Henry Co. Supervisors accept IT Director’s resignation, shift oversight amid FOIA tensions

MT. PLEASANT — Henry County supervisors accepted the resignation of IT and Safety Director Derek Wellington after weeks of friction over public records access. The board also voted to pull the county’s technology department under its direct control.

Supervisor Chair Marc Lindeen opened the discussion of Wellington’s resignation at the Oct. 9 meeting at the Henry County Courthouse. The resignation letter, dated Sept. 29, was delivered to the board shortly after the Oct. 2 Board of Supervisors’ meeting, according to Supervisor Steve Detrick. Detrick also expressed concern about the time between the letter’s date and the board’s receipt.

“I think it is important to let everybody know as soon as possible what’s going on,” Supervisor Chad White said.

Supervisors spent nearly 10 minutes discussing Wellington’s departure, questioning what county property had been returned and whether his accrued vacation was being properly handled.

“Another couple of questions and concerns that I have are assets,” Detrick said. “My understanding is a few years ago … there are some assets that we have recovered — about six or seven thousand dollars. We need to make sure that we capture those assets.”

He also specifically addressed the topic of vacation time with rough estimates of how much time he knew Wellington had already been on vacation and compared that to how much vacation he ought to have. The supervisors concluded they would take a closer look at this and consider any comp time he had as part of a due process.

Supervisors ultimately voted unanimously to accept the resignation and to transition the IT budget and reporting line of the IT Director and department in the future from the auditor’s office directly to the Board of Supervisors. All of the specifics for this transition will still need to be hashed out.

Detrick did say he had consulted with ISAC attorneys and the county’s outside IT advisory group, adding that “the long-term plan should be for us to create a line of supervision where the IT manager reports to the board.”

This change follows public tension at the Sept. 25 board meeting, when Supervisors White and Detrick raised concerns that Wellington had served them with Freedom of Information Act requests. White told colleagues his county-issued computer had stopped sending or receiving email earlier that month and that Wellington had asked him to leave it at the auditor’s office for inspection.

“I’m not embarrassed about anything that’s on that computer,” he said.

White then went on, during the public meeting, to explain to his fellow board members that he had concerns about handing his computer over to Wellington to fix email issues after he made a FOIA request specifically for emails from him and Detrick.

White stated that his concerns stemmed from a worry that private communications from county employees and residents could be exposed.

“Some of it I feel is confidential, given to me in confidence,” he said. “If I give that up, [he] has full administrative rights to that computer.”

At that Sept. 25 meeting, White told his colleagues he had advocated for making IT a stand-alone department his entire time on the board.

“With nearly a half million dollar budget, give or take, it should be a county department that stands alone … that answers back to the board as a department head,” he said.

Just a few weeks later, the Oct. 9 vote effectively put that structure in motion.

As of mid-October, the county had not yet named an interim IT administrator. Supervisors said the restructuring aims to improve transparency and accountability in managing county systems and to close out lingering questions about equipment control and data access following Wellington’s departure.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Kruse@southeastiowaunion.com