Weill Demands City’s Fuelman Records

Kenya Hudson

Ward 1 Councilman Jeff Weill expressed frustration for having to file a FOIA request for financial information he considers vital to the council.

by Adam Lynch
December 9, 2009

Ward 1 Councilman Jeff Weill delivered an information request to the city of Jackson yesterday, asking for copies of all records of purchases made from or through Fuelman, the city's contracted fuel administrator. Weill's information request, which targets the time period between Nov. 1, 2008, and Nov. 30, 2009, includes requests for records reflecting the number of city employees who have access to Fuelman cards, the number of and type of exceptions or misuses that have occurred, and "to what extent manual key-ins were permitted" on the cards, meaning purchases made without the presentation of the actual card.

"The council made four specific recommendations to the administration to correct the Fuelman problem in 2008, and it's a year later, and I want the administration to tell us if they've implemented those simple, straightforward recommendations," Weill told the Jackson Free Press this morning.

Weill led an effort in December 2008 to begin a city-wide investigation related to reports of illegal gasoline and diesel fuel theft by city employees through the city's Fuelman gas accounts. A city audit initially discovered about 9,000 errors in Fuelman card transactions between July and October of 2008. At the time, council members complained that more than 80 percent of city employees with city-paid gas cards were not properly tracking odometer readings, and could be abusing the card and stealing gas from the city.

Weill pointed out that the city spent $4.6 million in fiscal year 2008-2009 on fuel, including police patrol vehicles—almost $90,000 a week, and feared the city, under then-Mayor Frank Melton, had exercised little accountability for those expenditures.

The issue reached a head last Monday, after Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. refused to turn over to the council a 1-year snapshot of Fuelman use for city employees. Weill demanded to know why the mayor's office was forcing him to file a Freedom of Information Act request when the city council is charged to allocate city money and needs to have all the relevant information to do so responsibly.

"I guess you are just going to have to get accustomed to how this mayor is going to run the city, and you are not going to be able to run it from Ward 1," Johnson answered, according to The Clarion-Ledger.

The city provided a list of Fuelman exceptions collected by department employees charged with cataloging Fuelman purchases to the council on Monday, city spokesman Chris Mims said today. The city reported 359 questionable transactions last month, down from about 500 in July.

"Those exceptions are the number of issues that have arisen, be it an incorrect odometer reading, or somebody not providing their receipt or any other concern raised," Mims said. "We have not found any evidence, since we have been in office, of fuel stealing or pilfering."

In February, then-chief Malcolm McMillin demoted former Deputy Chief Ron Sampson from deputy chief to lieutenant, and transferred Detective Earnest Perry, who was directly responsible under Sampson for overseeing Fuelman gas card usage for the department. At the time, McMillin said both men had violated city policy regarding Fuelman, though he never filed charges against them.

McMillin left the department and returned to his full-time job as Hinds County Sheriff during the municipal Democratic primary this spring. In July, Jeffrey Scott, a spokesperson for the police department, said that Interim Police Chief Tyrone Lewis considered the investigation into Perry and Sampson complete. Scott described the allegations of theft as "procedural errors" brought about by the inability of some gas retailer's facilities to accept Fuelman cards.

Mims said Police Chief Rebecca Coleman was reviewing the Fuelman allegations, however.

"Chief Coleman is taking a look at the status of that investigation," Mims said. "I don't believe any specific action in terms of personnel matters has been taken at this point."

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