Atomic City Talk

I met Rodney Archer over the weekend, and he is a pretty sharp young man. I encourage anyone to talk to him and see what he is about. He has a bright future in Anderson County Politics.

That might be your point of view. However, we had a thread going in this same topic (see the one about "Theft (Again)" and just browse the comments). Nothing has ever been said again.

Oddly enough, our Trustee will make sure that his changes in the way things are done in the office make it to the newspaper. The theft seems to have fallen off the map. No further comments on changes in his office...so, did he get cameras?....was anyone charged with stealing money from (us) his office?.... I hear that he's not available when a taxpayer phones his office. Hmph.

I suppose one needs to lift the edge of the rug to see what's been swept aside.

I wish our Trustee the "best of luck" when the next election comes round. He certainly won't get my vote this time.

I think he missed the clearance sale of those "Trust Me - I'm a Politician" t-shirts.

He dealt with the theft like anyone else would. The seasonal employee is gone. Sounds like you might have another problem with him. Have you ever tried to call him? i bet he would call you back in less than an hour.

Rodney is a nice fellow, and seems to be quite responsive. However, since he took office just on the heels of such a scandal, it does seem like he would have implemented some pretty strict controls to avoid having it happen again.

Again, a "no cash" policy would solve the problem.

JM is correct in this NM. It will take a State Law change to enact the suggestion you present. Archer is actually well within the law to continue the acceptance of cash policy.

From the County Trustee Handbook published by CTAS.

"Currency and Partial Payments. The trustee is required to accept
constitutional and lawful U.S. currency or warrants on the state treasury in the hands of a person to whom they were issued and unpaid, U.S. coins, U.S. legal tender notes, and federal reserve notes (67-1-704(a)). The trustee may also receive payment by check, money order, credit card or debit card. The county legislative body is authorized by resolution to waive the processing fee that is otherwise added to the amount collected when payment is by credit
card or debit card. (9-1-108)."

Page 42.

http://ctas-notes.ips.utk.edu/PUBLIC/web...e+2001.pdf

Sounds like a law that is ripe for change at the State, then.

Yes. One would think.

Cameras are the most effective deterrent and pretty cheap. They're the best thing to have - especially when everyone (including the employees) are lead to believe that they are being taped by putting up a sign saying "all transactions are monitored". By saying that, it could mean that the clerk is watching (ie - monitored).

A background check is cheap too. Especially if all (potential and existing) employees are checked out (you can get a better rate for running more than one report at a time).

My point is that nothing has been said by our Trustee since. Whether negative, positive or just to bring the tax payers to date.

Yes Emile, I understand that the "temporary employee" is no longer with THAT office. Believe it or not, she was gainfully employed elsewhere in the county offices. I've tried to contact him to no avail. I don't enjoy the game of "phone tag", so I haven't left a full blown message and can't be bothered at this point. It's all under the carpet.

It's obvious that a a roll of masking tape fixes anything - look at all of the other SNAFU's in the county!!

You are so yesterday, BS. Kick back and have a cold one... Maybe that will help. He's going to be around for quite a while. Get used to it.

I'm just sick and tired of being ripped off by county employees. Whether it's a building contractor, clerk, officer of the court, commissioner, etc, etc.

It seems like the Commissioners and Mayor can't make a decision without it costing more money to burn the lights in the courthouse for yet another late night discussion on an issue. We hear about a department spending big bucks on getting brand new trucks when the old ones were just fine. We've got contractors burning money trying to decide what kind of paint to put up in the new court room. Out dated heaters will be buring this winter and they can't afford a security system for the courthouse. Employees are flat out taking money and getting their wrists slapped.

Yeah. He'll be around for awhile. I voted him in. Get used to it? I don't think so. Anyone anywhere else would've made some changes to avoid this happening in the future and bragged about it in the paper.

I also voted for him. I agree, if you tell us about the problem then we need to know about the solution.