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Hernando Today > News

Breaking The Code?

By MICHAEL D. BATES

Published: January 8, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - BROOKSVILLE - The county's code of conduct explicitly states that employees will not discredit Hernando County government, its public officials or fellow workers.
Furthermore, it says employees will "avoid conduct and speech which may undermine the efficiency and/or reputation of fellow employees…"
That code of conduct policy is administered by Human Resources Director Barbara Dupre, who now finds herself on the hot seat for allegedly violating those rules.
Dupre last week accused County Commissioner Diane Rowden or someone Rowden knows of surreptiously gaining access to her office and finding candidate petition cards near her desk.
Rowden said she reported it to then-County Administrator Gary Kuhl, who wrote a letter of admonishment to be filed in Dupre's personnel file.
"It was either Diane or someone she knows," Dupre told a Hernando Today reporter last Friday. "If it wasn't her, she knows who it was who searched my office."
As the county's human resources director, Dupre is responsible for the code of conduct policy and all personnel matters.
Dupre declined to comment on the code and her role in administering the rules. One of her staffers told a Hernando Today reporter that she will not speak to the reporter.
Meanwhile, more details have surfaced about what led up to the cards being found in Dupre's office.
Rowden's husband, Jay Rowden, said he received an anonymous phone call from someone informing him that there were petition cards in Dupre's office and some of them were signed.
Jay Rowden said he asked the caller — whom he chooses not to identify — how he knew the cards were there.
The caller said he saw them, Jay Rowden said.
The caller then urged Jay and Diane Rowden to go to Dupre's office and look around after hours and they would find them.
Jay Rowden said that suggestion made him uncomfortable and sounded much like a set-up.
After talking it over, Jay Rowden said his wife decided to call Kuhl and let him handle the matter.
"It's Gary Kuhl's job," Jay Rowden said. "Diane's not the policeman or the county administrator."
Kuhl has since left his position.
As of Tuesday, Interim County Administrator Larry Jennings had not completed his investigation into the matter.