BENTONVILLE — County employees will be asked to resist the temptation to text on the job.
County Judge Bob Clinard said he plans to ask administrators and department heads to remind employees county time and cell phones shouldn’t be used for personal business, including texting.
Clinard said he wants to head off a potential problem, one that came to mind when questions were asked about cell phone use by the Benton County Election Commission staff. A review of those records showed no problems, Clinard said. But while looking at other records he saw some use of county cell phones for text messaging that raised questions.
BY THE NUMBERS
County Cell Phone Use
Benton County has more than 650 employees and has 224 cell phone numbers on its accounts. Not all of the numbers are active. The county clerk’s office has 33 cell phone numbers assigned to it, while the assessor’s office has 27 cell phone numbers assigned to it. The county judge’s office has 13 numbers assigned to it, with at least three of the numbers still listed as assigned to former employees.
Source: Benton County
“There were some accounts where there were a number of text messages being sent,” Clinard said. “I saw one where there were 10 or 15 text messages sent in about 10 minutes, all to the same number. If you need to talk to someone that much, pick up the phone and call them.”
Richard McComas, county comptroller, said he reviewed Election Commission cell phone accounts and concluded the phones were not being used improperly.
McComas said there were some spikes in cell phone use, but the commission has a number of cell phones it provides poll workers around election time, and in the fall the commission bought and used some air cards to connect laptop computers.
Amy Huston, county election coordinator, said the air cards were used to test the use of electronic poll books. Huston said the air cards have been deactivated. McComas said the county shouldn’t be charged for the air cards again until they are used.
County Clerk Tena O’Brien said her office has a large number of cell phone accounts assigned to it, but few are active accounts. Most of the numbers are for the phones used by poll workers.
O’Brien said when the county first began buying cell phones for poll workers, they were put under the clerk’s budget because former County Clerk Mary Lou Slinkard kept the phones in the clerk’s office. O’Brien said she has asked the cell phone accounts be transferred to the Election Commission budget since the phones are now kept at the commission office.
Clinard said he is not aware of any serious problems with employees using county cell phones for personal business. He said he wants to avoid problems by reminding employees county-issued equipment is meant for use on county business.
“If it’s business-related, fine, “ Clinard said. “If it’s not, keep it to a minimum. People need to limit their personal calls and texting. Every business, if they’re good, is going to remind their employees once in a while. We’re in the public eye and we’re accountable to the public and we need to know that.”