Excerpts from an Aug. 5 letter by special investigators Michael Bowers and Richard Hyde to DeKalb County Interim CEO Lee May. The full letter is on My AJC.com:
This correspondence is to give you and the Commission members a brief update of our investigative findings thus far. What we have found is stunning. We are not identifying those who may be guilty of crimes or other misconduct until we publish the final report. You will recall that you were told from the onset that this inquiry would take both a lot of time and a lot of money. But the amount of money this has, and will, cost is minimal compared to what widespread government corruption has cost DeKalb County and our state, in terms of standing, reputation and image. You told us that restoring the good image and the public’s trust in county government was a principal goal of our assignment.
The DeKalb County government we have found is rotten to the core. The misconduct starts at the top and has infected nearly every department we have looked at. We have conducted scores of interviews and looked at several hundred thousand documents, including over 40-thousand individual P-card transactions. Those expenses range from petty to the absurd.
While most folks have been helpful, some department heads have flatly ignored requests from you and your office to provide full documentation with regard to P-card records, including the transaction logs that are required to be kept at each work site. They have also ignored Open Records Act requests we have filed and today are in violation of state law. We must have all of these records to continue our investigation into how the Finance Department has processed and paid for various purchases. By refusing to provide the needed records they are delaying the completion of this inquiry.
We started this investigation with the assumption that government employees and elected officials work hard every day to look after and tend to the business of the county. Within the first week we found some who did just the opposite.
The main question that must be answered with regard to any spending by county officers is: “what is the benefit to the county?” If there is no articulable, specific and reasonable benefit to the county, then the expenditure is likely illegal and in violation of our state constitution.”
The county awarded sole-source contracts despite there being many other qualified vendors available to perform the same work, at a much lower cost to the county.
The take-home vehicle policy is routinely violated, with some folks getting a free ride to and from work each day. And we have no idea just how many employees get a county-owned car and gas for commuting.
Thefts of county property have been covered-up and mishandled. In one case the police were not notified and the thief still draws a paycheck from the county.
While we have reduced the number of county departments we are investigating at your request, we still have a good way to go before completion. Please let us know if you have any questions.
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