County Employee Fired After Her Campaign

— Washington County officials fired an employee the day she returned from an unsuccessful attempt to be elected county clerk.

“I was trying to better myself and my family and everything. Now it’s the total opposite,” said Ann Upton.

Upton, a Democrat, lost to her opponent Republican Becky Lewallen in this month’s election. Upton, a help desk technician for the county’s Information Technology Department, said she was shocked about her firing after returning Tuesday from a five-month, unpaid leave of absence to campaign.

“Ann was not terminated because she ran for political office,” said John Adams, information technology director and Upton’s supervisor.

At A Glance

Washington County’s Policy On Background Checks

-The Quorum Court adopted in August a policy requiring a background check on newly hired staff, such as credit history, federal and multistate criminal history, and checks on listed references.

-Before August, each county-elected official had their own policies about background checks, according to the Human Resources Department. Only applicants working for the sheriff or at the Juvenile Detention Center required criminal background checks.

Source: Staff Report

Instead, Upton and Adams said she was fired because of a phone call she made in October to a co-worker about the arrest of Allen Bryant, a database administrator who sat next to Upton. She said she was concerned about Bryant on the day of his arrest.

“I honestly did not believe it myself,” Upton said. “I just asked her if it was him and she didn’t know.”

Adams, however, said during that conversation Upton asked the employee to seek public circuit court records about Bryant.

Upton denied asking for any document during that conversation. She said she would have gone to the Circuit Clerk’s Office herself to seek public information.

“If you want to go better yourself, I want you to do so,” Adams said. “All I ask is you don’t do anything illegal, unethical, immoral and in violation of our policies.”

The county hired Upton 13 years ago last Friday, according to her personnel file. She authorized the county to release the file Wednesday after a Freedom of Information request.

Upton spent most of her time at the county working for the Department of Emergency Management and started working for former County Judge Jerry Hunton’s office.

Upton’s file is filled with multiple certificates of education from a variety of local, state and federal agencies concerning areas, such as storm spotting, hazardous material operations and computer administration. It also contains performance evaluations dating back to 2000 that mostly showed she met or exceeded expectations from the emergency department and Hunton’s office.

The file included a written reprimand from Adams dated June 15, and Upton’s final termination notice dated Tuesday. Upton’s file contains four redacted statements about her written by co-workers, including Bryant and the employee who spoke with Upton in October, she said.

Adams said those statements were written after complaints. Upton said she did not know those statements, including Bryant’s statement, were in her file.

Police arrested Bryant, 47, on Oct. 26 in connection with failure to register as a sex offender and comply with reporting requirements, according to a Springdale Police news release. Bryant was convicted in 1993 in Riverside County, Calif., for a lewd act with a child under the age of 14, said Lt. Kevin Lewis of the Police Department.

Springdale investigators could not make contact with Bryant at his registered home on Midland Avenue in Springdale from June 16 through Sept. 25, according to circuit court records.

Bryant told investigators in mid-August he was living at the Springdale address during a six-month verification of residency required by state law.

He was arrested after Springdale investigators placed a tracking device on his car from Oct. 12 through Oct. 20. The device indicated Bryant spent every night in Bella Vista, police said.

Assessor Jeff Williams said he hired Bryant. Bryant was hired May 31, 2011, said Lindsi Huffaker, human resources director.

The position was created by the Quorum Court earlier that year at the request of Williams to help with new computer systems installed in his office.

Bryant was hired before the Quorum Court approved a new policy in August requiring background checks on applicants.

Bryant’s pay is funded from Williams’ budget, however, he is supervised by Adams’ department overseen by County Judge Marilyn Edwards.

Upton took a political leave of absence four days after her June 15 reprimand for what Adams claimed to be campaigning on company time and involving other employees in her campaigns. She refutes Adams’ claims in that document.

Bryant’s statement said Upton approached him on three occasions to speak with Dan Cypert, Williams’ opponent in November. Williams also said he was approached by Bryant to report Upton’s request.

Upton said Bryant’s statements were untrue. She said she gave him Cypert’s phone number because Bryant was concerned whether Cypert would keep the database administrator position if he won the election.

“So when I found it was that easy to get written up for campaigning, then decided I needed to take a political leave of absence,” Upton said.

Upton attended several campaign events with Cypert. Last month, Upton’s husband took photos of Williams and his county vehicle at campaign events. Those photos led to a complaint filed to the state Ethics Commission by Tyler Clark, chairman of the Washington County Democratic Central Committee.

Williams said Wednesday he had nothing to do with Upton’s termination. He also said he would wait until Bryant’s judicial proceedings to conclude before he make a decision about keeping Bryant on his payroll.

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