HANCOCK COUNTY, Tenn. — Behind Hancock County's hills and valleys stands a mountain of problems outlined in an annual financial report from the Tennessee Comptroller.
The report is around 200 pages and includes budget revenues, suggestions on what corrections could be made and much more. Mark Treece, an audit manager, said the problems discussed in the report span across multiple departments.
"Most of the findings are related to internal control weaknesses and deficiencies," Treece said. "Problems with purchasing accounting records with the county mayor's office and also with the sheriff's department."
A few years ago, Mayor Thomas Harrison purchased a building. According to Treece, that building is rented as a commercial place to the Soil Conservation District. The county paid the expenses for the Soil Conservation District and according to state statutes, the mayor had a direct conflict of interest since he owned the building.
Because the county mayor could not be paid for services outside his duties, the report showed his wife collected rent money for the building from the county.
"It has been a finding for five years, not just last year for five years," Harrison said. "They asked me about it. I tell my county commission about it. But for some odd reason, it was a problem this year."
Mayor Harrison said that eliminating that conflict of interest would take time because Hancock County would need to build a new building before different government agencies may move to the new space and out of the one he owns.
Also, county officials did not file state prison and medical expense reimbursements, according to the financial report.
"We didn't lose anything," Harrison said. "But it did go 60 days that they weren't collected. Once we had the proper person in place, it repaired itself even before the end of the last fiscal year. We do everything to the best of our ability with the resources that we have, which are limited, and with the work staff that we have. "
Brad Brewer, the Hancock Co. Sheriff, said the report showed deficiencies with the commissary machine and segregation of duties. The sheriff said the underlying problem to those issues is staffing.
"The segregation of duties I have, and I'll continue to have, due to the fact that our finances or resources are not there — I don't have the resources financially to hire more office staff," Brewer said. "I'm more concerned about paying my employees a better wage than I am purchasing a commissary machine."
Both the mayor and sheriff said that these reports leave out one of the most important parts — the human element, and how in small counties each person wears many different hats to get by.
"We have a lot of good people here," Brewer said. "We have a lot of good employees that do a really good job."
Although the report lists a lot of problems in Hancock County, such as deficiencies in purchasing procedures, the mayor said some of those problems have been corrected.
The mayor said since Hancock Co. is so small, the workload is often split among just a few people. Leaders there said they're now working on making changes so they don't make the same mistakes again. The Hancock County Commission will talk about their next steps and work with the audit committee from the comptroller's office to keep them on track.
"I believe in the system, 100%. There has to be checks and balances, there has to be another set of eyes looking at everything we do, and we welcome that," Harrison said. "The audit doesn't always portray exactly the hard work and everything that goes into everything we do."