A resignation and a number of other measures aimed at improved operations in the Washington County Road Department may help resolve long-running controversy there.
Dan Short, who has been County Judge Marilyn Edwards' chief of staff for more than six years, resigned last week.
In a letter to Edwards, Short wrote that he had realized that he was "failing" the judge and said it was time to take himself out of the work force.
He also informed department heads of his decision by e-mail. Short thanked the county employees for their assistance and hard work but he also relayed this thought:
"I hope this move will be the catalyst for Judge Edwards to overcome the strife she has been facing in the recent past."
He was referring of course to the recent controversy over how some Washington County bridges were built and steps to improve their safety as well as the safety of future bridges.
A recent internal investigation concluded that "an organizational failure" in the Road Department is at the root of deficiencies in three bridges.
Short, as chief of staff, was the one to whom the county Road Department reported.
Although the state constitution puts road responsibility in the county judge's hands, Edwards had delegated much of that work to Short, who relied on reports from the supervisors within the department to know what was going on there.
She trusted him. Short trusted the supervisors, who maybe weren't aware of or weren't as forthcoming as they should have been about issues in their department and with the bridges.
Otherwise, why would these problems have come to light the way they did?
When reports of deficiencies in the bridges surfaced last year, they certainly seemed to be politically inspired.
A video showed Edwards' opponent in the county judge's race pulling rebar by hand from concrete in one of the bridges. The 11th-hour revelation didn't affect the 2014 election, but the criticism was eventually heard.
It was a serious allegation that deserved close scrutiny. But it apparently didn't get the immediate look it should have from inside the county administration.
Instead, the county tried to get someone else to get to the bottom of the matter as it also found itself in court being sued by current and former employees of the Road Department over work-related issues.
The court cases are still pending and won't be resolved any time soon.
Meanwhile, Washington County couldn't find any outsider -- not the local prosecutor nor state attorney general nor state highway department nor state auditors -- willing to investigate.
That's what led to the internal investigation, which some argue really should have been undertaken much sooner by Edwards or by Short in his assigned oversight of the Road Department.
So Short's resignation might provide the kind of catalyst he suggested, allowing Edwards to move on.
For the record, there were going to be changes in management of the Road Department whether or not he resigned. And Edwards was already taking a more direct hand in moving past the controversy.
Earlier this month, Eva Madison, a member of the Washington County Quorum Court; Russell Hill, the county assessor; and Carl Gales, a volunteer consultant, released a report based on interviews they did with past and current Road Department members.
The report, requested by Edwards and the Quorum Court, includes hundreds of pages of transcripts from the interviews, which Edwards has said she continues to review.
Nevertheless, she and the county's human resources director, Lindsi Huffaker, reported progress to the Quorum Court last week.
The county has already advertised for a temporary bridge supervisor who would work with county crews under an engineering firm's supervision.
The county will also bid for outside help in bridge construction, revive an employee-run safety committee and address questions about favoritism and retaliation by overhauling the department's structure -- all in direct response to the internal investigation and its revelations.
BRENDA BLAGG IS A FREELANCE COLUMNIST AND LONGTIME JOURNALIST IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS.
Commentary on 05/23/2015