A former Marion County road foreman was found to have violated state law by using his position to have his business haul dirt to the Marion County Fairgrounds in exchange for payment. According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Art Sasser of Yellville was fined $2,000 and issued a public letter of reprimand by the Arkansas Ethics Commission.
Commission Director Graham Sloan wrote in a letter dated Thursday the five-member commission found Sasser received a $4,500 payment for his firm, Sasser Bulldozing, to haul the dirt to the fairgrounds in Summit while he was serving as the road foreman.
The commission also determined Sasser violated state law by using his county position to ensure his son-in-law James Hutcheson’s business, HD Paving, LLC, was paid for work it didn’t perform on Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) contracts. Marion County hired HD Paving to perform several county road repair projects partially funded by FEMA. HD Paving submitted bills totaling over $5,300 to the county for rock to be hauled from the county quarry, but Marion County Judge Terry Ott later discovered no rocks had been hauled to the jobs. The payments to HD Paving for work it allegedly didn’t perform constitute a special privilege or exemption under state law.
Ott was fined $250 and given a public letter of reprimand over a year ago after hiring Sasser’s trucking company to haul dirt to the Marion County Fairgrounds.
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