An employee in the Union County Supervisor’s Office resigned last week after questions about some accounting practices led Supervisor Tommy Slnclair and local law enforcement officials to ask SLED to investigate.

“Late Friday, March 5, I became aware of a situation with some possible accounting practices in the supervisor’s office that caused me questions and concerns,” Sinclair said during a press conference Monday morning. “I followed up early Monday morning and in the follow up developed some additional concerns.”

Sinclair said he then consulted with Sheriff David Taylor and Union Public Safety Director Sam White and a decision was made to ask SLED to investigate. In addition, Sinclair suspended the employee who has since resigned.

“I suspended a staff member awaiting the outcome of the SLED review,” Sinclair said. “The staff member in question has tendered a retirement notice effective March 10, 2010.”

Sinclair declined to name the former employee because it is a personnel matter and because the investigation is continuing.

“I will make a full statement when I have the facts,” Sinclair said. “I certainly will weigh the need for transparency against the personal nature of personnel matters as I formulate the statement. I have made council fully aware of the issues and we eagerly await resolution.”

Sinclair said since becoming supervisor in November 2009, he has continued to find accounting practices “that cause me concern.” One of those is an “honor system” involving county employees using county credit cards to make personal purchases and then reimburse the county at their leisure.

“An incidental encounter back in very late January as we were preparing for a predicted winter storm caused me to realize that Union County had an inordinate number of credit cards,” Sinclair said. “As procurement officer and chief financial officer for the county I was concerned about the number and as I checked the accountability and management procedures I became even more concerned.”

That concerned deepened when, during the course of conversations with federal agents investigating political corruption in county government, Sinclair became aware of the “Honor System.”

“The ‘system’ basically was that an employee could use a county card for personal items and ‘on their honor’ at their ‘own time’ pay the county back at ‘their will,’” Sinclair said. “I can find no written policy or directive nor council minutes that allow or even acknowledge such a policy. In a briefing to council about the situation, I am convinced that they were not even aware of the system and I certainly did not authorize it.”

“I have talked with enough employees that I am persuaded and convinced that the honor system was a somewhat common practice with some employees and in at least one case the spouse of an employee,” he continued. “I am told by those employees that it was verbally authorized by the previous supervisor.”

The previous supervisor is Donnie Betenbaugh who was suspended from office after being indicted in October 2009 on 40 federal charges involving corruption and drug activity. In February, Betenbaugh pleaded guilty to one count of extortion as part of an agreement negotiated with the government by his attorneys. The maximum sentence Betenbaugh could receive on the extortion charge is 20 years and a $250,000 fine. If convicted on all 40 charges he could be sentenced to more than six centuries in prison.

Sinclair said he has taken steps to address the matter, first by taking up all the credit cards and contacting the company that issued them to discuss a possible blanket cancellation and a limited reissue along with methods of controlling their use. He said he has since reissued some of the cards to certain county employees but with strict guidelines as to their use — including a ban on personal purchases.

There were approximately 30 county credit cards available for use by county employees when Sinclair took them up. He said he reissued 20 of them, but only to the various department heads and only for county business. All purchases will now have to be acconted for through invoices and/or sales slips which must be turned in to the accounts payable section of the supervisor’s office. The checks to cover those purchases are hand-signed by Sinclair.

In addition, Sinclair said he, along with the sheriff’s office, SLED and the FBI are attemping to determine who used the cards and whether or not the county has been reimbursed for their use for personal purchases. The effort, however, has been hindered by a lack of pertinent records.

“An effort by law enforcement and myself to verify the honor system ‘pay back’ is hampered in some cases because apparently some of the receipt books that may have verified payback could not be found and was declared lost some months ago,” Sinclair said. “I — along with law enforcement — am currently following up with a few questionable transactions in recent months. These are being investigated by SLED.”

Sinclair declined to say whether the investigation into the employee who resigned and the credit card honor system are linked.

He said he would have no further comment until the two investgations are complete.