Beaufort Co. fire chief admits violating ethics law; department paid for wife’s insurance
A Beaufort County fire chief admitted that he violated state ethics law after the fire department paid for his wife’s insurance for over a year.
On Dec. 21, the S.C. State Ethics Commission found that Sheldon Fire Chief Buddy Jones violated 16 counts of ethics law after he approved payments for insurance premiums for his wife, who was a suspended department employee at the time.
“It was done inadvertently,” Jones said in an interview. “I made the mistake. I didn’t do that right. It was paid back.”
His wife reimbursed the Sheldon Fire District $11,000 for the payments on Jan. 8, 2019, according to a consent order.
Diane Jones was a district firefighter, but she was suspended in March 2017 after she was arrested on charges of providing alcohol to minors. She later pleaded guilty to the charge and resigned in October 2018.
Previously, Diane Jones’ health insurance premiums were deducted from her paycheck. During her suspension, however, when she wasn’t being paid, her insurance premiums were still being paid.
Chief Jones was in charge of signing every check in the department, including the ones that paid his wife’s insurance premiums. That continued for 16 months and amounted to $11,000, according to documents.
The payments stopped after an ethics complaint was filed with the commission in July 2018.
Last week, the commission issued a public reprimand and fined Chief Jones $1,800. He said he has paid the fine.
Retired, rehired
Another allegation in the complaint, found to be unsubstantiated, related to Chief Jones’ retirement on Jan. 31, 2018. He was rehired to his old job 30 days later.
Some state employees can retire, wait 30 days to be re-hired and receive salary and retirement benefit at the same time.
The complaint alleged this was improper because the the chairman of the Sheldon Fire District Board, Wayne Blankenship, met with Jones in secret eight days before the board held a public vote to re-instate him.
Blankenship told the Beaufort Gazette in 2019 that he didn’t remember the date of the meeting, nor whether it was publicized or minutes kept.
He told a reporter that Jones kept his job because he had known him a long time and that the department had been running well.
Said Jones: “There was no evidence found.
“I have full faith in my board,” he said. “I’ve been upfront with this thing.”
