FERGUSON DEFENDS OFFICIAL CHANGEOVER

Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney Morley Swingle does a great job prosecuting criminal cases, but he doesn't know much about the business of the public administrator. The Cape Girardeau County Commission does a great job running the county, but it doesn't know much about the business of the public administrator.

The Southeast Missourian printed Swingle's letter to me. The letter and accompanying article gave an unfair impression about me and my work. Let me explain what has happened.

Salary vs. commission

Swingle and the county commission are worried because Phyllis Schwab has begun to draw her $42,500 salary as public administrator while I am still working on existing cases and being paid as I finish them. The law requires me to do this, and there is really no other way, even if the commission wants that fee money to make up for what it is paying Schwab.

As the public administrator for 12 years, I handled the personal and financial affairs of people who cannot take care of themselves. I was not just an elected official. I was personally responsible for these people and their assets. I am still personally responsible for them until the probate court releases me.

Every year during my terms as public administrator, on the anniversary date of the order that appointed me as guardian and conservator, I was required by law to file an annual report of every financial transaction for every protectee (my clients). I was also required to file a status report on the well-being of my clients. Now that there is a new public administrator, I must file a final report for every client, but not until the anniversary dates come around.

There are good reasons the law requires me to keep these cases until the anniversary dates.

First, there were not nearly enough court personnel to review all 110 of my clients' settlements at the end of my term last Dec. 31.

Another good reason is that no one could possibly take over 110 clients on Jan. 1 and instantly know when each client's rent or nursing-home payment was due, when he or she needed to go to the doctor or when and how much to distribute to the client for his weekly cash allowance and all the other things a public administrator does for his clients.

Turning over all of the cases at once would have meant hardship for my clients and hardship for the court clerks, who are already busy all the time. That is why the statutes require me to do just what I have done and why the court ordered me to do just what I have done.

The problem is about money.

Still getting paid

Swingle and the commission obviously don't understand that every public administrator who works for fees (as I did) is paid for his work at the end of the year after he has done the work. I don't get paid until after I prove I safeguarded the clients' money.

A public administrator who works for fees instead of a salary is paid almost nothing during the first year he works. In my first year as public administrator, I made a whole $500 in fees. Swingle did not threaten to sue me when I made $500. Neither did the commission.

Report any problems

The reason the county is not receiving fees while they are paying Schwab a $42,500 salary is that this is the very first year that the Cape Girardeau County public administrator is being paid a salary instead of fees, and the county is changing public administrators at the same time. That was apparently too much trouble for Swingle or the commission to figure out before threatening to sue me and say nasty things about me in the newspaper. If any readers of the Southeast Missourian don't believe I have followed state law and the usual practices of public administrators, I invite them to contact the Missouri Public Administrators Association or the attorney general.

Swingle not only wants the county to get the money for the work I have done, he doesn't want me to work as a guardian and conservator for any of the clients I have worked with over the last 12 years. I have not encouraged or persuaded any client to ask to use me as his or her guardian and conservator. So far, only three former public administrator clients have asked the court to allow me to continue to serve them.

While my clients need help, they still have rights. The law allows these clients to tell the judge whom they want to serve them. The judge can then appoint me or any other qualified person to serve them. In the only case that has gone to a hearing so far, the court heard the evidence, agreed with the client and appointed me to serve him. If the judge appoints me in the other two cases, that will leave 107 other clients to be turned over to the county. There is no law that says the county commission must get all the guardian and conservator work in the county.

And, yes, a few of my clients have lived in apartments I own. Swingle did not bother to find out that they were placed there by the Community Counseling Center, not by me. Almost all of my clients have lived elsewhere. If that is graft, I have been a miserable failure at it.

Knowledge, contacts

Over the years, I have seen representatives, senators, judges and even prosecutors use the knowledge and contacts they gained in their public offices when they re-enter the private sector. They aren't bashful or ashamed to do this. Life goes on, after all. It is just possible that some day Swingle will leave office. When he goes, he will take his experience and his contacts as a prosecutor with him, and he will profit by them. If someone accuses Swingle of unethical conduct, he will be as offended then as I am now.

Finally, I want to point out one remarkable feature of Swingle's letter. He never mentioned what is best for my clients. Swingle and the county commission may not care, but my clients have always been my first concern. I know that Swingle and the commission are only concerned about the money, but he could have mentioned these people at least in passing.

John H. Ferguson was Cape Girardeau County's public administrator from 1989 through 2000.