La Plata, MD – A civil lawsuit against two sitting Charles County Commissioners for misuse of county vehicles will move forward after a decision Thursday, Oct. 23 by visiting Circuit Court Judge William D. Missouri in Charles County Circuit Court not to dismiss the case.
Charles County resident Pauleen Brewer, who her attorney Kurt W. Wolfgang called, “the brave person who brought this suit,” is asking for the monetary value of misuse of county-owned vehicles be returned to the county, representing mileage, wear and tear and fuel usage.
Michael Rand, representing Charles County Commissioners Reuben Collins II and Debra Davis—neither of whom were present in the courtroom—asked Missouri to dismiss the suit.
“Ms. Brewer lacks standing to bring this suit,” Rand argued. “Our position is that county policy allows for personal use and may be used for business outside of the county. Commissioner Collins is about to not be a commissioner,” he added, alluding to Collins’ loss in the primary election race for commissioner president.
Collins stopped using a county vehicle “sometime in 2014,” Rand stated.
“The fact that he may not be a commissioner in the future, he is at this time,” Missouri noted.
Wolfgang asserted that county policy established by previous boards clearly delineated that county-owned vehicles were not to be driven for private use or for personal business use or taken outside of the county. He argued that wear and tear on the vehicles, gas and mileage were all funded at the expense of Charles County taxpayers during a time when property taxes in the county continued to rise.
“As I understand it, these two individuals drove their county-owned vehicles outside of the jurisdiction where they were not authorized to drive those vehicles,” Missouri said. “How many times they had left the confines of Charles County? Is that sufficient to say they went on a frolic?”
“There will be evidence of that abuse and it does not need to be in this complaint,” Wolfgang stated.
“To me, using them for business purposes is more onerous than a frolic,” the judge said.
Wolfgang said that his client’s case “is about specific allegations against officials of Charles County who misused the property of the county and then failed to report that use to the Internal Revenue Service when they filed their taxes. It will cost taxpayers in the future,” he argued.
“We rely on policy for our basis of facts incorporated by references,” Rand countered.
Missouri ruled that there was a potential for a tax increase based upon the misuse of the vehicles.
“Policy states that county owned vehicles are not supposed to be driven outside of the county,” Missouri said. “There are limits to that. For those reasons I deny the motion to dismiss.”
The three-day trial is set for April 20. The judge will hear the case with no jury.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com