Schoharie County supervisors agreed last week to spend another $22,000 for a Westchester law firm to put the finishing touches on a possibly scathing report on an investigation into unlawful discrimination, harassment against employees and intimidation in the county offices.
The county has already spent $248,000 on the report which was commissioned last spring. The law firm needs another 30 days for follow-up interviews and for completion, according to board Chairman Phil Skowfoe of Fulton.
The purpose of the report was for an evaluation of Schoharie County policies and procedures and past practices relating to the handling of unlawful discrimination, harassment and/or intimidation in the workplace.
Mr. Skowfoe said he pushed to have the report released after the board's special meeting on Thursday evening. The meeting was supposed to be in executive session but ended up being in open session and lasted about two hours.
"I tried to put it out to the public last night," Mr. Skowfoe explained Friday. The motion was never acted upon. "It got pretty heated."
Without saying what was in the three-inch report, Mr. Skowfoe said, "I think there has more in it than I expected to see."
The report will eventually be made public, he added, though he did not know when.
Gene Milone of Schoharie who made the motion to begin the process last year, was also in favor of releasing the report.
"It should have been unveiled a month and a half ago...
"People will have to bear with us at this time."
He also has reviewed the report.
"I thought it was everything I thought it would be and then some."
Dan Singletary of Jefferson, who fought the start of the investigation last year, said he seconded the motion to release the report when he thought no further county funds would be spent.
"There's a lot in the report," Mr. Singletary added. "Almost everyone in the county gets skewered, some do not...
"I didn't find any surprises in it. It's a soap opera and that's what we spent $278,000 on, a soap opera.
"It's a workplace. Nobody's a goody-two shoes. When you take notes, you can get people to say almost anything. It's just a bunch of people at work."
The cost of the report is "outrageous," Mr. Singletary said.
"It started out at $50,000 and I didn't like that."
Mr. Skowfoe defended the cost.
"One lawsuit could cost far more than that if you have a problem and you don't address it."
The issues have to be met head-on, he added.
"You just can't make it go away."
Mr. Milone added, "It's shameful that the money had to be spent to rectify the wrongs in the county government.
"No one is overseeing what's going on day-to-day." There is no discipline in place for department heads. The county flounders each day, from day to day...
"In order to function properly you have to have policies and procedures in place. Our employees have suffered in our county for a long time. It's shameful.
"The biggest positive is it's going forward."
Mr. Singletary countered that the report is not unbiased since the law firm was hired by the majority party.
"He was employed by them. That's why $278,000 sticks in my craw."
The county, he added, should have used its labor attorney or county attorney for the investigation and report.
Now that the interviews and report are almost done and the money has been spent, Mr. Singletary hopes there will not be an over-reaction.
He hopes someone will not lose their job because of the report and what was spent.
"That would be a disgrace."