An investigation by the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office determined a Hamilton County commissioner received at least $27,000 in questionable reimbursements through his discretionary spending allowance.
The agency is not naming the commissioner because no criminal charges have been filed, the comptroller’s office said.
However, Commissioner Warren Mackey, D-Lake Vista, said during a public meeting in May that the state comptroller’s office had raised questions about his office space on Highway 58. The report, which the office released Monday, details reimbursements that include:
— $15,500 for additional office space that did not have active electric utility service
— $5,970 for meetings at local restaurants
— $1,059 for personal purchases
— $1,368 for cellphone accessories
— $1,349 for storage totes
— $1,127 in hotel lodging that exceeded allowable amounts
— $1,006 to renew a post office box for six residential properties owned by a private business, which state records indicate has been inactive since 2014
“County commissioner expenses should be appropriately scrutinized before reimbursements are made,” Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower said in a news release. “All expenses should be in furtherance of the county commissioner’s duties and not wasteful or abusive of taxpayer funds.”
The results of the investigation have been sent to the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference. Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp has recused herself. A spokesperson for the conference, Elizabeth Dixon, did not immediately respond to a voicemail Monday.
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The comptroller’s investigation determined the Hamilton County Commission failed to provide adequate oversight of discretionary spending, and the county’s finance department did not have appropriate internal controls over the custody of checks, increasing the risk of misappropriation. Investigators found Mackey endorsed a $150 check in 2021 intended for the Charles H. Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center.
“I don’t have any defense about anything,” Mackey said in a phone call. “I’ll let the record speak for itself. Every single commissioner takes people to lunch. Not all commissioners, but commissioners before me, now and probably after me have had money they used to rent office space. Period.”
Mackey said his practices are not out of line of with how his colleagues use their discretionary money.
“It’s clear that the commissioners have money at their discretion,” he said. “I am not the only one. Every single commissioner has done the same thing. They’re doing it now. They did it before I got there and will probably do it after I leave.”
SPENDING
Each commissioner has a salary of $27,202 and receives $15,000 per year from the county budget as a discretionary spending allowance. That amount was $12,500 before the 2024 fiscal year.
The county’s policy says discretionary spending can be used for business expenses like local and out-of-town travel, rent for office space, utilities for office space, supplies and any other expenses incurred as part of the duties of an elected official.
Mackey received reimbursements totaling $15,500 for his office, which had a rent of $500 per month between August 2021 and February 2024 and did not have active electric service, the report said.
Although Mackey did not let them go inside the space, state investigators inspected his office through the front window, according to the comptroller’s report. They saw cobwebs at the entrance and mail shoved into the cracks of the office door. Envelopes were lying in a pile just inside. Investigators also saw folding tables, a futon, baby equipment and what appeared to be a mattress stored at the space.
A spokesperson for the comptroller’s office would not confirm the address of Mackey’s office, but a 2016 receipt the Chattanooga Times Free Press obtained through a records request indicates it sat at 4744 Highway 58.
On May 1, Mackey sponsored a resolution that requires office space used for meetings with voters to have at minimum electricity, heat and air, an accessible restroom and parking facilities. Mackey’s satellite office did not meet those minimum standards during the period reviewed, the comptroller’s office said. The vote was 10-1 with Commissioner Joe Graham, R-Lookout Valley, voting no.
Mackey told his colleagues May 1 that he stopped holding face-to-face meetings about two years ago because of COVID-19 and that during that period, he had his office utilities disconnected. Investigators found the number of times Mackey claimed reimbursements for restaurant meetings with his constituents increased in 2021, the same year he had his electric service disconnected.
Mackey said his office space accommodated constituents who found it difficult to meet downtown because of parking or lack of transportation. A review by the comptroller’s office found Mackey held more than half of his restaurant meetings — 67 out of 113 — outside his commission district.
Mackey said in a phone interview he has permanently closed his satellite office on Highway 58. However, Mackey did seek and receive reimbursement for the office in both May and June at a cost of $500 per month, a spokesperson for the comptroller’s office, John Dunn, said in an email.
“I have no place to store 18 to 19 years of papers, and I guess they’ll go in the garbage,” Mackey said Monday.
Those documents are now at his house, Mackey said.
“I’m a historian,” he said. “I like documents. Every document is important for me as a historian. It’s a primary resource.”
THE CHECK
In April 2021, Mackey asked his colleagues to consider a resolution to use $150 of his discretionary spending “to assist with programming” at the Charles H. Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center. The finance department issued the check the following month, but the museum said it never received it, according to the comptroller’s office.
Investigators obtained a copy of the check, which cleared the bank May 11, 2021. Mackey had endorsed it with his signature. That March, Mackey had made a $150 personal donation to the museum’s brick drive fundraiser. His name and title were engraved on a brick at the entrance of the museum.
“If the county commissioner intended that this resolution be passed to reimburse himself for a donation previously made, he was required by Hamilton County’s Code of Ethics to disclose his personal interest in the matter before the vote,” the comptroller’s report said.
Investigators reviewed the meeting minutes April 21, 2021, and listened to a recording of the meeting. Mackey did not disclose his plans for the check, the report said.
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Mackey said the former county auditor, Jenneth Randall, approached him about the check.
“The conversation we had didn’t rise to a level of concern for me,” Mackey said in a phone call. “I guess a mistake was made. Like I said, she mentioned it, we talked about it, it went away until this whatever.
“To mix a check up three years ago and try to pile it on to make a case of some impropriety is just — they can do it. I did endorse the check. Don’t know who the check was for. Don’t know what it was for. … That is just ridiculous if you ask me, but if it was illegal, I own it.”
PURCHASES
According to the comptroller’s investigation, Mackey spent $1,059 on two red leather office chairs. Mackey told investigators the chairs were a personal purchase and he did not intend to submit the receipt for reimbursement, the report said. Mackey mentioned the two chairs during a commission meeting May 1.
“However, the county commissioner failed to inform the board of county commissioners that he told the investigators that the chairs were a personal purchase and that he was incorrectly reimbursed for them,” investigators said. “As of the date of this report the county commissioner has not repaid the county for reimbursement of the personal purchase.”
The county also reimbursed Mackey for $1,368 in cellphone accessories, including charging cables, wall adapters and a Bluetooth speaker. Mackey also bought two pairs of Beats Fit Pro True Wireless Earbuds, explaining his rationale in an email to the county’s accounting manager.
“Per the question regarding my need for two earbuds, the reason is that I have two vehicles,” Mackey wrote. “I don’t want to have to carry them on my person 24/7. I need them in our meeting.”
The county, a tax-exempt entity, ended up paying sales tax on Mackey’s purchases, the comptroller’s office said.
Mackey also spent nearly $1,350 to buy 48 storage totes ranging in size from 0.55 to 64 litres. Mackey told investigators he uses those containers to store the commission documents he’s collected through the years.
DISCRETIONARY
Commission Chair Jeff Eversole, R-Ooltewah, declined to comment on the investigation, but he is hopeful Hamilton County’s new five-person audit committee, which will consist of four members from outside county government, can offer broad guidance on spending practices.
“That will help position us better for the future as we’re looking to be good ambassadors for taxpayer money and making sure that we’re sticking by guidelines,” Eversole said in a phone call.
Mackey said in a phone call the discretionary spending process existed before he was elected to the county commission and will likely persist after he leaves.
“If they want to change it, change it,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with it.”
Contact David Floyd at dfloyd@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.