The Meade County Ethics Commission conducted a hearing related to a ethics complaint against Meade County Jailer J.J. Scarborough Tuesday (6/18) in front of a room full of citizens.
At issue former Meade County Jailer Troy Seeyle filed an ethics complaint in March 2024 claiming that Jailer Scarborough had provided unreasonable pay increases to a medical employee of the county detention center.
Seeyle’s complaint contained multiple documents from various open record requests of county government related to the payroll of county employees to compare to pay rates to what LPN Amber Brown’s salary, which in his summary determined was the highest paid employee in county government. Brown’s beginning pay was around $14 an hour and has currently increased to about $33 an hour.
The complaint claimed that Scarborough possibly benefited from Brown’s compensation considering that he has been involved in a romantic relationship with Brown since 2016 who he has a child with. Brown was hired by Seeyle near the end of his term as Jailer before losing the office to Scarborough in 2014. Attorneys for both Seeyle and Scarborough debated various facts surrounding the points of the complaint for about three and half hours with testimony provided from several witnesses that were called by Scarborough’s attorney.
During the testimony, it was confirmed that Scarborough began to live with Brown after birth of their child around 2020 and pay the household electric bill, child care along with some needed groceries. Both Scarborough and Brown testified that they file as single with Brown claiming the child on the income taxes. Scarborough testified that Brown’s wages were set by an ordinance adopted by Meade County Fiscal Court in 2015 which set a graduated pay scale basing her compensation upon her certification and years of employment.
After deliberating about 90 minutes, the Ethics Commission returned with their determination. Based upon the evidence and testimony of the hearing, the commission determined that Scarborough violated Section C of the Meade County Code of Ethics Standards: “No county or local government officer or employee shall act in his official capacity in any matter, where he or a member of his immediate family, or a business organization in which he has an intertest or has direct or indirect financial or personal involvement that might reasonably be expected to impair objectivity or or independence of judgement.”
The commission did not impose a fine or a written reprimand against Scarborough. The ethics complaint could be reviewed by the Meade County Circuit Court under KRS 23A.010.
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