Greg Melton suspended amid claim concerns

Past commissioners approved payments for this year

Highway Superintendent Greg Melton was suspended without pay on Saturday, March 22, amid concerns over unpaid and held claims for the department.

Those unpaid claims total $1,037,985.59, according to a spreadsheet shared by County Auditor Sheila Reeves.

Commissioner President Sam Hobbs first confirmed the suspension last week.

“It is a personnel issue, of course, and we’re under the advisement of our attorney to follow certain protocol, which we’re doing to the max,” he said. “He is suspended. He has not been terminated. We’re conducting a thorough fact-finding.”

Hobbs expressed multiple times that no theft or other criminal activity had occurred.

“I will put out there boldly… no money has been stolen. It’s not like there has been a theft of money,” Hobbs said. “I want people to understand that right now. It’s not a thing about stolen money… I don’t want anybody accusing Greg or saying that Greg Melton stole money from the county highway. That would be a false statement.”

Then, earlier this week, Hobbs shared additional details about the budgetary issue they were looking into.

“We’ve uncovered numerous unpaid invoices,” Hobbs said, adding that the majority were from 2024.

According to the spreadsheet of unpaid claims from Reeves, $296,504.11 of the claims are from 2024, with the oldest dating back to April 2024. That claim, which is for $1,495.70, is for storm damage repairs to bridge number 52 by CLR, Inc.

“We are still actively looking for some answers. We’re going to leave no stone unturned,” Hobbs said. “It’s easy to say that everything is one person’s fault. As of right now, I don’t believe that is the case. … I think there’s a whole scenario of things that we’re still digging into and uncovering.”

Hobbs said that Melton will have an opportunity to share his side of what happened at the April 17 commissioners meeting.

“I think he has the right to defend himself,” Hobbs said. “We’re giving him that right to speak his mind.”

Hobbs reiterated that Melton has not been terminated and he believes it is important for Melton to have a chance to share his side.

“I want the guy to have a chance to speak,” Hobbs said.

As of press time, Hobbs once again confirmed that the fact-finding is not a criminal investigation, but rather an internal investigation to which they’ve asked for assistance from the State Board of Accounts.

The list of unpaid claims, dates and vendors include: 

• Oct. 22, 2024 – Evergreen, $141,873.67 for multiple stone invoices.
• April 10, 2024 – CLR, Inc., $1,495.70 for storm damage to bridge #52.
• Oct. 14, 2024 – CLR, Inc., $28,440, with an original bill of $228,440, and $200,000 scheduled to be paid on April 4, 2025.
• Jan. 27, 2025 – CLR, Inc., $192,960 for completion bridge #106.
• Oct. 7, 2024 – CLR, Inc., $28,720 for completion bridge #114.
• Feb. 28, 2025 – Caterpillar, $3,031.50 for late fee-lease payment. 
• Nov. 18, 2024 – Milestone, $55,151.82 for surface. 
• Nov. 18, 2024 – Milestone, $31,441.66 for surface.
• Dec. 17, 2024 – Palmer Trucks, $502.80 for plow parts.
• Feb. 26, 2025 – E 3 Bridge, $103,018.95 for material.
• March 19, 2025 – United Consulting, $10,428.03 for bridge inventory.
• March 26, 2025 – Vestis, $539.53 for uniforms.
• Sept. 12, 2024 – Southeastern Equipment, $8,878.46 for multiple unpaid months - lease rentals. 
• March 26, 2025 – Premier Energy, $2,798.72 for fuel. 
• Jan. 10, 2025 – Frye Towing, $2,344 for claims January and February. 
• Feb. 4, 2025 – Vomac Truck, $555.34 *four other claims paid Feb. 19, 2024 to Jan. 7, 2025.
• April 4, 2025 – Vomac Truck, $337,131.67 for est. new truck lease, first pay 2026. 
• March 14, 2025 – Spencer Hardware, $24.98 for lumber.
• March 27, 2025 – Lincoln Park Stone, $76,390.48 for multiple loads March 5 to March 27.
• March 24, 2025 – Seal Master, $3,037.50 for heated hose machine.
• March 1, 2025 – Menards, $676 for shelf.
• March 19, 2025 – Bedford, $410.09 for office supplies.
• March 5, 2025 – Napa, $4,360.68 for multiple claims.
• March 24, 2025 – Kaden Shaw, $200 for Chevy driver side door.
• March 12, 2025 – Rural King, $2,981.68 for tanks, meters and filters.
• March 4, 2025 – Walmart, $86.12 for office supplies.
• March 4, 2025 – Office Depot, $76.21 for office supplies. 
• March 27, 2025 – REMC, $430, past due one month. 

Hobbs said he does not count the 2025 claims, as many of them are new. In fact, $741,481.48 of the claims have a 2025 invoice date.

He said they are still looking into 2023 and prior.

“This is going to take some time,” Hobbs said. “We’ve had the highway office staff contact every vendor that we use, every one of them, and search to see if we had any outstanding invoices for them.”

Hobbs also addressed rumors surrounding layoffs and said that none are planned at this time for full-time employees. However, part-time and seasonal employees will not be working for at least the next 30 to 60 days.

Currently, Deputy Superintendent Chad Walker is leading the department.

Hobbs also addressed that the cleaning of the highway department’s garage and shop was a coincidence with discovering the unpaid claims and Melton’s suspension. Melton and Highway Liaison Commissioner Dave Risk also confirmed this.

Hobbs said that road repairs and the work for the $1.5 million community crossings grant that the county received are the focus of the department.

“We’re going to make those repairs,” Hobbs said. “I don’t want the taxpayers to think that we’re going to let them down.”

Adding, “I appreciate the vendors for working with us,” and, “I don’t like it at all that we’re in this situation.”

Melton confirmed his suspension.

“I was suspended last Saturday. I was not given a reason. They did not comment. I was told to start with, I was suspended for two weeks, now indefinitely,” he said. “I feel like I have done absolutely nothing that I wasn’t told to do.”

He cited a long history of the county building bridges in the late fall or early winter and paying for them in the spring once the bridge fund received the spring settlement. The bridge fund is one of the few property tax-dependent highway department funds, while other funds rely on fuel taxes, vehicle registrations and wheel taxes.

When asked about this history, former commissioner Joel Lowe said, “That’s fact.”

“We agreed to pay, we had some ARPA funds that we were going to use, as well as bridge funds from 2025 into repairing bridges in 2024,” Lowe said. “They went ahead and did the work in 2024, but they were going to invoice in 2025. We as commissioners – me, Bob Curry, and Gary Burton – agreed to that.”

He said that he believes that it is only the bridge fund that is without funds, which the commissioners knew would be the case in 2024 when approving bridge work.

“I supported all of this at the time, with the highway superintendent, Gary Burton and Bob Curry, that we would take ARPA funds and [the] bridge fund and pay for the critical bridges, which we were going to have to close or not even use them at all. We agreed to this,” Lowe said. “We all agreed to let CLR fix our critical bridges in the fall of 2024. We were going to use ARPA funds to pay for those, a portion, not all of it, but a portion, and then [the] bridge fund. That was going to wipe our bridge fund for 2025, which meant we’re not building any bridges in 2025. But having said that, most bridges were going to make it another year.”

He said that closing some of those bridges would stifle traffic and the plan was to pay them in 2025.

“The thing that troubles me the most is that the highway superintendent was held accountable for things that me, my fellow two commissioners and the county council were looking after,” Lowe said. “Greg [Melton] did everything he was asked to and voted on by commissioners, and he never took any actions into his own hands.”

Recordings of at least one previous commissioners meeting support this. During the Aug. 23, 2023 meeting, Melton brought up bridge 138, located on Sutton Road. During that meeting, the commissioners reviewed the plans and prepared the bid packet, including adding the approaches to that bid packet and all future ones.

“Commissioners, this bridge will be paid for out of [the] bridge fund, so there is not a question about funding,” Melton said, estimating the cost to be between $200,000 and $230,000.

Burton asked for the amount in the bridge fund.

Melton said he did not know it off the top of his head, “but this will come out, if it was the winter build, come out of next year’s.”

Burton acknowledged it, saying, “It’s fine Sheila if we’re going to roll it over to next year.”

“By the time we get our December [tax installment],” Burton began, before Melton finished, “It won’t be a problem.”

Bridge-related claims, regardless of year, total $365,062.68.

If you remove bridge claims and 2025 claims, the total number of unpaid claims from 2024 totals $237,848.41.

Burton did not return a request for a phone interview prior to press time.

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