December 8, 2016 – For the second time in a few weeks, County Collector Lydia McEvoy is taking heat for what one commissioner described as a “reckless” unilateral act – furnishing her cashiers with pocket book-sized canisters of pepper spray.
McEvoy said Tuesday afternoon that after a discussion with the sheriff she had already withdrawn the pepper spray and would address the issue at the commission’s Dec. 12 meeting.
McEvoy had already come under heat in mid-November for changing a card-reader on her department’s front door. On both occasions, she was criticized for acting on her own without consulting the county commission and other county departments.
“We’re supposed to work as a team but this is the second time in as many weeks I’ve had the collector make a unilateral action without even consulting this commission,” Eastern Commissioner Luann Ridgeway said. “State law is clear. The county commission has authority over all county buildings.”
Read the rest of this story in the Friday, December 9 issue of the Standard