MORRISTOWN (11/02/06) – Call it a one-two-three punch. Dana Wefer, one of three Democratic candidates for freeholder, today ripped into the Morris County Freeholder Board for the slipshod system it has for monitoring the use of cell phones by county employees, particularly those in executive positions.

For Wefer it was the third time in the last week of the campaign that she has taken the freeholders to task for wasteful, insensitive to taxpayer spending.

The earlier issues this week involved criticism of the freeholders who accept free health insurance for part time work at a cost of some $50,000 a year; and a demand that the freeholders return $12,000 in campaign contributions they received from the president of the company that maintains the county voting machines, prints the ballots and assists in tallying votes.

She called the practice of freeholders accepting financial contributions from companies doing business with the county disgraceful and another clear case of "pay to play."

Today’s "third punch" was her charge concerning sloppy and negligent oversight in the use of county cell phones by county employees.

Wefer said in the intensive research she has been conducting concerning how the county spends money she became confused about the use of cell phones and requested what she felt was routine information on how many employees have county subsidized cell phones and how many employees have their own cell phones but whose bills are in part subsidized by the county.

"I was shocked to find that there is no hard record for this information," she said. "I cannot believe that there is no system in place to keep track of how much money is being spent by the county on cell phones for employees," Wefer said.

"The county could not give me information on how much money was spent on cell phones last year because it does not keep track of that information. Instead, they gave me a survey that was taken last year of various departments and how many cell phones each one has.

Wefer contends there is no way to tell how accurate the data is since it seems the survey was conducted so informally. She pointed out what she termed "common sense" areas of opportunity to properly monitor cell phone policy.

The Superintendent of elections had 10 cell phones last year with the justification being employees have to keep in touch with onsite technicians during the election. Wefer argues that this is a prime example of why the cell phone policy needs to be revamped.

"Couldn't they just purchase disposable cell phones for the weeks when elections are held?" Wefer questioned. "Was it really necessary to have 10 cell phones year round, just so they can be contacted a few nights a year?" The cost for each phone runs about $35 a month, she said.

"The same imprudent policy exists for the Youth Shelter which had nine cell phones; Weights and Measures had 10 and the Engineering Department had 16.

Wefer proposed that instead of contracting for cell phones the county should explore using prepaid phones for many of these departments. "Since many of these phones are for emergencies and on-call personnel, prepaid phones would help the county maintain a better track system of how much money is being spent on cell phones and it would save taxpayers a significant amount of money since they would only be paying for what is actually used.

Wefer is making her second run for Freeholder after an impressive showing last year. She is the lone female candidate in a field of six. Her two running mates are Mine Hill Mayor Rich Leary and Chatham Township Councilman Jack Hartford. Democrats are widely regarded as having an unprecedented opportunity to win seats on the currently all Republican Freeholder Board.