Commission chair: Mayor needs to choose between travel supplement, vehicle

Anderson County Commission Chairman Chuck Fritts continued to insist Monday that Mayor Terry Frank should either accept a $400-per-month travel supplement or use a county car—but not do both, as he alleges she has.

The $4,800-per-year salary supplement is offered in place of the mayor using a county car, a 1998 Ford Crown Victoria, Fritts said in an e-mail after Frank’s Monday morning press conference.

During her press conference, Frank said Fritts has accused her of taking advantage of taxpayers by using a county car and accepting travel payments. She said she hasn’t driven the county car.

But Fritts questioned that statement.

“I have seen her in this car, other folks within the courthouse told me they have seen her in this car, and a member of the media informed me that they had folks tell them that they had seen her being driven around in this car,” Fritts said. “With this, you need to do one or the other: take (the) supplement or use (the) car.”

Fritts also disputed some of Frank’s other allegations, including a claim that he has submitted 32 requests for travel reimbursement.

“No request of reimbursements have ever been submitted by me since the 11 years I’ve been in office,” Fritts said. “Everything I do is handled through our law director and our chief deputy.”

Reimbursement requests have been legal and followed county policy, Fritts said.

He said the county mayor “thrives on divisiveness and conflict” when working with the Anderson County Commission, and her remarks have been misleading and “documented non-truths.”

He denied that he had a “hidden agenda” and future political ambitions.

“I was elected to a bipartisan position, and I try to represent the citizens of Anderson County accordingly,” Fritts said. “I was elected to represent the citizens of District 1 and not to ‘rubber stamp’ anything our mayor wants to do.”

During her press conference at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton, Frank said she could drive the county car without violating the law. She said she has not requested any travel reimbursement, even though she would be eligible to ask for reimbursement for more than 1,800 miles.

She said the travel supplement was added to the mayor’s salary in 1988 under former Anderson County Mayor David Bolling, and Fritts hasn’t asked any other mayor to refund taxpayer money that they requested for travel reimbursement. And, the mayor said, Fritts voted in favor of a salary increase under Iwanski that was designed to help the former interim mayor cover personal vehicle expenses.

“There is one accusation that will never stick, and that is that I would abuse your tax dollars for my own personal enrichment,” Frank said.