Highway Engineer Hires Son at $22/Hr. Despite $328,000 Deficit in Last Audit
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[With a $328,068 deficit hanging over the Perry County Unit Road District (Statement of Revenues & Expenditures 2010 Audit), department engineer Doug Bishop says he has found room in his budget to hire his son Stephen Bishop, 23, as an assistant foreman at $22/hour.
The fiscal arrogance extends to making two part-time members of the summer workforce fulltime employees at $22.80/hour at the behest of Perry County Board of Commissioners chairman Bobby Kelly. Laborer Donnie Decker was an employee of Kelly's sawmill and Shannon Hirsch is the son of retired Perry County Clerk Don Hirsch, who married Kelly's mother after the death of his first wife.
Kelly is said to have asked Bishop if he could "find room" in his budget to give the two men fulltime jobs in a county highway department that now employs 24, including Doug Bishop.
Bishop hired the three men without benefit of a formal vote by members of the Perry County Board-Kelly, Jim Epplin and Sam Robb. He relies on a 40-year-old Illinois Attorney General's opinion which says the unit road district superintendent oversees his own personnel.
Cynics would say there's an unspoken appearance that one hand washed the other on the backs of taxpayers and other office holders, who continue to work under-staffed.
The hiring of Stephen Bishop, according to his father, fills a foreman position which has been vacant for about four years, about the time the controversial unit road district was approved by voters and fully established.
"I don't get paid for it, but I keep track of all the overtime I put in," Bishop told the newspaper. "It was something like 1050 hours last year," he said. "I think I am up to around 850 hours this year," he said. Bishop is paid $94.800 and allowed up to $7,000 in expenses as the department head. "When (foreman) Ruben Davis is off I have to be the foreman on top of this job," Bishop said.
"I can't keep doing this."
Bishop's son, Stephen, is a graduate of the engineering school at SIU-C and is a professional engineer, but had not found a job outside Perry County's own political circle. His father describes his role as that of an assistant foreman, not an assistant engineer.
Bishop advertised for the position in the Du Quoin Evening Call in May, but substantially narrowed the pool of applicants in preferring that anyone interested have engineering experience. Bishop said there were three applicants and he chose his son.
"I wouldn't have hired these men without talking to board members," he said. He said he talked to Kelly and Epplin. He did not discuss the matter with board member Sam Robb, who has never gotten along with Bishop. "I did extend the olive branch to Mr. Robb this week," said Bishop. The highway engineer said he collated reports on where the road district stands, its projects and goals and put them into Robb's hands this week.
Skeptics broach the subject of simply promoting someone already on the payroll into the position. The payroll is large. It includes: laborer Mark Benson, laborer Michael Hawkins, laborer Rodney Chapman, laborer Gilbert Helvey, laborer Leonard Heisner, Jr., office employee Elizabeth Lipe, laborer Jeff Brocaille, parttime engineer Charles Rainwater, laborer Wayne Tedder, laborer Kevin Restoff, laborer Daniel Cashion, laborer Dwight Bigham, laborer Rerry Rheineker, laborer James Waller, laborer Charles Woodside, foreman Ruben Davis, laborer Mario Dolce, laborer Randy Farthing, parttime clerical employee Deorah Vuichard, and parttime laborer Jeff Shute.
Doug Bishop says the reason for the highway department's large deficit last year was the cost of snow removal and equipment purchases. He said those costs were over $120,000.
The payroll changes because of the three men will cost the road district upwards of $150,000,
Bishop said he is projecting a surplus of $250,000 this year and has a reserve of $1.2 million from the consolidation that he is trying to protect.
Perry County voters tried to undo their earlier vote on changing from the township road district system the unit road district through an advisory referendum-which passed-seeking a legislative remedy from the Illinois General Assembly. Rep. Mike Bost carried it to the General Assembly. It was a quick death because any change in the law would open the door to undo unit road districts in other counties.