County Council - Regular Meeting

13a is action taken regarding a discussion of proposed sale or purchase of property related to tax map number zero seven nine zero zero zero zero zero five eight zero zero zero that was taken as information only that brings us to council comments are there any comments from council

I don't want to say comments, but if there is an opportunity, could I ask the sheriff a quick question pertaining to something earlier? Max, if you wouldn't mind. It dawned on me that there's also been a question about what it takes to investigate a small fire department. Could you expand on that just a little bit from your perspective on how that works and what's to be expected?

You know, there's no one way to investigate everything. And so there are unique twists and turns that happen during investigations, criminal investigations. So I recognize there's a lot of frustration that the SLED investigation has gone on for a long time. Of course, I'm not happy that it's gone on for this amount of time, but let me just assure you and the public that this particular investigation, the more that is uncovered, the more it's uncovered. And I would use, I've thought about this, and it's kind of like when your watch breaks. I'm not talking about a digital watch. I'm talking about one of those old-timey ones, you know, with the three hands. When your watch breaks, you take it to a watchmaker or a repairman, and he pops the cover off and he may immediately see that one of the gears is broke, it's not working properly, but he can't just fix that gear. Once he removes that gear, he may find other things in that watch that's broken or out of line. And so the point to my little analogy is that many times, and especially in a financial investigation, dealing with public funds, and one that encompasses many years, there's a lot that can be found. We're not looking for necessarily eyewitnesses. Law enforcement will be looking for records, and those records take time to obtain. Sometimes law enforcement has to write a search warrant. Sometimes they can use the power of a subpoena. Sometimes they can use other methods, but it takes time to get those financial records from financial institutions and state agencies looking at their own records. So again, I recognize that there's some frustration about the time that this investigation has taken, but I have confidence in the investigating agency. I have confidence in the agency that will make the determination of criminal charges are made. And Mr. Hester earlier said something about that parallel investigation, that internal investigation. And I applaud the council for doing that because SLED is looking at their information they receive and uncover through the eyes of a criminal investigation. But there's so much more here. You have a responsibility to ensure that processes are being adhered to, that taxpayer money is being spent appropriately. And so that internal or that parallel audit, investigation, whatever you want to call it, that's critical. Unfortunately, I have been in this county long enough to where I have seen a similar audit happen two other times as a result of an indicted sheriff and as a result of indicted county supervisor. And in fact, internal audit company or agency or entity that is being used right now, I understand is the same entity that was used after the county supervisor was indicted. It's really the same process that's happening now happened back then and it happened as a result of the sheriff's office. So My long answer, Ms. Mosley, I hope I was thorough enough to explain that.

We ain't making no deal, neither. No deal. No deal. Thank you.

All right. Is there any other council comments? All right. If not, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

I'll make a motion we adjourn.

Second.