Cardin questions money Slater received for services

Lesli Bales-Sherrod

Disgruntled with Commissioner Otto Slater's recent move to slash commissioners' pay in half, Commissioner Dennis Cardin charged Slater with taking almost $52,000 from the county for services rendered as a maxillofacial surgeon.

"There's nothing illegal about that, and I don't even believe it's a conflict (of interest)," Cardin said in a telephone interview Thursday. "I just wanted people to know that he's trying to cut our pay and stuff, but he's making money off the county."

Cardin voiced the issue at Tuesday's budget workshop, stunning Slater. Chairman Robert Ramsey allowed Slater to respond and then put an end to the discussion.

"This stops now," Ramsey said. "If you have grievances with other commissioners, take them outside."

Slater explained in a telephone interview Thursday that he is a preferred provider with Highlands, the third-party insurer for employees of Blount County as well as employees of Blount Memorial Hospital and the cities of Maryville and Alcoa.

"I have provided emergency and elective surgeries on many such employees or their spouses or their children over the years, and I have been reimbursed by Highlands per the terms of that employee's coverage," Slater said. "This is identical to my relationship with Blue Cross, TennCare and many other insurance providers."

Slater added that he never has faced any vote on any issue regarding insurance where he would have a conflict of interest because of his relationship with Highlands.

Work on inmates

Cardin also asked Slater whether he had done any dental work for the Blount County Sheriff's Office.

Slater said he has, on rare occasions, seen inmates for emergency treatment when he was on facial-trauma call at Blount Memorial, but that he has not billed the county for any of these services since he has been a commissioner.

"I have an ethical obligation to treat those in need when I am assigned on-call duty, (but) I have provided these services at no charge because I want to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest," Slater said.

Slater added he had done some work for the sheriff's office before he was elected to the commission, but that he had discussed potential conflicts of interest with Norm Newton, attorney for County Mayor Beverley Woodruff, and had asked the sheriff's office not to send him any more inmates once he became a commissioner.

Money trail

Cardin said he got his information from the Blount County Human Resources Department. Human Resources Director Betsy Cunningham confirmed Thursday that her office had gotten the information for Cardin.

Slater and his partner received $51,984.79 from Health Cost Solutions, the county's third-party administrator, from all available dates -- probably two years' worth of claims -- to March 21, 2005, according to Health Cost Solutions Accounts Manager Charlotte Harkness. Of that amount, $17,301.70 went specifically to Slater.

Cunningham noted Cardin did not ask for information on Ramsey, who is a dentist, but at a request by The Daily Times, Cunningham got that information from Harkness as well.

Ramsey received $10,765.94 for the same time period.

"I have never felt like it was a conflict of interest to have patients who are employees of the county," said Ramsey, who has been a dentist 30 years and a commissioner 15. "Any patients we've ever had have come without any direction from county government. They subscribe to my services voluntarily. I'm not on any kind of list."

Cunningham confirmed that.

"Our employees can go to any dentist they want to," she explained. "There are no preferred providers on the dental side."

The difference is that Slater, as an maxillofacial surgeon, is considered a doctor as well as a dentist. Therefore, the $52,000 Slater and his partner were reimbursed was through the county's medical insurance, which pays 90 percent of the bill when county employees utilize doctors on the Highlands network.

"If my partner and I pulled out of Highlands, there would be no oral or maxillofacial surgeons on the plan, which would deny our community at times emergently needed medical care," Slater said.

Although Slater and his partner are the only two maxillofacial surgeons on the Highlands network, county employees have two other networks from which they can choose as well, Cunningham said.

Regardless of which network county employees choose, Health Cost Solutions pays and processes all of the county's medical and dental claims, she added.

Additional dollars were paid to Slater under the county's dental plan, but Harkness did not have that amount available by press time Friday.

Conflict of interest?

According to County Technical Assistance Service's County Government Handbook, "a conflict of interest exists if a county officer or employee is required to supervise or vote on a contract in which he or she has some kind of investment or concern."

A direct conflict of interest is prohibited, while an indirect conflict may be allowed if it is disclosed, the handbook says.

County Government Consultant Ron Woody said Friday it is not clear "based on the facts before us right now" whether the issue with Slater constitutes a conflict of interest. He listed several issues that could play a part in determining that.

"Generally, the county attorney will make that opinion," Woody said.

Newton could not be reached for comment Friday.

Meanwhile, the commission does not have a code of ethics, Clerk Roy Crawford said Thursday, but Ramsey said this "might be a good time" to work on one, noting the state legislature passed tougher ethics laws this year.

However, Ramsey said Cardin's issue Tuesday was "just a knee-jerk response against Dr. Slater's attempt to cut the salary."

Salary cuts key

Cardin confirmed Thursday that Slater's move to cut commissioners' pay from $900 a month to $450 a month next year was the impetus behind his inquiry.

"I'm certainly not going to vote for cutting my salary," he said.

Slater called Cardin's "misconstruing these facts" an attempt to discredit Slater's opposition to the commissioners' June 2003 pay raise, which increased their monthly salaries from $300 to $900, and his recent attempt to cut that pay in half.

"It is embarrassing to me that someone would try to besmirch my name publicly," Slater said. "Nonetheless, I am steeled in my resolve to restore the commissioners' pay to a reasonable level. This won't sway me."

Slater and Commissioner Donna Dowdy, both of whom voted against the pay increase, tried to restore commissioners' salaries to $300 per month last year, but could not gather enough support.

Slater proposed in March what he called a compromise: cutting the commissioners' pay in half to make up for projected budget shortfalls, with savings going toward the county's insurance fund.

Slater arrived at the $450, he said, by taking the base $300 from the last pay raise and adding cost-of-living increases applied to general fund employees over the same years.

His motion to cut the pay passed the budget committee unanimously April 11, but Slater said Thursday he does not know whether the proposal will pass the full commission when it votes on the budget Tuesday.

"I am absolutely convinced that this is the right thing to do," he said. "If I'm going to be attacked personally and publicly on my stance against the pay raise, so be it. It's still the right thing to do."

If the budget does not receive the 11 votes necessary to pass Tuesday, further action on it could be postponed until July, Ramsey said. If that happens, the new financial management committee, which replaces the budget committee July 1, would have an opportunity to mold the budget before the commission sees it again.

In that case, Slater and the other three commissioners who serve on the budget committee would be out of the picture. The new financial management committee is comprised of Commissioners David Graham, Bob Kidd, Kenneth Melton and Mike Walker, as well as the county mayor, Director of Schools Alvin Hord and Highway Superintendent Bill Dunlap.

The commission meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Room 430 of the Blount County Courthouse.