[ad_1]
Supervisor approves reprimand over security camera issue
VINTON — Benton County supervisors last week approved a letter of reprimand against the county’s information technology director for failing to follow instructions to remove a security camera from the Benton County Service Center.
Supervisors Tracy Seeman and Gary Bierschenk voted to place a letter of reprimand in the employee file of Information Director Ben Turnis. Supervisory Board Chairman Richard Primmer voted against.
Human Resources Director Sue Wilbur told the meeting she was tasked with investigating the allegations against Turnis.
Wilbur alleged that Tennis was guilty of swearing, disobeying, lying and providing false information about the removal of conference room security cameras.
County Attorney Ray Love and Primmer directed the cameras to be removed during a closed-door meeting due to confidentiality concerns. Turnis said the decision should be made by the courthouse security committee.
Love said the law requires audio recordings and extensive notes to be taken during closed-door meetings. It does not provide video recording capabilities.
“This is not something we should mess with. It needs to come out and we need to follow the law,” Lowe said.
Turnis asked if having Wilbur conduct the investigation would be a conflict of interest because they have had disputes in the past.
Wilbur said she was doing what was asked of her. She said she was not disparaging employees but was investigating the issues brought to her attention. These issues mainly focus on the language used by employees.
Wilbur said she is working for transparency and honesty. “I think when you have dishonest employees it should be a concern.”
It’s not a pleasant job, nor is it one any human resources person would want, Wilbur said. Having difficult conversations and investigating issues that may not have been resolved for a long time is part of the job.
Tunis said he did not remove the camera out of personal responsibility. If something happened in that room and officers reviewed the camera footage, the last thing they would want to see is Turnis taking the camera down.
Turnis said he removed the camera two weeks ago when Love emailed him asking him to remove it.
Seaman agreed that this should be the committee’s decision, not the superintendent’s.
Primmer asked Bill Schenk for his opinion. “I would shut up,” Bill Schenker said.
Primer said that in similar situations, the priority is to ask employees to resign or suspend their work without pay. Primmer asked whether the county could be held responsible if precedent was not followed in this case.
Primmer told the supervisor they had dealt with matters of this nature in the past. “They’re hard. No one said it was easy.”
Turnis warned the county would face failure if the supervisor let him go and counted on his newly hired assistant to take over.
Seaman suggested that a letter of reprimand be placed in Turnis’s file as punishment for the bad words he said. “That’s it.”
Residents in attendance asked why the issue was not addressed by the safety committee. Loughg said this is first and foremost a legal issue, not a safety issue.
The county recorder believes there’s a lot of frustration going on in the county, and she’s sure there’s a lot of swearing going on. The employees are there to serve county taxpayers.
Kellie Van Ree formally requested the resignation of three supervisors and the human resources director. Van Ree is a candidate for supervisor.
Supervisors also discussed purchasing security cameras with switches.
[ad_2]
Source link