JoelMiller.US

Editor’s note 10/29/2019 – The Heroes Hotline was cancelled earlier this month due to a lack of funding by the Linn County Board of Supervisors. Feel free to email me at LCAuditor@protonmail.com if you wish to report a tip. Joel D. Miller – Linn County Auditor

Today, the Office of Linn County Auditor (LCA) is unveiling an anonymous tip reporting service called Heroes Hotline (HH). The purpose of HH is to allow anyone including employees, contractors, vendors, and residents to seek answers to questions related to Linn County’s funds, accounts, and tax dollars.

At present, HH is the first and only way a person can truly report a tip related to the County and remain anonymous. And the HH has another feature which vastly increases its potential for success. It allows a tipster the ability to continue communicating with the LCA after the tipster’s initial report without revealing their identify.

For example, the LCA may require additional information or clarification in order to investigate a tip. The LCA would leave a message for the tipster in the HH and if/when the tipster accesses the HH, he or she would see the message from the LCA.

The reverse applies when the tipster updates his/her tip except the LCA is automatically notified by the system when an update is made to the original tip. The LCA does NOT have access to the IP address or any other data which could be used to identify the tipster because the HH is hosted on a third party platform, i.e., on Navex Global’s EthicsPoint

Tipsters beware! In order to remain anonymous, tipsters should not use County-owned devices, or the County’s Wi-Fi or network services.

The LCA would like to emphasize that the primary purpose of HH is to allow tipsters to seek answers to questions related to Linn County’s funds, accounts, and tax dollars because the LCA has the statutory power to audit those funds and accounts for compliance with State and Federal laws. While the LCA will try to be responsive to reports on other issues, the LCA recognizes that other County departments, managers, and elected officials may be better suited to address those issues.

For example, if an employee is having issues with his/her manager and the issues are not being resolved to the employee’s satisfaction, then the appropriate way to address the situation may be to escalate to the County’s Human Resources department or to the manager’s manager.

Auditor Miller says, “I hope no one ever needs to use the Heroes Hotline, but if they do, they may truly be a hero and I stand ready to assist them to the extent possible.” – Joel D. Miller – Linn County Auditor

Thank you Linn County resident Mr. Rick Davis. Thank you for asking questions!  Thank you for not giving up!

What did Rick do? He frequently walks about Morgan Creek Park (MCP).  And he is aware that the County acquired land and enlarged MCP in the last year of two.  So last Fall, when Linn County Conservation seeded the newly acquired land with prairie grasses, Rick took notice.  And this Spring, when Rick noticed someone plowing under the seeded land, Rick took notice and started asking questions.

Rick tried to contact three County Supervisors who did not respond to him in a timely manner. So he contacted me and I posed his questions to the management of Linn County Conservation and the Board of Supervisors.  I received a reply from the Director of Conservation.

Sure enough, Rick was right!

An employee of the farmer who previously rented the land had mistakenly plowed under several acres which had been seeded with prairie grasses.  The cost to re-seed could be several  thousands of dollars and Conservation is discussing the situation with the Linn County Attorney.  No one outside of Conservation would likely be the wiser if Rick had not paid attention and asked questions.

Rick, I know you did not do what you did to get attention. You did it to correct a situation.  You did the right thing!  Thank you Rick!  -Joel D. Miller – Linn County Auditor

We have laws to protect local government whisteblowers.  Right?  Yes, we do have a law (see 70A.29), but if you get fired from your job for whistleblowing, you might be financially ruined or die before you get the chance to be vindicated in court or elsewhere.

Our State’s law is below.

The Linn County Board of Supervisors has approved two policies related to whistleblowing.  One is Whistleblower Protection and the other is Reporting and Investigation of Fraud or Financial Misconduct.  To my knowledge, neither has been utilized since being approved on March 28, 2007.  Then again, maybe someone blew the whistle and it didn’t make the news?

70A.29  REPRISALS PROHIBITED -- POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS
-- PENALTY -- CIVIL REMEDIES. 
1.  A person shall not discharge an employee from or take or fail
to take action regarding an employee's appointment or proposed
appointment to, promotion or proposed promotion to, or any advantage
in, a position in employment by a political subdivision of this state
as a reprisal for a disclosure of any information by that employee to
a member or employee of the general assembly, or an official of that
political subdivision or a state official or for a disclosure of
information to any other public official or law enforcement agency if
the employee reasonably believes the information evidences a
violation of law or rule, mismanagement, a gross abuse of funds, an
abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public
health or safety.  This section does not apply if the disclosure of
the information is prohibited by statute. 
2.  A person who violates subsection 1 commits a simple
misdemeanor. 
3.  Subsection 1 may be enforced through a civil action. 
a.  A person who violates subsection 1 is liable to an
aggrieved employee for affirmative relief including reinstatement,
with or without back pay, or any other equitable relief the court
deems appropriate, including attorney fees and costs. 
b.  When a person commits, is committing, or proposes to
commit an act in violation of subsection 1, an injunction may be
granted through an action in district court to prohibit the person
from continuing such acts.  The action for injunctive relief may be
brought by an aggrieved employee or the county attorney.