By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT, Hays Post
Citing multiple policy violations, the Ellis County Commission suspended the use of the treasurer’s purchasing card this week, a move she says is politically motivated.
At Monday’s commission meeting, the commission suspended Treasurer Lisa Schlegel’s use of a county-issued purchasing card for 30 days. During the meeting, Commission Chair Butch Schlyer said Schlegel has not been presenting proper information on her use of the purchase card.
“There have been several attempts by human resources to get the required documentation, and the treasurer has not been willing at all to cooperate with those inquiries,” he said.
According to the Ellis County purchasing card policy, an employee will have their card suspended for 30 days after violating the policy two times.
Interim County Administrator Darin Myers said the first violation of the policy by the treasurer was in late 2018. He said the second offense stems from 11 different purchases from May to December of last year.
According to documents provided by Myers, the purchases range from $5.14 for coffee at Breathe Coffee House to $53 at Gella’s Diner.
The violations of county policy, according to Myers, include spending too much for meals or purchasing meals at conferences where the meals are part of the conference fee, overspending on items purchased for employee recognition, and not providing a reason for a lunch or dinner meeting or who was present at the meeting.
Myers said the county discourages the use of the purchasing card for those type of meetings at dining establishments in Ellis County. But if they are used, county employees are required to to document who the meeting was with.
He said that final violation — not providing the necessary information and the treasurer’s unwillingness to provide the information — is the reason that the issue was brought before the commission.
In an email obtained by Hays Post, Schlegel said in response to requests for information by Human Resource Generalist Janet Schmidt, it was “not any of your business who I have meetings with.”
Schlegel also told her in another email, “I don’t want to tell you who I have meetings with. I also don’t plan to do that in the future.”
Myers said it was those responses and her refusal to meet with himself and Schlyer to discuss issue that resulted in the second violation and the 30-day purchase card suspension.
In a written response to Hays Post and a sit-down interview this week, Schlegel said she has not abused the purchasing card policy and claimed this is an effort by Commissioner Dean Haselhorst and others to make her look bad in public.
“People that don’t like me and are threatened by me are trying to damage my name to manipulate the public’s perception of me,” she said, “and to damage my chances of running for re-election.”
She added that she filed for re-election Wednesday.
“If you think this is going to stop me or discourage me, you are wrong,” Schlegel added.
Schlegel said the issue stems from her criticism of the Ellis County Clerk’s office and Clerk Donna Maskus.
Schlegel, who was elected in 2016 and began serving in the position in 2017, has been a staunch critic of Maskus and her department’s handling of the county’s tax statements. Schlegel raised the issue in a scathing letter to the editor where she claimed she was bullied by other elected officials.
The clerk’s office collects levies and values from not only Ellis County but surrounding counties and, after Ellis County verifies the information, it turns the tax roll over to the treasury, which finalizes the amounts, prints and sends them to taxpayers.
State statute requires the clerk to turn over the information to the treasury by Nov. 1. Since 2016, they have turned the tax rolls over the treasurer’s office between seven and 15 days later each year. That deadline is often missed because Maskus said the county is forced to wait on other counties.
Schlegel said when she first raised the issue in 2018 she met with Haselhorst and then-Commissioner Barb Wasinger who told her not to talk badly about the clerk and not raise those issues.
Haselhorst said of the criticism levied against him this week, “I don’t have nothing against her. I really don’t. I’m not out to get her.”
As for the 2018 meeting, Haselhorst said they might have told Schlegel not to talk bad about the clerk’s office but only because he believes department heads and elected official should work together “instead of throwing it out in the news media.”
He added he thinks that Schlegel and her staff have done a good job running the treasury.
“She does a fine job managing $22 million for Ellis County,” Haselhorst said. “She’s made us a lot of money, and I would never ever take that away from her, ever.”
Haselhorst attributed some of the friction to Schlegel’s eagerness, as a newly elected official, to make changes.
“I can tell you as new commission I was gung-ho like her,” Haselhorst said. “I think she was in the same way.”
“In her defense, she came, she could see areas that needed fixed (and) she could see areas she wanted to change,” Haselhorst said.
Haselhorst and Myers maintain that while they understand and agree that as an elected official Schlegel is in charge of her office, it’s up to the commission to provide oversight and provide transparency.
“If you fail to provide that documentation, the assumption of misuse of taxpayer funds is out there,” Myers said.
Schlegel said as an elected official she is on the same level as the county commissioners and only answers to the voters.
“When you start trying to manipulate the public’s perception of me by saying I’m abusing the purchasing card all over Hays, that is a direct political attack and that is slander. I’m looking into it,” Schlegel said. “I am an asset to this county, I am an asset to you as a citizen. I’ve rocked this treasury.”
Schlegel said she has filed a harassment complaint against a fellow Ellis County employee after an alleged incident but would not provide any details.
“Since the tax newsletter in November, this has amped up across the entire county. Department heads have shown harassing behavior to me,” Schlegel said.
She said that complaint and a second one against a commissioner have not been recognized.
Myers said he has received Schlegel’s complaint about an employee but said he could not provide any details because it’s a personnel issue. He said they have not received a complaint involving a commissioner.
Schlegel and Haselhorst are both up for re-election in the fall and confirmed this week to Hays Post they have already filed for re-election. County Clerk Donna Maskus is set to retire at the end of her term.