Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper wants multiple agencies to investigate the West Virginia Water Development Authority's decision to keep paying a board member who missed board meetings for nearly five years.
Robert F. Hatfield, who lives in Hurricane, was removed from the water board last week. The state paid Hatfield $58,300, even though he last took part in a board meeting in August 2011, payroll records show.
Water agency executives and Hatfield's lawyer said Hatfield has been in "poor health."
"He should not have been allowed to stay on a board that he never participated on," Carper said. "They shouldn't allow someone to accept public funds and do nothing."
This week, Carper sent letters about the matter to Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's office, the legislative auditor, acting state auditor Lisa Hopkins and Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney Charles Miller.
Hatfield's term on the board officially expired in June 2012, but he stayed on the agency payroll until last week. Water agency board members receive a $12,000 annual salary paid in $500 installments every two weeks. The payments were deposited electronically into Hatfield's bank account, according to the Auditor's Office.
"That money is not insignificant to taxpayers," Carper said. "These are public funds, and if the man couldn't attend board meetings, it was their responsibility to put an end to this."
Board members typically attend four meetings a year. The Water Development Authority finances water and sewer projects across West Virginia.
Water board officials have said state law required that Hatfield be paid until the governor appointed a replacement. Agency employees said they tried to contact Hatfield over the years but never heard back.
"It's no excuse that this happened. None whatsoever," Carper said. "If they put him in this untenable situation, then shame on them."
In 2001, then-Gov. Bob Wise appointed Hatfield to the seven-member water board. Afterward, Gov. Joe Manchin, now the senior U.S. senator from West Virginia, reappointed Hatfield. That term ended in 2012, but Hatfield stayed on the board until last week.
Hatfield, who represented Putnam County in the state Senate and House of Delegates in the 1970s, donated to Tomblin's and Manchin's gubernatorial campaigns.
Earlier this year, Jarrett ordered a wiretapping sweep of the Water Development Authority's office, amid allegations of ethics violations and secret recordings. Charleston police conducted the search for hidden devices at the agency's headquarters building on Bullitt Street. No wiretaps were found.
In past years, the agency had claimed it had "limited funds" and balked at requests to finance projects in Kanawha County and elsewhere, Carper said.
The water agency's decision to pay a no-show board member contributes to the public's perception that government officials are wasting taxpayer dollars, he said.
"People have little faith in their public institutions when they see things like this," Carper said.
Reach Eric Eyre at ericeyre@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4869 or follow @ericeyre on Twitter.