Records: Auditor sent far fewer emails than other county officials
URBANA — Champaign County Auditor Tony Fabri sent only four emails from his government account during February and March this year, and 139 for the entire county fiscal year of July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2011.
The limited number of emails, documented in a Freedom of Information Act response, corresponds with the small number of phone calls made from Fabri's personal office number during the 12-month period. Earlier this summer The News-Gazette reported that Fabri had made only 19 phone calls from his office number during the year.
The auditor dismissed that story, saying the "phone records aren't an accurate reflection of time spent working."
Meanwhile, another FOIA request shows that Fabri had a minor role in the production this summer of the county's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. For the most part, correspondence between the company doing the audit, Clifton Gunderson LLP, and the auditor's office was handled by Fabri's chief deputy, Carol Wadleigh.
Wadleigh, a certified public accountant who has worked in the auditor's office since 1980, is paid $83,311 a year. Fabri is authorized to make $83,007 annually but voluntarily agreed to pay $15,000 of his salary into the county's general fund rather than impose a 6 percent budget cut on his office.
The emails between the auditor's office and the independent auditing firm also reveal that Wadleigh and the auditors had trouble finding Fabri.
On May 19, Wadleigh wrote to the Clifton Gunderson accountant: "I believe I have given you all the financial statements, but no footnotes or introductory/statistical section items yet. I am working on these footnotes now, but Tony has to do the last four footnotes (contingent liabilities, commitments, subsequent events and Nursing Home financial condition) as well as the MD&A. Honestly, I have not seen him working on any of these, so I can't say when you can expect to receive them."
A week later she had another update: "Tony is supposed to do the notes on contingent liabilities, commitments, subsequent events and the Nursing Home financial condition. I have no idea when he will get them done."
In June, the Clifton Gunderson accountant emailed Wadleigh, wanting to know the best way to reach Fabri. Wadleigh suggested calling him on his cellphone or emailing him — not calling him at the auditor's office.
In a single email from Fabri dated June 23, he apologizes for delays in getting his work done but suggests he hopes to complete his work before June 30.
"I've been scrambling to get everything for the CAFR done before today, but I don't think I'm going to be able to," he wrote on June 23. "I'm still working to get it all to you by tomorrow (Friday), which I know is less time than you'd like but hopefully will still allow us to get everything done by the 30th."
In an emailed response, Fabri did not dispute the findings contained in the latest round of FOIAs.
"As I've said previously, I'm not always in my office but I am working full time to fulfill the duties of County Auditor," he said.
"The staff in he Auditor's Office are hard-working and professional," he continued. "They are a real asset to Champaign County and I'm proud to work in this office with them. They deserve better pay, more recognition and the best supervision possible. I can't do much about the pay or recognition, but I can and do strive to be the best supervisor possible. I'm sure I fall short of that ideal, but I do my best," Fabri wrote.
The new revelations follow News-Gazette reports in March 2009 that Fabri, who was appointed to his post in 2007 and elected in 2008, is frequently missing from his Brookens Center office.
Because county officials do not fill out time sheets, punch in at a time clock or otherwise leave a record of their attendance, examining phone and email records is one of the few ways to assess an officeholder's presence at work.
During the same two-month period that Fabri sent just four emails, other countywide elected officials sent out hundreds of electronic messages, more than Fabri sent all year. Sheriff Dan Walsh sent more an 750, Coroner Duane Northrup sent about 300, County Clerk Gordy Hulten had about 950 outbound messages, State's Attorney Julia Rietz sent about 700 and Circuit Clerk Linda Frank sent more than a thousand.
Following the disclosures two years ago about his spotty attendance, Fabri stepped down as chair of the Champaign County Democratic Party, but he continued on as county auditor, an independent position.
County board members have stated in the past that they are powerless to do anything about Fabri because he is not appointed by the board but is elected by voters.
At least two people — Republican John Farney and Democrat Kevin Sandefur — said they plan to run for county auditor next year.
Office-seekers can begin circulating petitions of candidacy as early as Sept. 6.
In his emailed response Fabri said he hasn't decided whether to run for re-election but said he expects "a spirited Democratic primary for County Auditor, either way."
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Remember when the last story concerning Fabri's work ethic came out that demostrated his lack of phone calls? I do. I remember all the snarky comments on the N-G site and other local sites about how in todays golden age of smart phones and mobile offices that most of his job could be done by email. I suppose now those posters will say that he could very well be doing his job by texting?.....morse code?....... I know - smoke signals!
Anti N-G democrats, I know you're upset with my post. Please, before you respond, please put on your thinking caps, and do some deep breathing. Breathe in, hold it... Now let it out. Good. Re-read the last article, and the other articles about how most of the rest of the county board members, employees and elected officials rarely see him in the office. Now are you really prepared to defend him?
What's next, a story on how many times he sharpened his pencil? The real problem here isn't Tony but the talk about making the auditor's office an appointed position. There are those who want to make Tony look as bad as possible so it's easier to make the office an appointed post. That would be good for political insiders but bad for government accountability and democracy in general. We've seen a lot of hoopla about emails and phone calls but too little on whether the auditor's office completes its duties. The N-G should focus more on that instead of inconsequential bean counting that does nothing but provide ammunition to the crew that wants to give voters less choice.
So if one believes we still need an elected auditor, and if one also believes it's possible to do that job working about the same amount as Fabri has worked, why on earth would we pay $80,000 plus benefits to that person?! Shouldn't we be able to fill that job for $10,000 with no benefits?
Since it is possible to remote in, and send emails from home that would mimic an office email, or from your blackberry, or whatever, why don't we require a physical presence of all elected officials? Since it is the only way to see that the County is actually getting their money's worth.
Can we mandate that at all County officials must clock in? And have their 'time sheets' approved by three other outside people to prevent the mutual scratching of backs? And then make the time sheets public, after all, the public are the ones that allow them to have a job in the first place.
Actually, the people of this county elected him in 2008 with 52% of the vote. They also then decided this year that the position should be elected, not appointed. Who keeps bringing up that old argument? It has been decided by the people. I suppose that some just know better, though...
According to this article it looks like another Democrat may be running for the job, and Fabri has stated that he is undecided in regards to running for re-election. Just as the voters decided to keep the position of auditor an elected office, the voters will also decide next year on who the auditor will be. It may be within Fabri's best interest to simply decide to not run for re-election. Plus, if the Democrats choose to back another candidate that will lend more substance to existing reports of county board members who have publicly criticized Fabri. I believe it was Yatiri who pointed out that the current situation is not one that can be changed until the next election.
The remarks regarding a previous article that just highlighted phone records, noted that the allegations made by the News-Gazette would have been stronger if it included additional evidence. At the time, the report claimed that the 'only' way to document the presence of the auditor was strictly through phone records.
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/politics-and-government/2011-07-10/phon...
"Because county officials do not fill out time sheets, punch in at a time clock or otherwise leave a record of their attendance, examining phone records is virtually the only way to assess an officeholder’s presence at work."
Well, it looks as if the News-Gazette has illustrated, by obtaining email records, that is not the case. That is sloppy journalism which does not serve the interests of the public, and it's a good thing that readers did step up and point out the flaws in the previous reports. If anything it put the newspaper in a position to have to go back and obtain more information. That being said, it is to the credit of the News-Gazette that someone was apparently willing to pay attention to the criticism, and take appropriate action.
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