Allen County and Government Efficiency

The voters have spoken on the lack of accountability of their elective leaders. The voters voted for a change in both the house and the senate after scandals that occurred under the old administration. Locally, for the status quo is worried and in order to maintain control a push for consolidation is in the works. Consolidation is hyped as cost-efficiency to cut back on waste and for streamlining government. Some cities opt for limited consolidation with simply consolidating departments to maximize its talents by cutting duplicity and increasing accountability.

But slackers in this restructuring of government will be not go away quietly. Fearing healthy competition, the status quo attempts other means in order to retain positions for their friends and family members. For example, Allen County recently issued a proposal to consolidate certain departments and this may have given folks in certain departments an ideal to protect their jobs. The Journal-Gazette provides a story about the housecleaning of staff members by Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health. According to the story, "GPS equipment [were] secretly placed in county cars by health department administrator Mindy Waldron, who led the investigation." In doing so, as many as six employees were terminated or resigned. The reasons were varied but one that stood out was that these employees were wasting taxpayers dollars.

This is interesting because, another story reported that the administrator supposedly purchased the GP devices, placed them randomly on County-owned vehicles, monitored the activities of county employees for over 500 hours over a nine-month period. Does this time period violate Allen County policy and procedure for an employee to notify law enforcement of criminal activity?

Another question, is an employee of the county allowed to work off the clock in conducting official county business? Another question why would an employee of the county spend her own money for an investigation on devices that were not authorized by the County? Another question if this was a random act in an investigation how was it that the devices captured nine employees of only two areas in the health department out of the 16 staff members? Another question why was there no coaching for corrective measures for those employees who had no previous disciplinary problems? Another question who is going to reimburse the taxpayers for the number of attorneys who sue the department for wrongful termination, invasion of privacy, and defamation of character?

To many questions, and how will those fired, retired, suspended workers be replaced read here in the New-Sentinel. Nine employees replaced with a part-timer and another employee with a different job title will step in to replace the director of another area. Makes you wonder, it only takes 1 1/2 persons to do the work of nine? Red Flags are all over this story. Ghost Employees, Felonies.....could there be more to the story?