The resolution, presented by Councilwoman Cindy Wilson, requests that council members be allowed to have access to county reports, contracts, financial reports and invoices, and that internal auditors and the county attorney have to respond to the council.
“I know that Home Rule was a great liberating effort by the state to provide more autonomy in local government, and that was a great approach,” Wilson said. “But there are some apparent flaws that have surfaced in the last few years.”
The Home Rule Act during the 1970s began to give more authority to local county governments.
Wilson said former administrator Joey Preston purposefully withheld information from her and that there were “no checks and balances” in Anderson County.
Bob Daniel, an accountant hired by the county, recently completed an investigation into the county’s finances.
The report stated that Preston apparently approved some bids without contracts and spent tens of thousands of dollars without documentation.
Preston was terminated and rewarded a $1.14 million severance package by the former council in November 2008. The current council is suing Preston in an attempt to regain that money, arguing that the contract was handled improperly and should therefore be void, and that Preston breached the contract.
Wilson said she didn’t know what the chances are that the Anderson County Legislative Delegation would make changes to the Home Rule laws.
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