EEO Guidance charges for extra counseling
The Harrison County Board of Commissioners Monday, Jan. 4, discussed an additional request of $1,663 from Carol A. Dawson, of EEO Guidance Inc., at their first regular meeting of 2010 at the courthouse in Corydon.
The board was somewhat surprised with the additional, since Dawson’s company was hired in September with an approved contract totaling just more than $16,000.
The board also hired EEO Guidance Inc. in October for nearly $9,000 to train all county employees on equal employment opportunity and the prevention of sexual harassment.
Legal counsel John E. Colin said the additional was ‘above and beyond’ the training sessions Dawson was hired to conduct at the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department after a court order stemming from Sheriff G. Michael Deatrick’s alleged sexual harassment case settlement.
The additional is a compilation of many bills from Dawson, which included payment for telephone conversations concerning policy with the jail commander, Nathan Simpson, officer (former chief) Eric Fischer and Deatrick, among others.
The commissioners then asked Colin if the additional is something that would fall under the contractual agreement with Dawson. Colin said Dawson was identified as the ‘go-to person for the jail’ and it would fall under the contract agreement and would be something the county is obligated to pay.
Colin also said the county could see more bills such as this one from Dawson, depending on how often the department uses her company’s services.
However, Fischer, who was present at the meeting, said he would have taken the contract to mean it was one lump sum for Dawson’s services.
‘It was never in the contract that ‘additional charges may come’,’ Fischer said.
Commissioner Carl (Buck) Mathes said he wanted to table the matter, but Auditor Pat Wolfe informed the board it had already been paid through a claim in November.
The board then passed to the county council the additional, to be taken out of the riverboat gaming contingency fund, to replenish the training line.
