County extends e-mail probe

By Staff
Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
The Morgan County Commission is continuing its search for email abuses linked with county government operations.
The county approved a resolution authorizing Wade Morgan of Alabama Forensics Data Services to examine the hard drives of county-owned computers for the presence of pornography, inappropriate emails or excessive internet usage. A comparison will be made with email servers to determine if any tampering has occurred. Included in the probe are all elected county officials, political appointees and department heads. County employees are also subject to a random search of their emails.
The resolution was presented by Chairman Pro Tem Stacy George after Commission Chairman John Glasscock removed himself from the chair and allowed George to preside.
Glasscock’s forwarding of a questionable email was brought to the county commission’s attention last month. Glasscock received the email from Human Resource Director Jack Underwood, who later lost his job as a result of the investigation. Glasscock forwarded the email to Decatur Mayor Don Kyle, who said he later asked the chairman not to send inappropriate material to him again.
In a discussion that preceded the vote, District 1 Commissioner Jeff Clark questioned whether the resolution was needed.
George agreed that legal consultants completed the first three parts of an eight-part investigation request but said answers to the last three parts are lacking.
He said if policy violations are found the commission needs to revise its policy to prevent the same thing from happening in the future.
The commission acted on other matters as follows:
Approved payment of $350 to King Insurance Agency for a one-year bond for Greg Cain, Morgan County Probate Judge-elect.