State looking at landfill paymen

Loudon County Commissioner Adam Waller has requested the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury investigate whether purchasing rules were violated when the county hired a contractor to perform work at the Poplar Springs Landfill earlier this year.

The county paid Conner Excavating for invoices of $6,750 and $23,250, according to billing records presented by Waller at a July 18 commission workshop. Waller asked if the expenditure had been voted on and whether competitive bids had been solicited.

Kelly Littleton-Brewster, a member of county commission and chairwoman of the Loudon County Solid Waste Disposal Commission, told the SWDC in January that she was looking for a contractor to do the work at Poplar Springs.

Littleton-Brewster was not at the July 18 workshop and has not responded to questions about the expenditures.

County Mayor Rollen “Buddy” Bradshaw told commissioners the SWDC is a separate entity from the county. Because money for remediation came from a separate fund earmarked for Poplar Springs maintenance, he said it was not necessary to follow standard county purchasing policy.

Waller said he contacted the comptroller’s office for clarity about purchasing services such as the work done at the former landfill. He said because the SWDC is a separate entity the representative from the state office in charge of overseeing the county audit could not immediately determine what regulations might be relevant.

“They said they will be looking into it,” Waller said.

Commissioner Van Shaver said he believes expenditures by the county using county funds must follow state purchasing regulations. He said what has been called the “Poplar Springs sub-fund” represents taxpayer money and is not exempt from state law.

Pat Hunter, a member of the SWDC, said she sent an email to Kevin Stevens, attorney for the SWDC, requesting information about the bid process, plans for repairs, work done by the contractor and the approval process.

Stevens responded that the SWDC never approved a contract with the excavating contractor and was never privy to any bid process, negotiations or discussion regarding the scope of work.

“As you know, all contracts for all work at Poplar Springs have always been negotiated, executed and overseen by the county mayor,” Stevens said.

Stevens said a protocol in place for years did not require the SWDC to vote on invoices. The SWDC merely signs invoices to acknowledge work was done at Poplar Springs. At one time, all three stakeholders signed invoices. The policy was altered by the county mayor “some time ago,” which allowed the invoice to be directly authorized by the mayor.

“Based upon the direction of the stakeholders, LCSWDC was merely releasing funds, even though it had no oversight over the work process,” Stevens said.

The specific invoices in question were signed by Littleton-Brewster and Vice Chairman Larry Jameson in accordance with established protocol.

The University of Tennessee County Technical Assistance Service provides guidelines for purchasing services based on the 1957 Purchasing Act.

“The general rule is that competitive bids are required for all purchases of and contracts for supplies, materials, equipment and contractual services; all contracts for the lease or rental of equipment; and all sales of county-owned property which is surplus, obsolete or unusable,” according to the act.

All purchases and contracts are to be awarded to the lowest and best bidder, taking into consideration the qualities of the articles to be supplied, their conformity with specifications, their suitability to the requirements of the county government and the delivery terms.

Sealed bids must be solicited after public advertisement if the amount of the expenditure or sale is expected to exceed $500, but the county legislative body, by resolution, may raise this to any amount not exceeding $10,000. Sealed bids cannot be split to avoid the requirement.

Items less than $25,000 do not have to be bid out but still require multiple bids be solicited. The county recently raised this amount to $50,000.

County Purchasing Director Susan Huskey said she could not comment on the Poplar Springs transaction because her office was not involved.

“I was told that the solid waste commission was handling this,” she said.

Huskey said in the past some purchases made for Poplar Springs remediation had been handled by her department and others had not. She said the state comptroller would be the best source of clarification.

Waller also raised the question of whether or not the hired contractor was licensed. He said he had a record showing the license for Conner Excavation expired in 2016.

Kim Schofinski, TDEC spokesperson, said there is no TDEC requirement for contractors cleaning up former landfills that are no longer TDEC-permitted sites. She said the hiring process for contractors is under the oversight of the responsible party, which in the case of the Poplar Springs site is the county.