In a grievance hearing held by the Mississippi County Quorum Court's personnel committee on Oct. 28, former landfill deputy director Cathey Byrd said that she felt she was terminated from her position because she "knew too much," and had talked to the Arkansas State Police regarding their ongoing investigation into county landfill spending.
Byrd was represented at the hearing by Angela Byrd, an attorney from Conway; while County Judge Randy Carney and landfill director Nathan Taylor were represented by Jason Owens, an attorney with Rainwater, Holt, and Sexton of Little Rock.
Byrd, who was dismissed in September with no reasons given other than "services no longer needed," gave extended testimony regarding issues that she felt were either illegal or unethical in Taylor's operation of the county landfill. The entire transcript of the hearing, which was obtained by the CN through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, is available on the CN's website.
Byrd and Taylor both testified, but the hearing was shut down in the middle of Taylor's testimony by justices who felt that Taylor should consult an attorney before continuing. Following the hearing, Byrd was offered reinstatement of her job. Carney told the CN on Friday, Nov. 6 that Byrd would be returning to work on Monday, but according to the county's office of financial management, Byrd still has not returned to work as of Wednesday afternoon.
While she was in charge of handling most of the landfill's paperwork, records, and billing, Byrd said that she never saw or handled invoices from Hollister Industrial, which was used by the landfill to do most of its major equipment repair. In 2014 alone, the county spent over $580,000 with Hollister alone for repairs, but Byrd said that she was very seldom privy to those exchanges, that they went directly to the courthouse for approval by Carney or Taylor.
"In the beginning, I got a few of them, but in the end, I didn't get any of them, or the last three or four years...they got sent directly to the courthouse...I'd get a call [from the courthouse] every once in a while and ask me what this was for, and I didn't have an idea...I'd tell them they would have to call Nathan, because I never seen the bill," she said.
Also in connection to Hollister, Byrd testified that the county would often pay employee Mike Mosley, brother of Hollister owner Rick Mosley, overtime hours to spend "weeks at a time" in Missouri with his brother, while equipment was repaired.
After Mosley's trips to Hollister, Byrd testified that Taylor would always "have a bunch of money."
Byrd said that two years ago, she was called to a meeting of the court's sanitation committee and questioned by justices about Mike Mosley's employment at the landfill, and that after the meeting was over, she was told by Taylor that she was no longer to attend any meetings unless given approval by himself or Carney.
"It was a sanitation meeting, and I was called to remind Nathan to be there, so I told him, but then he told me that he wasn't going to be there because he was fixing to leave to go on vacation, he was going to Nashville...so I was asked if I could be there to represent the landfill...when I got there, it was like I was on trial, and they were asking me questions about things like, one was: what did Mike Mosley do and what was his position, and what had I seen him do, and and anything ever left the landfill, but I felt like - and the money was put in their pocket, like something taken away, some type of - something done, and it not - the money go back into the county, that it was put into their pocket, and I had to answer 'yes,' because I am an honest person...I didn't go thinking I would be put in that position, but I was put in that position, and I just knew, because I did that, that I would be fired, because I was honest, because there are some things that I seen that...I didn't feel was right," she said.
Byrd said that after the meeting, as well as the following day, she was confronted by Taylor, who had not gone on vacation after all. She said that Nathan told her he should fire her, but did nothing, only began to treat her badly at work.
Byrd mentioned several instances in which she knew that scrap metal had been taken from the landfill and sold, without the money being processed through the county books. On some occassions, Taylor later confirmed that the money was given to him in cash or in a check made out to him in order to pay for meals for the landfill employees, but others were not so clearly defined.
"There was scrap metal that left and was put - I believe put in people's pocket. Now, actually, did I see any money? No. Did people tell me about - you know - for instance, there was a gentleman, his mother died, and he needed help with the funeral...Nathan told him to come out there and get a load of scrap metal and then, you know, he would give him some of the money. It was - he said it - this is hearsay...he said it was about $400, and he [Taylor] gave him $40, after he came out there, loaded it up, and I know that's wrong on his part, too, but he took it off, and all he got out of it was $40. The rest of it went to Nathan," she said.
Other instances, she said, Taylor told the employees the money he took was for meals, but that they didn't get many meals.
"One of them, as a matter of fact, I spent out of my pocket, and he said he would give it back to me, but I never got it. I paid for it, out of my pocket, and, well, I know he got in trouble one time for it, and he had us put the money in petty cash, but he came and got it, $10, $20 at a time, until it was all gone," she said.
Byrd added that she was told by a driver with Knight's disposal that he had been asked to carry off a load of scrap metal worth over $1,000, that the check was made out to Taylor.
She said that Taylor took a camera owned by the landfill and said he had replaced it with a new one using a county card, but that she knew the old camera had been returned instead, in the box for the new one; and that Taylor bought a coffeepot with the county card which he later took home, and possibly an air conditioning unit.
Under cross-examination by Owens, Byrd said that Taylor had also recently fired landfill employees James Branum, Doug Freeman and Randy Hilburn, and that she didn't feel any of them had been treated fairly.
She told Owens and the committee that she had not previously reported any of the things she'd observed, because she felt she wouldn't be heard by Carney, who had visited her office and told her that she should understand that Taylor was doing a good job. Byrd and her attorney said that she should not discuss with the committee any of the things that she told the Arkansas State Police, as that could interfere with their ongoing investigation.
During his testimony, Taylor said that he had fired Byrd because of the way she handled a situation in which landfill employee Will Allen sustained an injury at work, and also because she inadvertently left a truck in neutral, which caused some damage to a road grader.
Byrd's testimony states that when Allen was hurt, Taylor was in Jonesboro and she handled the situation by asking twice if an ambulance should be called, then arranging for other employees to take Allen to the hospital when he said an ambulance wasn't needed.
Taylor said that he did not write Byrd up for either of these offenses, nor did he speak to her about them. It was a full two weeks after the day of both of these incidents that he fired her, saying only that he no longer needed her services. He told Byrd's attorney that he had just needed "time to think about it."
Regarding the meeting Byrd attended two years ago, which Taylor missed because he said he was on vacation, Taylor told attorneys that he could not remember what happened or where he was on that day.
Testifying about money taken from scrap sales, Taylor said that he had never taken money for himself, but was unclear on details.
"The only thing is when we had a barbecue...which the Judge participated, we would have a barbecue, that's how we would get the money...the last time...was after I think we tore this building down over here by the courthouse, and I gave them all the money...I don't remember what year it was...I gave the money to the county, to the Judge...it [check payment for the scrap] would either be made out to the county, or if there was going to be a barbecue or something, then it would be made out to that person...whoever sold the metal. Me, I took the money from that demo job, and gave it to the judge, it was cash...when we did that building right here and when we tore the health department down," he said.
It was after the second mention of a demolition and money transfer that Justice Bill Nelson asked if the committee could take a timeout to further consult with attorneys.
As of Tuesday evening according to the county office of financial management, Taylor is on unpaid leave but being allowed to use vacation days, and has until Nov. 16 to resign or be issued a letter of termination by Carney.
The full transcript is available here : http://www.blythevillecourier.com/publication/byrd-grievance-hearing
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