CLEVELAND, Tenn. - After repeated questions about the Bradley County Sheriff's Office selling a surveillance van to a bail bondsman and disposing of some old equipment without permission, county commissioners voted Monday to temporarily halt all asset sales.
The moratorium will last until the commission adopts revised asset disposal rules being formulated by an ad hoc committee. The only exceptions will be for property seized in criminal cases and authorized for disposal by a judge.
"This is countywide, not picking on any particular department or anything like that," finance committee chairman Milan Blake told commissioners at their voting meeting. The finance committee met earlier and voted to recommend the moratorium to the full commission.
The move comes after controversy involving the sale of the county's surveillance van in February. Commissioners didn't realize the 2006 van they'd authorized to be sold was packed with surveillance equipment and weren't satisfied with explanations from the sheriff's office.
Commissioner Thomas Crye called for more controls on asset sales, and Chairman Louie Alford appointed the ad hoc committee, which is looking at other counties' disposal policies and doing other research.
Then last week, commissioners learned the sheriff's office sold five used police vehicles this year before getting permission. County policy is that the commission has to approve the disposal of surplus property. Those cars were sold a few days or weeks before commissioners approved the sales.
Now the commission is looking at 2015 records to see if other surplus assets were sold without authorization.
Commissioners have said they hope to develop and implement the policy revisions quickly, and certainly before the new fiscal year begins July 1.
"It just gives the commission more insight into what's being done away with," Alford told commissioners Monday before they voted 12-0, with no discussion, to approve the moratorium. Two commissioners were absent.
Contact Judy Walton at 423-757-6416 or jwalton@timesfreepress.com.