Missing: One welder to match inventory

A welding machine never worth more than $300 has been identified as one listed at a value of more than $2,000 for at least five years and for perhaps as long as 20, according to Johnson County Precinct 4 Commissioner Don Beeson, and no one appears to know why.
“The [more valuable] welder was not here when we got here,” Beeson said.
He was elected to serve Precinct 4 in 2006 and began his tenure in January 2007. Among the first duties of new Road Supervisor Mike Powell, now the sheriff’s office chief deputy, was to perform an independent precinct inventory.
“He brought to my attention that there was a welder in the inventory valued at $2,000, but this item was not in our property,” Beeson said. “Instead, we had a welder carrying its property tag commonly valued at $300.”
The actual value of the welder, Powell told the Burleson Star, may have been about $150.
The practice of the county is to provide a property tag for each item in an inventory. The cheaper welder had tag number 186150259, which should have been on an item of greater value, Beeson said.
But because no one is quite sure of the whereabouts of the more valuable welder, Beeson asked commissioners to approve removal of it from inventory last week. He offered photo evidence supporting the claim. There was no discussion by the court and the request received unanimous approval.
Beeson claims to have been “elaborate” in attempting to get the item removed, or at least the discrepancy corrected. Beeson further claims to have never signed a form to indicate the welder was in the precinct’s property, “because it was never here,” he said.
Troy Thompson, who has served for almost a year as the appointed Precinct 2 commissioner, was the Precinct 4 commissioner prior to Beeson’s election, but not at the time the welder was purchased. The Keene Star placed a call to his office Monday that was not returned. It is not clear that the more valuable welder ever existed.
According to a Precinct 4 inventory, provided to the Keene Star by Beeson, a Lincoln welder valued at $2,001.75 was purchased by the county on March 9, 1992.
“It’s listed on the inventory as a $2,000 welder. Most of us know you can go to Home Depot and buy that welder for $300,” Beeson said. “It was on our inventory when we first started, and we’ve been trying to get it off our inventory ever since.”
The presentation to commissioner’s court last week came about two months after County Auditor J.R. “Kirk” Kirkpatrick says he first learned of the estimated $1,700 discrepancy between the value of property on the precinct’s asset inventory and the actual value of the product in inventory.
“[Beeson] doesn’t have what we say he has,” Kirkpatrick said. “Rightfully so, he says we need to get our inventory current.”
The county auditor’s office also has no explanation as to how the discrepancy happened, he said, but it has led to asking “some logical questions.”
“I’m absolutely concerned about the assets of the county,” Kirkpatrick said. “It appears a law has been broken. We’re not looking at a missing welder, we have one. We’re looking at a welder that is not what it is supposed to be. The description doesn’t match the product.”
Although Kirkpatrick’s office had not been involved in investigating the reason a welder valued at $2,001.75 is indeed one of $300 or less, the purchasing office was, according to Powell. He said he first alerted the purchasing office to the discrepancy in 2007, and that under Beeson those requests were reiterated.
Texas Rangers investigator Jason Bobo looked into the matter, Beeson said. He visited the Precinct 4 maintenance facility to see the welder in possession of the county and attempted to identify the purchaser of the product, along with the last time it was confirmed to have been in property, Beeson said.
“That is not a $2,000 Lincoln welder. That’s a $300 Lincoln welder,” Beeson said. “So, we don’t need it showing on inventory as a $2,000 welder.”
Sheriff Bob Alford confirmed an investigation took place and findings have been turned over to the district attorney’s office, he said.
It was around that time that Bobo also looked into a Precinct 4 desk. Half of the desk has been in the possession of the county, being used at the Precinct 4 maintenance facility. The other half of the desk is still being held in the purchasing warehouse with yellow tape identifying it as a “restricted area.” It is unclear whether a crime was committed involving the desk.
In fact, the desk was missing and appeared one day at the purchasing office. The circumstances surrounding its return are unclear, Alford said.
“I don’t know anything about it,” Alford said.
The Keene Star has spoken with the man who built the desk, who said it was made with county materials.