Scioto County Commissioner Cathy Coleman says the fight over the fate of 79 vehicles formerly used by the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with protecting taxpayer money. She said it’s unfortunate if it appears to be political because it’s an election year but, “This investigation has been going on since October of 2018.”
Coleman is usually pretty quiet during County Commission meetings but she had plenty to say on Thursday about the vehicle saga that’s caused an ongoing feud between the sheriff’s office and the commission. She said she first noticed irregularities in the inventory back in October of 2018. “My first concern was all these vehicles at a place called Belford’s.” She said she was unfamiliar with Belford’s but knew that vehicles that were still in running condition are legally required to be insured. Her original goal was to find out how much the county was spending to insure the vehicles. In the process, she discovered that Belford’s was not a licensed and bonded salvage facility but rather property belonging to the family a deceased former deputy.
When Coleman spoke to his widow, she learned that some of the vehicles had been there for as long as 18 years. Coleman said that when she wanted to send appraisers out to look at the vehicles, Mr. Belford’s widow asked about storage fees. Commissioner Coleman said she pointed out there was no written contract for storing vehicles and was informed it was all verbal. “These things can’t be verbal because of liability issues.”
Commissioner Davis agreed. “We can’t do verbals. We get in trouble when we do verbals.” He said the commissioners have no idea what promises were made to the Belford’s and that the sheriff has been uncooperative in trying to settle the situation.
An audit revealed that there are 79 vehicles on the property. Many of which have been stripped. “Some of those cars, there’s nothing left. They’ve got trees growing out of them,” Davis said.
Coleman said the sheriff suggested just signing the titles over to the Belford’s. But she says it’s the duty of the commissioners to try to get as much money as they can for the taxpayers.
Coleman said that in the absence of a contract, they’ve turned their findings over to the state auditor to see what their next move should be. The commissioners have already been contacted by multiple licensed and bonded salvage dealers about the vehicles and say they plan to speak with even more once they get the okay to sell from the state. For liability purposes, Davis says it’s critical to deal with companies that are licensed, bonded, and insured.
“We’re at an impasse,” Davis said about dealing with the sheriff. “But this too shall pass. Unfortunately, it’s kind of like a kidney stone.”