Melton reinstated as highway superintendent

County highway superintendent Greg Melton was reinstated following a nearly three-week unpaid suspension as a result of more than a million dollars in unpaid claims for the department.

Initial coverage by The Owen News last month included a long-existing precedent of holding bridge claims until the property tax installment could cover the bill. When removing 2025 claims and bridge claims, the total for unpaid claims was $237,848.41.

Melton's reinstatement was discussed in an April 11 executive session and then the decision from the executive session was the only agenda item for a special meeting later that day.

It was discussed again during the public comment portion of the April 17 meeting.

"We are still conducting research, as well as an investigation," Commissioners President Sam Hobbs said.

He said that the State Board of Accounts (SBOA) would be there in April for both a routine audit of 2023 and financials and to look at the highway department claims, finances and contracts per Owen County's request.

"It's going to be extensive, and it's going to be expensive," Hobbs said. "I made a commitment.

I said to everybody in meetings that we're not going to let this go. I'm not going to let it go.

Greg Melton is guilty of things that he did and did wrong. He admitted it.

Greg's not the only guilty person. When the State Board of Accounts gets done and they turn in their report, we'll cross that bridge when we get there, but rest assured, there's going to be some people, and probably some people, maybe in this room or listening that's not going to like what happens.

I don't care who you are, what your position is elected, appointed, janitor, stuff like that. They will not like what is coming.

This issue of highway stuff has been going on for a long time. This is not a six-month, eight-month deal."

Hobbs promised it would all eventually be made public. "It's going to be public because the public has a right to know.

I don't want to hide anything. I'm not going to hide anything," he said.

Hobbs added, "There's more than Greg Melton involved in what's coming. The chips are going to fall where they may.

And I've said it over and over. I'm going to keep saying it over and over.

If there's weeds that need to be pulled, they're going to be pulled. Soon."

He likened the county's current financial position to the deficit from a few years ago. He referenced a meeting at the fairgrounds where a plan was developed.

"Might as well shove that in the toilet because it didn't happen," Hobbs said. "So now we're back to another round of issues that can't continue for Owen County because it's not fair to the taxpayers."

County Council President Polly Chesser spoke up. "I want to correct you a little bit, because when I came on, that was when they had that we were six months away from going bankrupt, and we did the hard things, and we got it back on track.

So this is totally different than that," Chesser said.

"It doesn't make any difference," Hobbs said, adding that parts of the plan were skipped, which in his opinion should not have been skipped. "This may be different, but it is still a debt."

One resident asked if previous commissioners are involved, would there be any retroactive activity for what went wrong. "I hate that you asked that question," Hobbs said before explaining.

"If it turns criminal, yes… I will state this, and I'm probably going to get a phone call. It seems to me that it's okay to be unethical and immoral all you want.

There is no justice for it." Hobbs said mistakes happen and nobody is perfect.

"But there's some things that are not mistakes. Some things have been done on purpose.

That's what we have to find out," he said. Currently, all invoices for the highway department go through the auditor's office.

Hobbs also cited issues of not knowing how large orders of materials were divided. He said that documentation or some sort of documentation as to where it is supposed to go should be included with the claim.

"Because if you're not a budget person, and you don't know line items and stuff like that, it's easy to get confused," Hobbs said. "If you're not looking at your cash balance, if you don't know what your cash balances are and you keep spending, you rob Peter to pay Paul.

Then you rob Paul to pay James. Now Peter and Paul are both broke….

It's become a domino effect, plus other things that's involved, but that'll all come out in the wash. It will."

Hobbs said that he does not have a timeline for when the SBOA audit would be complete. It was said that the previous mandatory audit from SBOA cost the county $50,000

Highway department assistant superintendent Chad Walker did not receive extra pay during Melton's suspension. He said his job is to step up when the superintendent is not there and that it is part of his job.

Melton's suspension coincided with the major flooding event the first weekend in April. When asked if Melton would receive back pay for the duration of his suspension, Hobbs responded, "He was suspended without pay.

When you're suspended without pay, that means you don't get paid."