County Inventory "Whack-a-mole!"

Hot Potato Inventory List Gets Tossed Around Again

- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi -  April 26, 2012

A straight answer from the Clerk's office regarding the inventory issues I have been covering here on Naked Conch reminds me of the maze of mangrove channels behind Mud Key.  But let's cut to the chase.

One strange list (See Here) of equipment totaling over $150,000 under a heading "Need Destruction Form," keeps popping up.  Granted, some of it is older equipment, but $44,203.37 is from 2008 or newer.  The list seems associated with the efforts of former Inventory Clerk Mitch Hedman to reconcile inventory records and account for missing equipment.  Remember these are tagged assets, all valued over $1000, and Hedman as you might recall went to the Office of the State Attorney and filed a complaint suggesting he was being forced to resign as a result of bringing County inventory issues to light. (See Here.)

First, the list showed up in a response from the Clerk's Office to a request that I made for the Health Department's inventory reports.  After a go around with Health Department Director Bob Eadie, it became apparent that aside from the over $250,000 worth of equipment that Eadie cleared his books of with mass deletion requests, that this additional list was not the Health Department's.

With additional requests pending for Tech Services, and the Fire Department's inventory reports, I added the follow up questions (See Here.) of, "If not the Health Dept's, then whose equipment was on this list?" and "Why was it added into the middle of the Health Department's Reports?"

After a month of pulling teeth I was provided with the inventory reports for Tech Services, and the Fire Department.  These were not end of year reports, or reconciliations of what equipment exists and what has been found, lost or is outdated. Rather, the payload costing $35 and two trees amounted to stacks of email exchanges with a variety of spreadsheets as attachments.  They were essentially a lot of discussion regarding scheduling meetings and finding scattered pieces of equipment.  But lo and behold, the very last email exchange in the Fire Department stack from Hedman to a Harvey Hillman contained our exact little list of $150,000 of equipment under the heading "Need Destruction Form."  Ooopsie, now it's jumped from Health to Fire...just can't keep up with it.  Hedman states in his email dated Sept 12, 2011, "Call me when you get this."   Oddly, three days later Hedman filed his complaint with the State Attorney suggesting he was being forced to resign.

The first red flag is that Hedman, a dedicated employee felt compelled enough to file a complaint with the State Attorney for some odd reason.  From my experience working with Hedman he proved himself to be a dedicated and  proficient County employee who was diligent in his work duties accounting for inventory.  Gleaned from all my public records request, it would appear that it was his efforts that began to bring several agencies into line and correct for their poor inventory management. To add to that assessment, in an October 14, 2010 letter to Clerk Danny Kolhage, Fire Chief James Callahan writes;

"I would like to personally apologize for the difficulties and our delinquency in completing our annual capital inventory, as well as our inability to resolve and reconcile previously noted discrepancies.  I would also like to commend Mitch Hedman for his diligent patience and assistance with helping to resolve the issue."

Sounds like Hedman was a straight shooter, who was doing a good job to me.  So why was he being forced to resign only days after sending our mystery list to the Fire Dept?  Also, who was putting that pressure on him to resign?  Hedman worked for County Clerk Danny Kolhage.

Further, why is this list being buried, and showing up in an assortment of odd places, and why I am being fed convoluted email exchanges versus concise reports detailing an annual reconciliation of inventory?  Is this how the Clerk's Office maintains their inventory records?  If so, we have a huge problem that could easily explain the ease with which the iPad scandal was perpetrated.

Finally, why won't the Clerk's Office respond to my direct questions as to whose inventory this represents, and what is the significance of the list of over $150,000 of equipment?  On April 20th I again asked for additional clarification from Danny Kolhage and he has yet to respond.  (See Here.)

As I have said before, in terms of value, this makes the iPad scandal look like a drop in the bucket, and County administrators should be jumping at the chance to offer explanations instead of intentionally confusing the issue.  People only do that when they have something to hide.

www.mattgardi.com
Paid for by Matt Gardi, Republican, for Clerk of Courts