entirely reasonable and appropriate:

• First and foremost was the need for transparent record-keeping in order to give an assurance of hours worked, and should include all extra time: off-duty, comp time, and overtime.  This would mean recording the name of the employee, the day that he or she worked, the number of hours worked, and the times that the work was performed.  It was felt that this information should be forwarded to the County Finance Department within a specified time-frame.
  
• All overtime should have documentation as to the reason it was needed.
  
• All tickets written by deputies should be accurately tracked on a computer program.  Contrast this with the system mired in antiquity found by Stottlemyer and Lidnsey, whereby you find, or more often than not, can't find, loose papers in a file cabinet.
  
• The scheduling of court time was found to need re-vamping in order to make it efficient and cost-effective.  As a result of the huge increase in court time after 2005, "a more detailed investigation into this unexplained expansion is warranted."
  
• The entire policy of compensatory time was felt to be an issue that should be re-examined and possibly revised.  This is a matter that would have to be negotiated with the deputies' union as it involves their contract.
  

So there you have the essence of the Report. None of it seems unreasonable, and in fact, it appears necessary and appropriate. More pertinent at this point in time, however, is what happened after the report was concluded. Were the recommendations implemented with a subsequent improvement in management of the Sheriff's Department? Stay tuned for a follow-up, as I diligently search for answers from the Allegany County government.

Your comments are welcomed; participate in the dialogue of democracy.
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