Editor’s note: This is Cullman County’s No. 4 news story of 2008, as picked by the editorial staff of The Cullman Times.

From lawsuits to the arrest of a city employee, a polluting wastewater treatment plant and a $1 million budget deficit — there seemed to be no end to controversy in Hanceville during 2008.

Deputy public safety director settles sexual harassment suit

In early February, Hanceville Deputy Public Safety Director Hugh “Tank” Kirkpatrick, who has since retired, settled out of court with a former Sumiton dispatcher on sexual harassment charges. The lawsuit stemmed from his time as chief of the Sumiton Police Department.

The plaintiff, former Sgt. Brandy Allred, settled with Kirkpatrick and the city of Sumiton for an undisclosed amount. The lawsuit filed by Allred in 2006 alleges Kirkpatrick made sexually explicit remarks, inappropriately touched her and other dispatchers and created a sexually hostile work environment during her time at the Sumiton Police Department from April 1, 1999 to April 5, 2005.

In her lawsuit, Allred demanded punitive damages of the city of Sumiton due to the “reckless, wanton nature of the city’s conduct in hiring, supervising and or retaining Kirkpatrick in its employment.”

Kirkpatrick worked at the Sumiton Police Department from 1991 to 2007 as an assistant chief and then as police chief. Kirkpatrick’s resume indicated he left Sumiton because the mayor was not pleased with his performance.

The Hanceville council hired Kirkpatrick as interim police chief of the Hanceville Police Department in 2007 after former Police Chief Philip Bray resigned. Mayor Katie Whitley had already suspended Bray, stating he had not turned in a grant application on time. Kirkpatrick was later promoted to deputy public safety director.

Treatment

plant problems

Much like the prior year, throughout most of 2008 the Hanceville Wastewater Treatment Plant caused many problems for the Hanceville Water Board and the city in general due to many unscheduled discharges into Mud Creek.

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) cited the treatment plant for many of the violations, which were caused partly by water infiltration into the city’s sewer system. ADEM fined the water and sewer board $25,700 in March due to the continued violations. In June, ADEM and several area citizens filed two separate lawsuits against the board because of the violations.

In an effort to bring the treatment plant into compliance, the board hired the private company ClearWater Solutions in May to manage the facility. The plant improved gradually under ClearWater’s control and in September, it reached compliance with state regulations — a first for the facility in over a year.

Former Hanceville employee arrested

Cullman County Sheriff’s deputies arrested former Hanceville court magistrate Darlene Coker in October on state indictments for theft. Coker was charged with two counts of theft of property in the first degree. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Reports indicate the charges stemmed from Coker’s alleged failure to pay an $18,860.50 fine the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts levied against her in July.

According to the department’s July 25 audit of Hanceville’s Municipal Court financial records from Oct. 1, 2005 to Sept. 30, 2007, Coker was fined due to discrepancies found between amounts contained on written court receipts and the amounts entered into the city Cash Receipts Journal while she was court magistrate.

Coker resigned from her position more than a year ago.

The fine encompassed several payments that were not made including payments for the state of Alabama’s Fair Trial Tax Fund, General Fund and Drivers License Fund as well as for the Cullman County General Fund and the City of Hanceville Corrections Fund.

Among the municipal court irregularities, the audit revealed there were significant deficiencies in internal control for most of the examination period (2005-2007). Pre-numbered receipts were used, but many receipt numbers were missing from the Cash Receipts Journal. The report stated changes were made to the Cash Receipts Journal and no one approved the changes. Also, cash was collected that was not deposited into the Court Fund bank account.

The report indicated case numbers were not assigned numerically and chronologically in accordance with guidelines from the Administrative Office of Courts, case files were not filed and maintained properly, some case files were not available for examination and records were not maintained for payments received through the mail.

The audit report also revealed that records were not maintained for cash bonds deposited into the municipal court account and that transmittal records for Uniform Traffic Citations were not prepared and submitted to the court clerk.

The audit made multiple recommendations to correct the problems listed, which the Hanceville City Council recently put into place.

$1 million

budget deficit

The Hanceville City Council announced last week they are searching for any source of revenue due to a $1 million budget deficit left over from last year.

Hanceville Mayor Kenneth Nail said the previous administration created the deficit last year through excessive spending, mostly on renovation work and items for the city’s parks, such as $100,000 for a playground and $294,078 for a concession stand at the C.W. Day Park.

Hanceville currently owes $216,000 for the unfinished concession stand.

“We didn’t get us into this financial situation, but we’ve got to solve it,” Nail said.

To generate some revenue, the council discussed reinstating a 3 percent tax on the Cullman Electric Cooperative, which the previous council removed in August to lower citizens’ electricity bills.

Hanceville attorney Dan Willingham said the 3 percent Co-op tax would generate an estimated $150,000 a year for the city. He noted however, that the Co-op would most likely pass the cost onto its Hanceville customers as it did in previous years.

While Nail and the rest of the council agreed they did not want to burden the citizens, they acknowledged they were about out of options. Without the tax revenue, Nail said the city would be approximately $138,000 in debt during the coming year.

With the tax included, the city will have an approximately $15,000 surplus for all of 2009, Nail added.

“It boils down to we either pass the Co-op tax and pull what little is left in savings and pay this debt or we go back and cut services like police, fire, library and parks,” Nail said. “It’s a tough decision. I hate we have been placed in this financial situation.”

Nail said he and the council lowered spending in the proposed 2009 budget as much possible to save what revenue they could.

“I told the police no overtime and the street department no overtime,” Nail said. “And every purchase order over $50, I have to now personally approve.”

Nail said the city is currently sending all equipment in need for repair only to the Cullman County road department facility in Dodge City to save money.

“Before, we just sent stuff to local people,” Nail said. “We’ve already saved us some money.”

No new equipment will be purchased next year.

In addition, Nail said the city has placed partial hiring freezes on certain departments for the foreseeable future. Instead of hiring a city park director, Nail said a street department employee will fill in as a maintenance man at the park.

“And we will not replace that guy on the street department,” Nail said.

Nail added that a police officer and a dispatcher who announced they were leaving would not be replaced.

“We’ll fill those with part-time people,” he said.

The council scheduled a special meeting for Dec. 31 to make a final decision on the Co-op tax.

‰ Patrick McCreless can be contacted by e-mail at patrickm@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 270.