Ingham County panel initiates 'whistleblower' policy for staff
LANSING - A panel of Ingham County commissioners is pursuing a "whistleblower" protection policy for staff in the wake of ethics violations that recently led to the firing of the county's top two technology officials.
The policy, passed Tuesday night by the Board of Commissioners' County Services Committee, now goes to the full board for its approval. Passage there would make it official.
The board next meets on Dec. 8, its final session of 2015.
County Controller/Administrator Tim Dolehanty fired then-Chief Information Officer Michael Ashton in October after receiving documents linking Ashton to alleged ethics breaches involving free sports tickets, junkets and gifts from technology companies doing business or hoping to do business with the county.
The county’s code of conduct states that "employees, directors, appointed and elected officials, volunteers or agents" shall not solicit or accept anything having a monetary value of more than $25 from vendors or potential vendors.
The IT department's second in command, IT Project Manager Frank Chain, was terminated Nov. 13 after it was learned he had questionable dealings with vendors, according to county officials.
Since Ashton's firing, the County Services Committee, a panel overseeing departments' compliance with county policy, has issued directives aimed at preventing more ethics breaches. The mandates include ethics training sessions for all employees and audits of department activity with individual vendors.
In the whistleblower policy approved Tuesday, anyone suspecting wrongdoing is required to pass on the information to his or her immediate supervisor, the county board coordinator and the human resources director.
The human resources director will spearhead any investigation.
Violators are encouraged to self-report, an action that could lessen any discipline.
Also, a log of reports will be kept and be open to any county official and the public.
The committee also voted to adopt an ethics policy for vendors, and to encourage other elected officials, such as the clerk, sheriff and treasurer, to adopt the ethics policy.
Contact Curt Smith at (517) 377-1226 or csmith@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @CurtSmithLSJ.