County leaders are concerned that the legal procedure required to repair county vehicles is not being followed. Within the Yazoo County Sheriff’s Department, a recent repair job that did not go through the necessary legal procedure was repaired without the proper purchase order.
During Monday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, County Administrator Donna Kraft said a deputy’s vehicle was recently repaired at Manasco’s Body Shop without a purchase order. She said the total bill for the repairs was about $3,289, but Travelers Insurance would only pay about $1,007.
“There was no purchase order issued before this vehicle was carried to Manasco’s,” Kraft said.
The vehicle repaired belonged to Noble Brooks, chief investigator with the Yazoo County Sheriff’s Department. Supervisor Cobie Collins asked Chief Deputy Terry Gann about the repair job.
“I didn’t know anything about it,” replied Gann. “He (Brooks) said the sheriff told him to go ahead get it taken care of. But that is not what the sheriff said. Noble has been through this process enough times that he should have known that he had to go through me.”
Gann said he has established safeguards to prevent this from happening in the future.
“No purchase order will be issued to anybody without my signature on it,” Gann said. “I have been going around the body shops and talking to them, telling them don’t even order parts until you call me.”
Gann said Brooks’ vehicle was damaged after a large rock was thrown through a window. He said the vehicle’s door was “destroyed.”
Board Attorney Jay Barbour said, according to state statute, if the purchase value is more than $2,000, the purchase cannot be made without a purchase order.
“No claim based on such purchase shall be approved except after the compliance of the provision of this statute,” Barbour said. “I am told that long ago the then-board adopted a resolution that purchases of any amount had to be preapproved with a purchase order. But the statute says that if it is over $2,000, it is illegal to pay it without a prior purchase order.”
Collins confirmed that a previous administration did adopt a resolution that stated all purchases had to go through the necessary purchase order procedure, regardless of the amount.
“Based on the statute, the county can’t legally pay it,” added Barbour.
Kraft questioned whether she was to hold onto the payment from Travelers Insurance or give it to Manasco’s. However, Barbour added that once the county accepted the money, it becomes public funds.
“Once the funds are delivered to the county, it is public money,” Barbour said. “If it comes to the county, does it become public money? I think it does.”
Photographs of the incident were also not delivered to the county.
“Normally, the procedure is that the deputy takes pictures and a copy of the report, and I take it to (the county administrator’s office), and then the insurance process starts,” Gann said. “Manasco’s normally sends (the county administrator’s office) the estimate. I don’t know how this got by.”
“Well, everybody has to follow the rules,” replied Collins.
However, Gann added that the Yazoo City Police Department handled the incident and should have photographs.
Kraft said this is not the first time such an incident has occurred within the sheriff’s department.
“We had some other situations where there was some damage to vehicles, and the procedure was followed,” Kraft said. “But when they took it to have it repaired, there was an issue with a flap, which was not included in the estimate. That was $220 that got ordered that nobody was aware of. Another vehicle done with the procedure, there was a mirror that (the deputy) said to go ahead and order. After (the body shop) called me, I told them not to because it was not included in the estimate. We cannot keep doing this.”
“It is going to get us in trouble,” Collins replied.
The board instructed the board attorney to look deeper into the matter.
