FAYETTEVILLE -- A Washington County justice of the peace and the assessor plan to begin their investigation into the county's bridge-building today with the first of several interviews with Road Department employees.
Justice of the Peace Eva Madison said Wednesday she and Assessor Russell Hill have at least one interview scheduled today and many more still being coordinated.
Washington County Road Department
• Duties: Bridge construction and maintenance, maintenance and paving of hundreds of miles of roads, plowing and gravel during winter weather
• Employees: 82
• Budget: $8.6 million for 2015, down from $10.4 million last year
Source: Washington County
"It's kind of a work in progress," Madison said. "I'm hoping we can do them this week and next."
The Quorum Court this week charged the pair to look into how and why two bridges weren't built as designed.
County Judge Marilyn Edwards has told the Road Department to redo the unfinished Stonewall Bridge west of Prairie Grove under the oversight of engineering firm GTS Inc. after officials discovered its steel reinforcement wasn't properly cemented in the bridge's supports.
Harvey Dowell Bridge southeast of Fayetteville is under a 3-ton weight limit, the lowest possible without closing it, because of concerns it has the same problem.
The Quorum Court gave Madison and Hill two weeks to do interviews, have interviewees sign off on transcripts and present a report to the legislative body, with the ability to ask for more time if needed. Those two weeks started Wednesday when the investigators enlisted the help of a court reporter to transcribe the interviews, Madison said.
The Road Department comprises about 80 employees, its assistant superintendent has said. The Quorum Court ordered all employees "to cooperate in good faith with the investigative team."
"We're not giving them (the employees) any guidance as far as how to answer questions -- we don't want to be seen as an administration that's running ahead of the investigation and trying to deflect questions," county Chief of Staff Dan Short said. "We can't make them answer a question that gets asked of them, but we will make them available to the team."
The interviews will be in a conference room in The Fulbright Building in Fayetteville, near the county courthouse on East Dickson Street, Madison said. The law firm she works for, Littler Mendelson, has its office in that building.
"There was still some concern about a county building," Madison said, referring to potential intimidation if employees are in the same building as their bosses. "We're trying to make it as comfortable as possible."
Madison has experience interviewing witnesses in her employment law practice. Hill said he plans to use his job experience as well.
"I'm taking the approach that we use in our office as far as being fair and equitable whenever we're valuing properties," said Hill, who the Quorum Court unexpectedly tapped to be an investigator after Short withdrew. "We're just going to gather the information; we're going to ask the questions the Quorum Court told us to ask and get to the bottom of it."
The team plans to have employees look over the transcripts from their interviews and sign them as legal affidavits, Madison said. County attorney Steve Zega told the Quorum Court an employee who lies in a signed statement can be found guilty of false swearing, a misdemeanor, but not perjury as in a court of law.
The Quorum Court directed the investigation halt if any criminal activity is found so law enforcement can take over.
Two other investigations could supplement the county's inquiry.
Edwards has asked the State Highway and Transportation Department to re-inspect every bridge built in the last 20 years and X-ray Harvey Dowell's supports. The department regularly inspects bridges every two years or more. A department spokesman said Wednesday an answer could come this week or next week.
The county is also working on a formal request to the Arkansas Division of Legislative Audit to look into the Road Department's spending.
NW News on 04/23/2015