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