Manager’s vacation draws ire

At least one Warren County Commissioner said he has lost faith in County Manager Linda Jones after she violated county policy by using sick leave, once she ran out of vacation time, for a trip to Liberia earlier this year.

Jones and County Finance Director Barry Mayo both went on the excursion as part of a class they are taking.

Commissioner Ernest Fleming said when he asked for the timesheets to see how they had allotted for their time away, he said Jones did not have enough paid vacation time to account for her trip, and Mayo had no vacation time at that point.

Jones took a combination of vacation and paid sick leave, and signed off on Mayo taking paid sick leave.

“When I had a conversation with Ms. Jones,” Fleming said. “She indicated she thought all accrued time could be used however you wanted.”

Jones indicated that is exactly what she thought at the time.

“I did that in error,” said Tuesday morning. “At that point in time I was of the opinion that sick time was my leave time and I could use it at my discretion, after it was brought to my attention I immediately corrected it … it was an error.”

She corrected it by transferring the used sick time for the trip to vacation days she has accrued since May.

Fleming, however, said that’s not good enough.

“She’s using vacation time now for the trip, vacation time she didn’t have then,” he said. He added that Mayo was doing the same, and Jones had told him if he didn’t have enough vacation time, he’d have to take the rest of the time as unpaid leave. “None of this makes any sense. There has to be some logic,” Fleming said.

“Unless it’s long-term sickness, we’ve never required doctor’s excuses (to take sick leave),” Jones said. “I don’t excuse myself for thinking that way. In hindsight I probably should have checked the policy. I’ve thought that was my leave to do with as I saw fit. If I leave here and go to another entity, it follows me. When I retire, it can be used then. I thought it was my leave time.”

Jones said as far as she knows, there may be other county employees who think the same thing and have been using sick leave for vacation time.

“ I said I find it hard to believe she could think that,” Fleming said. “It’s almost universal across the state … all vacation can be used for vacation or any other leave you want to, sick leave can only be used for being sick, or for a doctor’s appointment, or in some cases some counties will allow you to use it for family medical emergencies. You can’t use it for vacation, it’s a no-no.”

Fleming said that Jones had spent time as an assistant to the county manager, as the county tax assessor, and now nearly a year and a half as county manager, so he has a hard time accepting she didn’t understand the policy.

“The idea that we have a county manager, and a new department head, and neither one of them knew the proper uses of sick leave … that just doesn’t fly.”

Fleming said the larger issue is this: if the county manager hasn’t been following, and requiring her employees to follow, the county policy in this matter, what else might be done incorrectly?

“No one has checked any other records at this point,” he said. “But, one question does bring up another one, doesn’t it? If you were a taxpayer in Warren County, how would you feel about this?”
The board of commissioners gathered Monday for its regular monthly meeting, and conducted an already scheduled annual evaluation of Jones work during a closed session.

Fleming said he planned to bring up the vacation situation, but after the closed session no commissioner made any comment.

Prior to Monday’s meeting, the other commissioners were mixed in their reaction to Fleming’s questions.

Chairman Clinton Alston would not comment; Ulysses S. Ross said Jones had informed him of what happened and Fleming’s concerns but didn’t know that any action would be taken; and Barry Richardson said it was a personnel matter and said he wouldn’t comment, other than to say “I think we’re going to have to get together in a closed session and talk about this.”

Commissioner Bill Davis was on his way out of town for a trip when contacted, and he referred questions to Fleming.

Tuesday morning, Jones indicated her evaluation had been done as planned, and she had no additional comment.