Republican Madison County Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler announced that he was putting his aides Doug Hulme and Rob Dorman on paid administrative leave while an independent third party reviews allegations that they spied on internal emails and breached data.
“I believe this is the best course of action to achieve a fair result, provide due process for the employees, and protect the county against future lawsuits,” Prenzler said in a press release.
He announced the move Wednesday prior to the regularly scheduled Madison County Board meeting, where personnel issues were to be discussed in executive session.
Prenzler said he first met with sheriff’s detectives regarding the allegations before making the decision to put his top aides on leave.
He said the allegations against Hulme and Dorman have been “thoroughly investigated for two years, and no charges were filed.”
He called it a disciplinary matter, and the third party review would be done “within the boundaries of the existing policies and procedures of the Madison County Board.”
“Discipline of these county employees is the prerogative of the Madison County Board Chairman,” Prenzler stated. “Discharge of administrative employees requires the consent of two parties … the Chairman and the County Board.”
A special meeting of the county board scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday (today) was set up earlier in the week for the specific purpose of discussing Hulme and Dorman.
While Madison County Democrats are demanding more action in light of the recently revealed allegations against Hulme and Dorman, Republican county board members are holding their fire for now.
On Tuesday, Ray Wesley (R-Alton), who also is the county's GOP chair, Tom McRae (R-Bethalto), David Michael (R-Highland) and Mike Walters (R-Godfrey) issued a joint press release expressing disappointment over the allegations against Hulme and Dorman. They called for the special meeting so that the full board could discuss the situation.
Wesley said he would reserve comment on the action Prenzler took in placing Hulme and Dorman on leave, until after Thursday's special meeting.
After affidavits for search warrants were unsealed last week relating to the two-year public corruption probe that officially ended in January, Madison County Democrats began calling for the firing of Hulme and Dorman.
On Thursday, they “applauded” Prenzler’s move to place Hulme and Dorman on administrative leave, but demanded stronger measures. Their press release states that additional actions are needed “to prevent further breaches of data privacy."
However, no charges have been filed in the case.
“This is just step one – putting these people on leave,” stated Madison County Board Chairman candidate Bob Daiber (D-Marine). “The next step is putting strict procedures in place to ensure this never happens again.”
Daiber questioned the validity of the independent review.
“Given that Prenzler has taken no action for nearly two years during the investigations, I am concerned whether this will be a truly independent review and whether Chairman Prenzler will take responsibility for his role in this scandal. However, while that review is ongoing, the County needs to move quickly to change county policies to put in safeguards to protect the data privacy of the citizens of this county,” Daiber stated in the press release.
Board members Mike Parkinson (D-Granite City) and Chris Hankins (D-Pontoon Beach) made the following proposals:
- Remove the power of the IT Department to access emails.
- Only use software that can provide an audit trail of every search or request of the county’s network and provide a report on all such activities on a monthly basis to the county board.
- Require bids for all IT work in excess of $5,000 and require that all multi-year contracts require two-thirds consent of the county board.
- Hire a security consultant to review the system and install firewalls to strictly limit access to county emails and seal off those requiring a higher level of confidentiality.