BOOKKEEPING ERROR LEAVES SHERIFF WITHOUT PAYCHECK

MARBLE HILL -- A group of Bollinger County residents are upset about what they call inadequate bookkeeping procedures in county government. About 40 county residents met Monday as a result of the county's refusal to pay Sheriff Dan Mesey his December salary.

"We want to bring this out in the open and to the public so they can see what's going on," said Ernest Darr, a member of the Sheriff's Advisory Committee, which organized the meeting.

On Monday afternoon, county commissioners told Mesey that due to an error in the county's bookkeeping procedures, he would not be paid for December. In fact, they told him not to expect another paycheck until February.

Other sheriff's department employees, who are paid once every 28 days, were paid Monday.

"It's their bookkeeping," said Marshall Stroder, another member of the advisory committee. "You ask them how much is left in the sheriff's department fund and they don't know; they can't find it."

Presiding Commissioner Elwood Mouser, who did not attend Monday night's meeting held at the county courthouse, said in a telephone interview that county employees discovered the error Monday.

"It's just a mistake," he said, adding that according to county records, the sheriff already received his allotted salary for the year.

"He's been paid every cent he is owed. We just figured it out that if we paid him more, we'd be paying him too much," the commissioner said. "I didn't say it was fair, that's just the way it turned out."

Some members of the advisory committee and some residents said the presiding commissioner is trying to force the sheriff to resign. They said the commissioner has a personal vendetta against Mesey.

When asked if he wanted the sheriff to resign, Mouser told a reporter, "That would be too good."

The sheriff told those who attended Monday night's meeting that the county's constant underfunding of the sheriff's department has left him frustrated.

"They have made us a report-writing department," he said. "You can't investigate crimes when you don't have the manpower to do it."

The sheriff and the advisory committee has repeatedly asked the county to hire a third deputy in the department, a request that has been denied. The department also does not employ an investigator or a jailer.

The department does not own a camera to take mug shots of prisoners, nor does it have proper equipment for fingerprinting, the sheriff said.

Mesey said a copy of the county budget from this year projected a $30,000 balance in the sheriff's department special law enforcement fund by the end of the year. But he said when he asked Mouser about the fund several days ago, the commissioner said there was no money left.

"The only answer I see is better government," the sheriff said. "The county commissioners and the sheriff's department should have common goals, and that's to improve the quality of life for people in the county. And that starts with good law enforcement."

Gale Francis, a resident who attended Monday night's meeting, said county government should be re-aligned.

"Just try to go through the files; try to find out how things stand. You can't," Francis said. "I think when the next election comes up, we need to consider that."

The sheriff said the lack of a paycheck came as a shock, but that he and his family would survive.

"I am most concerned that my family will be taken care of," he said.

Sharon Smith, a member of the advisory committee, said people are concerned about underfunding of the sheriff's department because they are afraid Mesey will resign.

"We wouldn't let him do it," Smith said. "We have the best law enforcement team that this county has had in a long time," she said. "I feel like we need to be behind them."

According to Smith, the presiding commissioner repeatedly refused to meet with the advisory committee to discuss funding of the sheriff's department.