Despite resignation, remnants of Neese maladministration still felt
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Showing posts with label Pratt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pratt. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Neese pulling double duty as Pratt mayor, police chief yields fine, prohibition from public office
CHARLESTON - Former Pratt mayor Ann Neese must repay town officials $7,000 and pay a $500 fine for violating state ethics rules, the state Ethics Commission ruled this week.
Neese resigned as mayor in August. In June, she resigned as Pratt's interim police chief, a job she had been holding since 2006.
Ethics officials said Neese appointed herself interim police chief in April 2006, after the town's former police chief resigned suddenly. That summer, officials for the state Ethics Commission told Neese she could not be both mayor and police chief at the same time, but Neese replied she was only acting as police chief until she could hire someone else to fill the job.
Neese made $400 a month as mayor, but reported working more than 3,000 hours of overtime as police chief between 2006 and her resignation in June. Ethics officials said Neese made $34,118 as police chief in 2006, $29,200 as police chief in 2007 and $16,128 in the first half of 2008.
"From summer 2006 through January 2008, the Ethics Commission's staff clearly and repeatedly advised [Neese] that she could not serve both as mayor and police chief without violating the Ethics Act," ethics officials wrote.
Members of the ethics commission voted on Feb. 7 to initiate an ethics complaint against the former mayor. Neese resigned as police chief in June, saying her resignation had nothing to do with ethics proceedings. She resigned as mayor in August.
Ethics officials ruled Thursday that Neese would have to pay back the town $7,000 for unauthorized overtime and pay the ethics commission a $500 fine.
She was also prohibited from holding public office or working for any municipality for 10 years.
Neese declined comment on Friday, referring to a four-page response she filed with the ethics commission.
In her response, Neese said she thought she was acting legally while serving as interim police chief. Neese said she was trying to honor a promise to the citizens of Pratt to provide 24-hour-a-day police protection.
She also said she was deeply affected by the deaths of her mother and aunt within a month of one another in 2007.
"After the death of my mom, I went through the motions of working, but I had no concept of time or date," Neese wrote. "It took all I had to get through the day and night. I remembered that my job was to protect and serve the citizens of Pratt, and on that I did not waver....
"I thought I was doing what was best for Pratt.... To have acted with love for Pratt and those wonderful people who supported me leaves me with sadness that I did not get to complete the job to which I was elected."
This story originally appeared in the Nov. 14 edition of The Charleston Gazette, and is reprinted with permisison.
Neese resigned as mayor in August. In June, she resigned as Pratt's interim police chief, a job she had been holding since 2006.
Ethics officials said Neese appointed herself interim police chief in April 2006, after the town's former police chief resigned suddenly. That summer, officials for the state Ethics Commission told Neese she could not be both mayor and police chief at the same time, but Neese replied she was only acting as police chief until she could hire someone else to fill the job.
Neese made $400 a month as mayor, but reported working more than 3,000 hours of overtime as police chief between 2006 and her resignation in June. Ethics officials said Neese made $34,118 as police chief in 2006, $29,200 as police chief in 2007 and $16,128 in the first half of 2008.
"From summer 2006 through January 2008, the Ethics Commission's staff clearly and repeatedly advised [Neese] that she could not serve both as mayor and police chief without violating the Ethics Act," ethics officials wrote.
Members of the ethics commission voted on Feb. 7 to initiate an ethics complaint against the former mayor. Neese resigned as police chief in June, saying her resignation had nothing to do with ethics proceedings. She resigned as mayor in August.
Ethics officials ruled Thursday that Neese would have to pay back the town $7,000 for unauthorized overtime and pay the ethics commission a $500 fine.
She was also prohibited from holding public office or working for any municipality for 10 years.
Neese declined comment on Friday, referring to a four-page response she filed with the ethics commission.
In her response, Neese said she thought she was acting legally while serving as interim police chief. Neese said she was trying to honor a promise to the citizens of Pratt to provide 24-hour-a-day police protection.
She also said she was deeply affected by the deaths of her mother and aunt within a month of one another in 2007.
"After the death of my mom, I went through the motions of working, but I had no concept of time or date," Neese wrote. "It took all I had to get through the day and night. I remembered that my job was to protect and serve the citizens of Pratt, and on that I did not waver....
"I thought I was doing what was best for Pratt.... To have acted with love for Pratt and those wonderful people who supported me leaves me with sadness that I did not get to complete the job to which I was elected."
This story originally appeared in the Nov. 14 edition of The Charleston Gazette, and is reprinted with permisison.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Former Tech official rakes in $70K as Pratt Mayor, Police Chief
The following article originally appeared in the Wednesday, Jan. 23 Charleston Gazette, and is reprinted with permission. For a related article, go to The West Virginia Record.
Pratt mayor’s cop pay under fire; Neese made $69K as police chief
by Rusty Marks, Gazette staff writer
Pratt Mayor Ann Neese, who makes $4,800 a year as mayor, has made nearly $69,000 since taking over as the town’s interim police chief about two years ago, payroll records show.
Neese took on the job of interim police chief in November 2005. Since then, she has made $68,773 as police chief, her payroll records show.
Neese, who turns in timesheets showing she works seven days a week, typically reports working between 150 and 170 hours every two weeks. Her timesheets show her working several hours on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.
“I told the people of Pratt they’d get 24/7 [police protection], and this is the only way I can do it,” Neese said Tuesday. “It seems like a lot, but it’s cheaper for the town to pay me $8 an hour than to hire additional officers.”
In December 2005, town records show, Neese was authorized to be paid $10 an hour as police chief. At first she said, she got overtime, but later stopped getting overtime and lowered her hourly rate to $8 an hour.
“I’m paid less than the people at the water plant,” she said.
But some town officials think it’s time for Neese to give up her job as police chief and hire a dedicated, full-time police chief.
“She’s been stalling for 2 1/2 years now,” said Pratt Town Councilwoman Rose Perry, who believes Neese has turned the role of interim police chief into her major source of income.
Critics point out that Neese took on the job of police chief shortly after losing her job at the West Virginia Institute of Technology in Montgomery.
Perry and some other present and former town officials question Neese’s timesheets.
“We counted up the hours she was claiming she was on police duty,” Perry said. “How would she have time to eat and sleep?”
Neese says the long hours are necessary to protect the town. Neese and her ex-husband, former Charleston police officer Eric Eagle, are Pratt’s only police officers.
Eagle pleaded guilty in December to one count of obtaining money by false pretenses, a misdemeanor. He admitted that he worked 117 hours in 2000 for security at the Charleston Town Center mall while he was on duty for Charleston police.
“When the other guy’s off, I’m it,” Neese said. “Even on the days he works, I still have to cover 12 hours of that day.
“It’s nothing for me to go out at 3 o’clock in the morning because a dog is barking,” Neese said.
“We’re small-town people here,” Perry said. “We don’t have much crime. We don’t have the FBI doing stakeouts here.”
Although Neese worked as a police officer in Dunbar in the early 1980s and has taken a number of law enforcement classes, she is no longer certified as a police officer.
Neese says a police chief doesn’t have to be, but Perry and some other city officials want the mayor to hire a certified officer as chief.
“It’s time to get a permanent one,” Perry said. “She’s had enough time to find someone else.”
In November, town council tried to force a vote to have Neese removed as police chief. The vote tied and therefore failed, but only because Neese cast a vote not to fire herself.
Marc Slotnik, staff attorney for the Kanawha County Commission, said county officials aren’t allowed to vote on anything in which they have a financial interest. Pratt has a similar policy.
“I should not have voted,” Neese conceded Tuesday. “I just wasn’t thinking at the time.”
But Neese has continued to be paid as police chief. In December, after former town Recorder Lorie Humphrey resigned in frustration, the town council again voted to hire Neese as interim police chief.
Neese said she can’t find someone to serve as police chief who lives close to Pratt and is willing to work for what the town can afford to pay.
Pratt mayor’s cop pay under fire; Neese made $69K as police chief
by Rusty Marks, Gazette staff writer
Pratt Mayor Ann Neese, who makes $4,800 a year as mayor, has made nearly $69,000 since taking over as the town’s interim police chief about two years ago, payroll records show.
Neese took on the job of interim police chief in November 2005. Since then, she has made $68,773 as police chief, her payroll records show.
Neese, who turns in timesheets showing she works seven days a week, typically reports working between 150 and 170 hours every two weeks. Her timesheets show her working several hours on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.
“I told the people of Pratt they’d get 24/7 [police protection], and this is the only way I can do it,” Neese said Tuesday. “It seems like a lot, but it’s cheaper for the town to pay me $8 an hour than to hire additional officers.”
In December 2005, town records show, Neese was authorized to be paid $10 an hour as police chief. At first she said, she got overtime, but later stopped getting overtime and lowered her hourly rate to $8 an hour.
“I’m paid less than the people at the water plant,” she said.
But some town officials think it’s time for Neese to give up her job as police chief and hire a dedicated, full-time police chief.
“She’s been stalling for 2 1/2 years now,” said Pratt Town Councilwoman Rose Perry, who believes Neese has turned the role of interim police chief into her major source of income.
Critics point out that Neese took on the job of police chief shortly after losing her job at the West Virginia Institute of Technology in Montgomery.
Perry and some other present and former town officials question Neese’s timesheets.
“We counted up the hours she was claiming she was on police duty,” Perry said. “How would she have time to eat and sleep?”
Neese says the long hours are necessary to protect the town. Neese and her ex-husband, former Charleston police officer Eric Eagle, are Pratt’s only police officers.
Eagle pleaded guilty in December to one count of obtaining money by false pretenses, a misdemeanor. He admitted that he worked 117 hours in 2000 for security at the Charleston Town Center mall while he was on duty for Charleston police.
“When the other guy’s off, I’m it,” Neese said. “Even on the days he works, I still have to cover 12 hours of that day.
“It’s nothing for me to go out at 3 o’clock in the morning because a dog is barking,” Neese said.
“We’re small-town people here,” Perry said. “We don’t have much crime. We don’t have the FBI doing stakeouts here.”
Although Neese worked as a police officer in Dunbar in the early 1980s and has taken a number of law enforcement classes, she is no longer certified as a police officer.
Neese says a police chief doesn’t have to be, but Perry and some other city officials want the mayor to hire a certified officer as chief.
“It’s time to get a permanent one,” Perry said. “She’s had enough time to find someone else.”
In November, town council tried to force a vote to have Neese removed as police chief. The vote tied and therefore failed, but only because Neese cast a vote not to fire herself.
Marc Slotnik, staff attorney for the Kanawha County Commission, said county officials aren’t allowed to vote on anything in which they have a financial interest. Pratt has a similar policy.
“I should not have voted,” Neese conceded Tuesday. “I just wasn’t thinking at the time.”
But Neese has continued to be paid as police chief. In December, after former town Recorder Lorie Humphrey resigned in frustration, the town council again voted to hire Neese as interim police chief.
Neese said she can’t find someone to serve as police chief who lives close to Pratt and is willing to work for what the town can afford to pay.
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