Former employees address county
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By Randy Pierce
Former Madison County employees Rob Dorman and Doug Hulme, both of Maryville, addressed the county board under the public comment portion of its special meeting held late last month for the purpose of considering settlement of a litigation matter that was unrelated to either of them.
Despite the wording in the legislation from almost three years ago setting down the terms of their dismissals as employees, which specifies they are “prohibited from accessing Madison County property,” the pair were each allowed to make their statements without interference or impediment at the meeting held in the county administration building.
While both Dorman and Hulme have pending legal action against the county concerning the circumstances that led to their being relieved of their employment in May of 2020, neither mentioned that situation, instead making statements regarding other matters.
The purpose of the special meeting was the board’s finalization of a decision to approve a settlement concerning the death of a female who had been confined to the Madison County Jail.
Dorman’s focus when speaking to the board at this meeting was what he called a “problematic” contract agreement of 15 years duration between Madison County Transit and the Agency for Community Transit of Granite City, approved by the former in April of 2021, which had not been put out for bid.
This is pertinent for the county board, Dorman stated, because Madison County Transit is “a subsidiary” of the county government.
The contract “annually transfers $25 million of taxpayer funds to the Agency for Community Transit,” he added. “That equates to $375 million during its lifetime before any extension” of which there has been an unrestricted provision of continuing it for five years at a time beyond the original agreement.
Along with questioning the concept that the agreement was not subject to a bid process, Dorman closed his statement by citing a state statute called the Automatic Contract Renewal Act which “specifically excludes public bodies from automatic contract renewals such as this.”
Dorman had based his statement on the results of a Freedom of Information Act request he had submitted to MCT asking for information related to whether or not the contract had been advertised for bids or if bids had been received.
The response he had received from MCT FOIA Officer Julie Repp was that there were no bid documents or bidding information to be shared.
Hulme spoke to the county board the same evening concerning what he feels is the lack of sufficient information from the county treasurer concerning investments that have been made involving public funds.
Without mentioning Madison County Treasurer Chris Slusser by name, Hulme shared that he could not find information on the county website about the status of any long-term investments and added that Slusser said he would make such a report for the county board every month but has not done so.
“It’s my investment too,” Hulme commented. “I’m a taxpayer. It is very important from a financial perspective that your investments are accurately published and put out for the public. It is very important that we know the value of these investments.”
Hulme has legal action concerning his termination as a county employee pending against Slusser and also ran unsuccessfully against Slusser in the 2022 Republican primary election for the office of county treasurer.
