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County agrees to modify drug testing

By JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizen.com

The Fayette County Commission took the first step last week toward beefing up the accountability in its employee drug testing procedures.

Marshal’s Department head Ed Collins told the County Commission that he had been looking at the county’s procedures for drug testing and found two major problems.

First, the clinic that did the drug and alcohol testing, Fayette Minor Emergency, had stopped alcohol testing in 2004.

“Their machine is broken and they don’t seem interested in getting it fixed,” Collins said.

Commission Chairman Greg Dunn wondered why the county was just now being informed of the situation, but Collins could not comment on what happened before he took office.

The second problem Collins discovered was accountability.

“We don’t know if an employee ever went to get tested,” he said.

Collins suggested the random drug testing be generated through the Marshal’s Office. The office would inform the department head which employee needs to get tested, and receive a confirmation if the person got tested.

He also suggested the county take bids on new clinics or practitioners to conduct the testing.

Collins also said the county needed to also reexamine and put more applicants in the pool of who could get picked in the random testing.

“We want to make sure that anybody who drives a county vehicle could be part of that pool,” he said.

The county agreed with Collins’ findings and also approved $700 for a marshal to receive training on breath alcohol testing, so he could then teach other officers in the division.