BENTON – Judge Executive Kevin Neal addressed a formal letter that was sent to Sheriff Kevin Byars dated September 2, 2016 in Marshall County Fiscal Court on Tuesday. In the letter, Neal addressed the recently adopted new administrative code governing various areas such as personnel policies and procedures, which he said Byars had received a copy of.
Eleven issues were addressed in the letter as problem areas that are of particular concern at the Sheriff’s Office which according to Neal, they were directed by council to notify Byars of those issues and felt they gave him plenty of time to take action or give a response.
Neal read the letter that cited these areas starting with a statement made by Major David Maddox that the Sheriff’s Office policies and procedures are a “fluid document.” meaning they are subject to change “on the fly”. The letter said there is a lack of any concrete definitions or explanations on how PTO is calculated or accrued and it was recommended that they follow the new TimeClock system that will soon be implemented by the County.
The letter goes on to address other areas including a lack of specific policies governing travel, lack of inclusion of required FMLA procedure or return-to-work policies, lack of any definitive protocol relating to post-accident procedure, lack of specificity regarding overtime calculation, lack of information on how day-to-day human resources issues are handled, lack of detailed breakdown of monthly receipts and disbursements, lack of details of accounts receivables relating to the vehicle rentals to Deputies working the I-69 Project Detail and the lack of any sufficient and reliable documentation with respect to the handling of Dan Melone’s most recent leave from work.
Neal asked for “justification as to why he received a full paycheck during his entire absence from work” with no documents explaining how his PTO was utilized, if at all.
Byars said, “I have directed Major Maddox to do nothing but policy and procedure. We will be adopting a lot of the county policies. There will be some things that will not fit the Sheriff’s Office due to the nature of the job. We’re in the process of doing that, this is his sole purpose at this point and has been working on it for three weeks.”
Byars went on to say they are working toward applying for the accreditation process through the Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police, which will correct concerns that Judge Neal has. Byars said the accreditation process began during the time Terry Anderson was Sheriff before his retirement but was “laid aside for whatever reason”.
Neal asked the Sheriff if his men have copies of the current policy “because they are governed when they are out policing, under policies.”
Byars said they receive the policies when they are hired but do not have the changes made to the current policy, but will when it is finished.
Neal asked of Byars why these steps were not taken at the beginning of the year saying, “we discussed policy review back in January.” Byars said he asked the county attorney if he needed to redo it and the answer to him was, if you have it all in policy which Byars said, “my assumption and opinion was that was in there, he said there was no need to rewrite it so that’s mis-communication is all that is.”
Byars said in answer to Neal’s question on how his men know what the practice is, if starting tomorrow, someone needs time off or is sick? “Whenever it was changed, it was discussed with each one of them that that’s what we were going to do.”
Neal’s concern was that the issue was initiated in January when the court and staff sat through hours and days of administrative review and that all department heads were notified and complied, except the Sheriff’s Office.
In the letter, Byars was asked to “strictly limit his policies and procedures to law enforcement policy only, i.e., pursuit policy, dress code, use of force, etc.” Policies and procedures like those of a financial or human resources nature, the letter said, should be identical to what the Fiscal Court has adopted.
The letter cited the office’s lack of apparent funds to pay for tax bill postage, an annual expense, “underscores the need for uniformity in the handling of fiscal affairs.”
“We’re all on the same team”, Neal said. “We hold the purse at the end of the day, the tax payers money. We are going to do our part, we are notifying you that there are some serious issues administratively, that be taken immediate action on.”