CONWAY -- Mayflower Mayor Randy Holland on Monday disputed a prosecutor's letter that said city policy apparently had allowed an officer to put fuel in his personal vehicle at city expense as a way to subsidize the officer's salary.
"I have never approved anything like that," Holland said. "I never have and never will."
Holland said he allows officers to file for documented fuel expenses incurred for work-related -- but not personal -- trips, such as training classes, if they drive their personal vehicles.
Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland wrote the letter, released last week, to explain why he was not charging Jeremy Hanson, who resigned from the Mayflower Police Department after being suspended with pay during an Arkansas State Police investigation over city fuel use.
On Monday, Hiland stood by his letter.
"The fact is Officer Hanson's statement to the [state police] investigator indicates that Mayor Randy Holland has 'always allowed them in the past to use city fuel in their personal vehicles ... it was a way to help with the pay cuts and low pay that they received,'" the prosecutor said, quoting from his original letter that had quoted Hanson's statement.
"That statement was confirmed by the Investigator when he questioned Mayor Holland about whether he allowed Officer Hanson to use city fuel for use in his personal vehicle and boat," Hiland added.
"Mayor Holland's initial response was, 'Not in his boat, no,'" Hiland's email continued. The mayor also said Hanson "had been around a long time and, 'he tries to help him out because he cannot pay him as much.'"
The mayor's answer "leaves any reasonable person to conclude permission was granted concerning the vehicle," Hiland said.
Earlier on Monday, Mayflower City Attorney Terry Ballard released a letter telling Hiland that the city did not have a fuel policy as Hiland's letter had described.
"Your conclusion that the City of Mayflower had a policy of allowing employees to use City fuel for personal benefit is not supported by the facts," Ballard wrote. "The City clearly has no such policy and neither the Mayor, nor a department head to the knowledge of the Mayor, approved the actions of Jeremy Hanson."
Ballard added: "If the City had such a policy as you have indicated or the Mayor knew about and allowed employees to use City fuel as a way to subsidize their pay it would have been unnecessary for Hanson to: (1) falsify two gas tickets showing the fuel he got was used in other vehicles; (2) tell another officer to 'block for him' so he couldn't be seen taking the fuel; (3) admit to the Mayor and Chief [Robert] Alcon that he 'made a mistake and wasn't thinking' when confronted about his putting City fuel in his private vehicles for personal benefit; and (4) offer to and pay the City for the fuel that he took."
Hanson does not have a phone number listed in Conway or Mayflower directory assistance and was not reached for comment.
State Desk on 11/04/2014