07-17-2018 Supervisor Scearce Statement7-17-2018
Supervisor Scearce’s Statement
“I have served on the Social Services Board, which has direct administrative control over our
local Department of Social Services (DSS) for well over a year now. I thought that that
organization was running smoothly until February of this year, when I began to receive specific
allegations from numerous current and former employees (13 on each side of current & former
employees to be specific), and I thought these allegations were significant enough to warrant an
independent investigation. So far, every effort to initiate this independent investigation has been
stonewalled by some members of the Social Services Board and even by Mr. Fisk, the attorney
of record for DSS.
If you want to get a clear picture of what those allegations are, I would urge you to follow the
social media accounts of Vic Ingram and Henry Hurt. Mr. Ingram and Mr. Hurt have detailed
almost every allegation that was presented to me by interviewing and corroborating directly with
the people that had the courage to come forward.
I would also urge everyone to review the recent assessment that was performed by the
Commissioner of DSS. If you take the time to dig through that glowing report where only 80%
of the employees responded to the Commissioner's monkey survey, you will find that 20% of
those that responded felt there was low morale, 26% did not feel valued, 35% felt there was no
support from co-workers or leadership, 40% felt there were no job advancement opportunities
and that positions were filled by a pre-selected process. Finally, only 44% of these respondents
spoke favorably of our local department. Makes you wonder what the 20% that would not
participate in this survey could have said. More importantly in this assessment, State required
benchmarks were not met in two critical areas, Medical Assistance and Child Protective Services
(CPS) response time limits.
I had thought that the appointment of new members to the Social Services Board would have
changed the dynamics of that board and allowed us to take a step in providing true oversight to
that entity. Unfortunately, the same leadership that was unable or unwilling to move forward to
investigate this situation in the previous board was reinstated last night and I do not have
confidence in their leadership.
I have tried to work within the constraints of this board since the beginning of this mess, and
after last night's theatrics where the husband of the director of DSS "allegedly" threatened and
verbally assaulted a county resident, I have reached my wits end. I am hereby requesting that we
schedule a closed session to discuss dissolving the current Social Services Board and moving
management and oversight to a local government official in our next board meeting. I would also
like to schedule a public meeting afterwards where we vote on a resolution to make these
changes.
As a Christian and an US Air Force veteran where the core tenets of that organization, Integrity,
Honor, Service Before Self were drilled into my being over a 22 year career, I think I have an
innate ability to recognize a corrupt situation when I see one. I have served in some of the most
austere and hostile environments in this world while being shot at, mortared, along with the
occasional rocket sent my way. I don't say this to boast but to tell you I have served under fire,
and my integrity or my ability to make sound decisions has never been called into question. Until
now.”