Over the past several months there have been inquiries at the Dodge County board of commissioner meetings regarding the sale of county equipment and speculations regarding departmental operations of the county road department. Former county road department superintendent Tim Turner contacted Dodge County News staff member Roy Grenade this past Thursday, February 9, 2012. On Friday, February 10, 2012, Turner met with Grenade to give information for Grenade to write an article on his behalf to the citizens of Dodge County to provide information regarding those inquiries and to inform the citizens about his tenure as county road superintendent.
Turner’s first topic of conversation was a bulldozer that has been a hot topic at recent commissioner meetings by several citizens of Dodge County. Turner stated the bulldozer that is being questioned was a bulldozer that sat in the scrap pile for the past 12 years at the county road department. He stated the bulldozer was not operational and was completely worn out.
Turner stated that Tim Towns, of Scotland, approached him in 2011 about the possible purchase of the old bulldozer. Turner told Towns he would need to obtain approval from the county manager in order to sell the bulldozer. Turner asked for permission to sell the bulldozer and the county manager told him to obtain two bids. He stated in addition to the bids, Towns obtained a scrap iron price from outside the county. Turner stated he obtained a scrap iron price locally from Johnson’s Recycling.
He said the highest bid for scrap iron totaled $3,500.00. Towns offered to buy the bulldozer for $1,000.00 more than the highest bid, for a total of $4,500.00. Turner stated he notified the county manager and it was approved to sell the bulldozer. Towns presented payment in the form of a cashier’s check and Turner took the check and the two bids in a folder to the county manager’s office. Turner said the county manager took the check, but instructed him to keep the bids as they were not needed to be kept in the county administrative offices. He stated he took the bids back to his office at the road department and months later, as he was cleaning off his desk, he came across the bid sheets for the bulldozer.
Turner said since the county administrative office had no need for the paperwork, he simply threw them in the trash as the deal had been finalized and the bulldozer had been removed from county property. Turner said he thought nothing of keeping the paperwork since he had inquired with the county administrative offices. Turner told Grenade he hoped this information would clarify rumors about the bulldozer and would settle this matter with the citizens of Dodge County.
Turner discussed the sale of old scrap iron from the county camp, as he had heard rumors that some people were saying he was personally pocketing the money. Turner explained the process of selling scrap iron and said the procedures had not changed and he continued the procedures that were in place prior to his employment as road superintendent. He stated when he was first employed, he asked the county manager how to handle the payment of scrap iron. He was told to keep the money in his department, as it would cause confusion at the administrative offices. Turner said the proceeds from the sale of the scrap iron was used each year for a huge annual Christmas party at local restaurants, several fish-fry’s and cookouts at the county camp, benevolence fund and the remaining money was used to give the county road department employees cash Christmas bonuses. Turner said these dinners/cookouts were no secret, and the commissioners, the wives of commissioners and county road department employees and other dignitaries would always attend most of these events. Grenade asked Turner what dollar amount would the scrap iron bring, and Turner said the highest amount collected was around $6,000.00 in any given year. Turner stated Christmas dinners would cost over $1,000.00 and the cookouts about the same amount. Grenade asked Turner what the cash Christmas bonuses to each county road department employee would be and Turner stated the amounts were different each year, depending on what monies were left over after all other expenses were paid.
Regarding a different subject, Grenade asked Turner, “Has the county equipment ever been used for any personal use by employees, commissioners and/or citizens of the county?”, and Turner replied, “No.” Turner stated that on weekends, the county equipment would be left on the side of the road where the employees were working, to save fuel from driving them back to the county camp, and he informed employees not to hide the equipment behind their houses, but to always keep them in public view in case citizens inquired. He further stated that most of the time the county equipment was brought in when the county camp went to a four-day work week and unless work was being done and it was close to their house, all equipment was brought in for the long-weekends.
Grenade also asked Turner, “Has fuel from the county camp fuel tanks ever been used for personal use by employees, commissioners and/or citizens of the county?”, and Turner replied, “Not that I am aware.” Turner explained that anyone who received fuel from the camp had a fuel card, and further stated that he was not always on-site at the camp to monitor who pulled up to get fuel at the tanks.
Turner informed Grenade he had been county road superintendent for over five years, and had he known the county was in financial struggles back in January 2011, he could have refocused his department on just “maintaining” the county roads versus “in road building mode”. He stated that had he been told the news (about the county financial situation), as a department head, he could have saved the county over $497,000 in 2011 by changing the mode of operations. Grenade asked Turner when did he find out about the financial problems of the county and Turner stated, “I found out when the county manager pulled me in her office in September (2011) and told me my entire department would be laid off.”
Grenade asked Turner a final question, “Did you do away with the purchase order system while in your position of manager during your tenure at the road department?”. Turner replied, “The purchase order system has always been in place and I have always provided monthly reports and purchase orders and all of the paperwork was turned into the county administrative offices at the end of every month.” He further stated, “I have nothing to hide. I have done no wrong.”
Turner voluntarily laid himself off the first week of October 2011. He stated that during his tenure as road superintendent, he has provided over 1,000 overtime hours to the county with no reimbursement, saved the county over $100,000.00 in reductions due to better management of the road workforce and negotiating prices with vendors.
Turner spent many hours researching costs of new equipment through federal contracts to find equipment to replace the outdated equipment at the camp. Turner said he always went above and beyond what was required of him to manage the road department.
Turner stated he was surprised to receive his letter of termination in January 2012, and to hear he was being replaced. Turner said he would like to have his job back, as he feels he is the victim of “nothing but politics”. Grenade asked him if he had been contacted by officials with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and Turner replied, “Yes.” Turner further stated that he was cooperating fully with the investigation and was confident the case would be closed soon.
