Questions about how many hours a week Sam Alton — a top aide to ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell — works at outside jobs still are up in the air, and not even in the mail.
Three north ºüÀêÊÓƵ County cities, which all receive legal advice from Alton himself, have given different responses to Missouri Sunshine Law records requests for monthly invoices by the Post-Dispatch.
The responses can be described thusly:
One city claims it can’t find the invoices.
Another city wants a month to provide the records.
A third has not even responded in any manner to the request.
And while the cities search for records, a member of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Council said he plans to continue looking closer at the county’s policy on moonlighting.
People are also reading…
Councilman Dennis Hancock, R-3rd District, said he wants to insure that county employees are not “double-dipping.â€
“We want to assure the taxpayers that they’re getting their money’s worth,†he said at a council committee Tuesday.
The situation began to brew in November, when Alton was questioned at a County Council budget hearing about his outside employment.
At that time, Alton said his workload outside of serving as Bell’s chief of staff — a job he has held for five years — was “less than three†hours a week.
Although he has worked for as many as eight municipalities at once while serving as Bell’s chief of staff, Alton now is paid by three cities: Bellerive Acres, Breckenridge Hills and Pagedale.
But the short hours of work Alton claims have not been short on income.
During Alton’s five years on the county payroll, he has been paid $674,012 in salary. In that same time, he has earned at least $776,500 from his municipal side jobs.
As to chasing down records related to Alton’s outside work:
On Jan. 8, the Post-Dispatch requested copies of Alton’s monthly invoices — to see if they specified the billable hours submitted by Alton — from the three cities.
By Jan. 10, the cities — on Alton’s recommendation — refused to release the records, claiming they were not subject to disclosure under state law.
The next week, in an interview with the Post-Dispatch, Alton agreed that the billable hours very well could be subject to the Sunshine Law. All three cities were notified of that decision Jan. 18.
Lois Sampson-Hooker, city clerk of Pagedale, has not replied to any of four emails sent after the Jan. 10 record request.
Sheree Leaman, Breckenridge Hills clerk, replied on Jan. 24 that her email system had been broken and she also had a personal emergency.
On that same date, Jan. 24, Alton wrote the Post-Dispatch and said Leaman estimated that she could have the invoices ready by Feb. 24. He also said the charge would be $26 an hour.
Alton has not yet responded to questions from the Post-Dispatch about the high per-hour charge, compared to the rate charged by other cities.
And in Bellerive Acres, city clerk Deletra Hudson said in an email on Monday she was unable to find any invoices submitted by Alton.
“I am new to the City of Bellerive Acres and unfortunately have not been able to locate an archived vendor file with monthly invoices,†Hudson wrote the P-D on Monday.
One person, apparently, that Hudson has not contacted about finding Bellerive Acres’ invoices is Alderwoman Maureen Roach, who served as acting city clerk for two months this summer, until Hudson was hired.
“Mr. Alton sent in monthly bills, with specific information about his hours and what he worked on,†Roach said. “I know because I saw them.â€
Roach said that as an alderman, bills to pay Alton have been on every monthly meeting’s agenda since he started with the city.
Along with the County Council’s Hancock, Roach also has questioned Alton’s estimate that he works less than three hours a week for his municipal clients.
Hudson, who has worked for Bellerive Acres since September, has been in municipal finances for more than 20 years and once was the city manager of East ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
Previously, Hudson had been the city clerk in Jennings, where Alton previously served as city attorney. Both she and Alton quit their Jennings positions in August after battling with Mayor Gary Johnson.
Recently, Hudson was named in a lawsuit in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Circuit Court in regards to her past work as city clerk of Pine Lawn. Four aldermen sued her and some other city officials for not making records available.
On the county front, Hancock said he will continue to pursue the matter, and has asked Council Chair Shalonda Webb, D-4th Ward, to schedule another meeting.
He said county employees should have a system similar to that of the county police officers, which keeps track of all outside employment for its officers.
Hancock said that because the county ordinances do not prohibit outside employment, he would look at the possibility of limiting or banning outside work by high-paid officials and also do a better job of monitoring the outside work of all employees.
He also felt confident that such changes would be approved by the County Council.
“What elected official,†he said, “is opposed to open government?â€