A former Marion County road foreman has been fined $2,000 and issued a public letter of reprimand by the Arkansas Ethics Commission for violations of state ethics law.
The five-member commission found that Art Sasser of Yellville violated state law by using his county position to have his business haul dirt to the Marion County fairgrounds in exchange for a $4,500 payment from the county, commission Director Graham Sloan said in a letter dated Thursday to Sasser.
The act constitutes a violation of Arkansas Code Annotated 21-8-304 (a), commission Chairman Sharon Trusty said in a 10-page order in the case. Sasser's firm is Sasser Bulldozing.
In its Oct. 20 ruling, the commission also found that Sasser violated state law by using his county position to ensure that HD Paving LLC, which is owned by his son-in-law, was paid for work that it didn't perform on Federal Emergency Management Agency contracts, Sloan said in his letter to Sasser.
Marion County hired HD Paving LLC to perform several county road repair projects that were partially funded by FEMA. Sasser's son-in-law, James Hutcheson, is co-owner of the company, Trusty said in the commission's order.
HD Paving LLC submitted bills totaling about $5,380 to the county, supposedly for rock hauled from the county quarry, but Marion County's County Judge Terry Ott later discovered that there were no rocks hauled to the jobs, Trusty said. The county paid the bills at Sasser's insistence, Trusty said.
The payments to HD Paving LLC for work it did not perform constitute a special privilege or exemption under state law, and Sasser's actions constitute a violation of Arkansas Code 21-8-304 (a), according to Trusty's letter.
Sloan said Sasser's $2,000 fine is due in the commission's office no later than Dec. 2. Sasser hasn't paid his fine yet, Sloan said Friday.
Sasser could not be reached for comment Friday. A telephone number for him listed under directory assistance is no longer in service.
Sasser didn't appear at the commission's hearing Oct. 20, Trusty said in the order.
In October 2016, the commission sanctioned Ott for a violation of ethics law, fined him and gave him a public letter of reprimand. At that time, Sloan said the commission found that Ott used or attempted to use his official position to secure special privileges or exemptions for people covered under that law with regard to hiring Sasser or his trucking company to haul dirt to the fairgrounds.
Metro on 11/04/2017