Information to be formally sent to auditor’s office

Evidence and documentation submitted to Ironton city officials regarding Ironton Municipal Court employees allegedly campaigning while on city time will be sent to the state auditor’s office.

Ironton City Council voted to approve for the mayor to send the information to the Public Integrity Assurance Team, of the state auditor’s office, as a formal complaint. Councilmen Dave Frazer and Chuck O’Leary abstained, while the other five council members voted in favor.

The Public Integrity Assurance Team is comprised of forensic auditors, investigators and attorneys with the goal of promoting clean, ethical government; exposing corruption and wrongdoing where it exists; and assisting law enforcement and prosecutors in the pursuit of justice.

The information was already submitted to the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) of the state Attorney General’s office, however, was dismissed and not investigated.

Before the vote, J.T. Holt, local attorney and resident of Ironton who submitted the information to city officials, was at the meeting Thursday and spoke about why he submitted the information, stating that as a taxpayer who helps pay those employees’ salaries, they shouldn’t be campaigning for Judge O. Clark Collins Jr., who is a candidate for Lawrence County Common Pleas Court, and his son, Christopher Collins, who is a candidate for county commissioner, while getting paid by the city.

He also talked about the use of city gas cards, stating that to his knowledge, eight municipal court employees have city gas cards and that he’s seen the amount of money that goes on them through public record. He continued and questioned council about their procedures to keep track of these issues and what they plan to do further.

“I’m looking for a governing body to do the right thing,” Holt said.

Ironton resident Hugh Scott followed and also addressed council, expressing his interest, as a taxpayer, in the matter being further investigated.

Councilman Kevin Waldo said he agreed that it be further investigated, and that the right entities need to receive the information in the correct fashion.

“I just want an unbiased entity to look into it,” Waldo said.

Waldo added that he has never seen anything in writing from the BCI as to why they dismissed the case and their reasoning behind it, and questioned whether the information was properly handed over to them as a formal complaint. He stated that when you call BCI and ask about the issue, they say no formal complaint was made.

Ironton Police Chief Dan Johnson was at the meeting and said that the information was given to a BCI agent during a meeting with himself, the mayor and the agent in the mayor’s office, and two days later the agent returned and said it was dismissed.

“After receiving documentation supporting said allegations on Sept. 21, 2016, I immediately called in Police Chief Dan Johnson and an IPD detective. Due to the nature of the allegations, we determined collectively this situation should be handed over to an outside agency to investigate. Chief Johnson immediately attempted to notify BCI. On Sept. 26, we handed over all documents to the two agents assigned to this case. After discussion, they took the information for review. On Sept. 28, the lead agent verbally told Chief Johnson, her supervisors had determined that no criminal charges would be filed,” Katrina Keith said in a statement read by Councilman and Vice Mayor Craig Harvey at the meeting. Keith was unable to attend the meeting.“I then verbally directed Chief Johnson to request a notification in writing to back up this decision. The agents’ supervisor personally called Chief Johnson to say they would not pursue criminal charges, but did state he had forwarded these allegations to the auditor’s office for investigation.”

Also in the mayor’s statement, Keith said she wants to make sure the situation is handled properly.

“My decision to call an outside agency to investigate this situation was based on the fact that IPD works hand-in-hand with Ironton Municipal Court. It’s my opinion this would be a conflict of interest,” she said in her statement. “As you are well aware, Ironton is a small community and I wanted an unbiased investigation performed to ensure we addressed all allegations properly.”

With the vote of council, a formal complaint sent by the mayor for an investigation will also be sent to the state auditor’s office Public Integrity Assurance Team, along with what was forwarded by BCI.

Also at council:

• Resolution 16-39, adopting the alternative tax budget for the city of Ironton for the fiscal year beginning Jan. 1, 2017, and submitting the same to the county auditor of Lawrence County and declaring an emergency, was adopted after being favorably recommended by finance committee.

• Resolution 16-40, fixing the number and compensation of certain employees of the city of Ironton and declaring an emergency, was adopted after being favorably recommended by finance committee.

• Resolution 16-41, authorizing the interim finance director, John W. Elam, to be named as signatory on all accounts at all financial institutions on behalf of the city of Ironton and declaring an emergency, was adopted.

• An ordinance regarding cats in the city was omitted from the meeting’s agenda, but will be on for the next meeting, Thursday, Oct. 27.