911 Director Questions Clerk Over April Election Charge

Crawford County 911 Director Brad England questioned commissioners and clerk John Martin on June 11 over a $16,000 charge the board received for the April election.

England said he was asked by the 911 board to figure out why the cost was so much higher than the last time they received an election invoice.

“Why are we paying rent for machines the county owns?” England asked. “We are taking taxpayer money and giving it to the clerk’s office or commission. We’re paying for machines that look like to us they are paid for. For lack of a better term, it looks like a profit.”

Martin told England that every taxing entity that puts something on a ballot pays for it, except the commission. The cost is shared among all the entities.

“There is depreciation,” Martin said, adding that the county uses the money for maintenance and for future ballot machines.

“We have maintenance yearly. They have to be cleaned, the film has to be taken out and run through to get the ink off so we don’t have ballot misreads,” he said.

Martin said the expenses are allowable by the secretary of state’s office. He also offered a payment plan.

England said the county may be allowed to charge expenses, but wondered if it should.

Martin replied that 911 was offered an opportunity to take an issue off the ballot, but it wasn’t done.

“You were in multiple precincts and had multiple costs,” he said. “There are eight machines used and all eight are rented out every election. Every election they are paid for by everybody. You had a preponderance of ballots.”

Martin said it’s not just the machines that entities pay for, but also ballots and programming. He called it the “cost of doing business.”

He also explained that two years ago, entities weren’t paying to use county equipment. With the county being broke, it was decided there was a need to put money back in case the machines broke.

“(911) hasn’t had anything on the ballot since then,” Martin said.

England said he understood, but asked again if the county should charge.

“The cost of things goes up,” Martin said. 

For future purposes, England requested a breakdown of all the charges associated with elections so that 911 can budget better.

“We have to know how much this is going to cost,” he said.

England told county officials that a 911 board member expressed that if he knew how much it would cost to run, he wouldn’t have done it.

“That’s telling people that maybe we shouldn’t run for this position,” he said.

“I’m sorry that’s his frame of mind,” Martin said.

911 Staff

England prefaced his next issue by saying that he wasn’t trying to “pick on” Martin, but he had to address a comment made in a commission meeting.

“One of the reasons I took this job was to defend my team,” he said. “A couple weeks ago, a comment was made that my dispatch team sits there and all they do is answer phones.”

Martin told England he did not make that comment and not to attribute it to him.

“I didn’t say that,” he said. “I have a pretty good idea of what goes on at your office. I know it’s busy all the time. I wouldn’t say any office staff just picks up phones. I take a little bit of offense to that if you’re attributing it to me.”