FARMINGTON — The Franklin County sheriff will be required to reimburse the county $89.97 for Christmas cards he had made to distribute to law enforcement agencies, businesses and other professional contacts.
Commissioners voted 2-1 Monday not to pay for the cards and to require Sheriff Scott Nichols Sr. to repay the money. Commissioners Charles Webster of Farmington and Clyde Barker of Strong were in favor; Chairman Gary McGrane opposed.
The card had a print of the sheriff and the county jail on it, which reopened to full operations in mid-April after being a 72-hour holding facility for six years.
Before the vote, Webster said that he noticed the Christmas card expense on the warrant.
It does not send the right message when “we’re taking county tax dollars,” Webster said. “I will sign the warrant but not authorize payment for Christmas cards,” he said. “I want people, when using county tax dollars, to think about if it’s appropriate use of taxpayers’ money,” Webster said.
“I think it is a good promotional thing for the Sheriff’s Office,” McGrane said, saying it’s positive advertising for the county.
The cards were not for personal use, he said. They were sent to law enforcement departments, businesses and other professional contacts that the Sheriff’s Office had dealings with this year, he said.
He believed that they should let it go this year and tell the sheriff about the concerns and make sure it doesn’t happen again, he said.
Treasurer Pam Prodan said that the expense was put on a credit card and they have to pay the bill. The county should have a purchasing policy that sets guidelines on purchases, she said. She has suggested it in the past so that department heads would have guidelines to go by when buying items.
Prodan said it was unfair for purchases to be brought up and discussed at commissioners’ meetings without department heads there to explain what the expenditure was for.
At the last meeting it was a mini-refrigerator purchased by the Emergency Management Agency, she said.
Webster brought up the purchase of a mini-refrigerator at the Dec. 7 meeting, which he said was bought with grant money. The item was on the warrant. The refrigerator was purchased by Local Emergency Planning Committee money.
Webster said Monday during the commissioners’ meeting that he did not want to micro-manage departments.
“I want to send a message that we are very concerned with the use of taxpayers’ dollars” and how they are spent, he said.
Registrar of Deeds Susan Black told commissioners she bought her own cards to send out related to her office but used county stamps.
Webster said he would rather not have county money used for stamps for Christmas cards.
The Christmas card expense was for about 70 cards and would go to the Sheriff’s Office two years, Nichols said when reached at his office after the meeting.
It is the commissioners’ prerogative to do what they want, he said.
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