Email investigation over

By Staff
Call for chairman’s resignation ignored
Cliff Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
A probe into the alleged illegal use of county-owned computers ended last week when the Morgan County Commission refused to go any further in its efforts to retrieve information on hard drives in the offices of Sheriff Greg Bartlett, Revenue Commissioner Amanda Scott and Probate Judge Bobby Day. Instead, they voted three to one to proceed with the processing of information they currently have in their possession and to follow up by making revisions needed to clarify and strengthen the existing computer use policy. District 4 Commissioner Stacy George cast the “no” vote.
Following a 30-minute executive session, George attempted without success to get the governing body to authorize legal action to retrieve the hard drives so that the investigation could be completed. He made a motion to that effect but it died for the lack of a second.
George said Wade Morgan of Alabama Forensics Data Services was able to collect information from about 80 percent of the hard drives in the courthouse before access was denied by Bartlett, Scott and Day. They all indicated that their hard drives contain sensitive information for which they are accountable to protect under the law.
Glasscock did not respond.
District 2 Commissioner Ken Livingston said after the meeting that the county’s computer use policy is relaxed and does not apply to elected officials.
The investigation began when Glasscock forwarded a questionable email from its human resource director to Decatur Mayor Don Kyle. Kyle asked Glasscock not to forward such emails to him again. The incident later cost the human resource director his job.
The commission acted on other matters as follows: