CLINTON OFFICIALS IN HOT “WATER”
A pair of government officials in Clinton, South Carolina are in hot water for filling their private swimming pool with H20 from a fire hydrant – and then allegedly creating a paper trail two months later to cover up their improper use of government resources.
Michael Addison, who is third in command of the city of Clinton’s public safety department, and his wife Amanda Addison – the executive assistant to Clinton’s city manager – are accused of filling their pool with water from a fire hydrant on May 27 of this year.
Two months later – in late July – an invoice dated June 22 was brought to the attention of Clinton’s city manager, Dale Satterfield. That document charged Michael Addison $119.64 – $15 for the first 1,000 gallons of water used to fill his pool and $104.64 cents for the remaining 16,000 gallons.
As indicated below, that’s a rate of $0.00654 per gallon.
Take a look …
(Click to view)
(Pic: Provided)
Late last month, on July 25, a cash payment in that amount was recorded by the city’s utility billing department as having been received from Amanda Addison.
Here’s the receipt for that payment …
(Click to view)
(Pic: Provided)
Why do we care about a $120 expense that was ultimately reimbursed?
Ordinarily, we wouldn’t …
In this case, though, we’re told city officials manipulated official payment records to create a false paper trail – all part of an effort to keep the Addisons out of trouble after they were caught filling their pool with city water. In fact we’re told the June 22 invoice wasn’t actually prepared – or sent – until late July (two months after the pool was filled).
“(The invoice) wasn’t even brought to the attention of the city manager until late July,” a source close to city government told us.
Uh-oh …
“People found out about what they did and were pissed because the city’s water rates just went up,” our source added. “So they tried to cover their tracks.”
Stay tuned …
Again, we don’t especially care about the $120. Every taxpayer cent matters to us, of course, but in the grand scheme of things that would be the definition of petty embezzlement.
We care very much, however, about allegations that public officials doctored records in an effort to get themselves out of a jam.
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