Hamilton County Auditor Bill McGriff has determined that a county employee violated county policies by working on his private business during county work hours, but left open the question of whether this activity was waste and an abuse of county resources.
PDF: Alan Knowles Violation of County Policies
McGriff released his report, dated Oct. 15, about Public Works employee Alan Knowles to the Chattanooga Times Free Press on Monday. The report addresses issues raised by this newspaper’s stories on Knowles, who is the son of Hamilton County Clerk Bill Knowles.
Alan Knowles did not return a call seeking comment.
“Mr. Knowles used his county computer and county e-mail account to transact certain business dealings for noncounty business purposes,” the report states. The report also found that Knowles did his work during the county’s standard 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. workday, but noted that Knowles’ boss, Public Works Administrator Dan Wade, said the side job did not affect Knowles’ job performance.
Wade told the auditor that Knowles’ schedule as superintendent of support services varied and required some work to be done outside a standard schedule.
The auditor did not find any evidence to back up Wade’s claim, however. The auditor also said it based its review solely on the e-mails Alan Knowles turned over to the Times Free Press, saying other e-mails may have been deleted permanently.
“We are unable to determine whether these e-mails represent all of the noncounty-related e-mails that Mr. Knowles sent or received over the applicable period,” McGriff said.
Many of the e-mails were sent and received in 2009 and 2010.
Knowles served a five-day unpaid suspension for his use of a county computer and e-mail account to conduct business for his Christian concert business, Dove Ministries Inc., doing business as DMI Concerts. The nonprofit books Christian concerts in Chattanooga.
McGriff said Knowles did not appeal the suspension.
In addition to finding that Knowles violated county policies, McGriff recommended better documentation of employee work hours when they are outside the county’s normal 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. schedule.
In response to McGriff’s recommendation, Wade said Knowles must now clear any work outside the 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. range with him first.
“My contention is that he made a mistake but that he does work odd hours and probably works more than time that he spent answering e-mails,” Wade said.
McGriff said he gave a final copy of the report to the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office on Monday afternoon. That office has the authority to audit local governments for possible misuse of public funds or resources.
The comptroller’s office did not return a call seeking comment.
Contact Dan Whisenhunt at dwhisenhunt@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6481. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DWhisen hunt.