Back in October, Mike Bemis was relieved of his job leading Ulster County's Resource Recovery Agency without much of an official explanation. (Unofficially, thanks to an evesdropping Daily Freeman reporter, a few of the complaints made against Bemis came to light, as we mentioned at the time.)
Turns out that there was a whole secret investigation into Bemis's behavior that might never have seen the light of day if it weren't for the Times Herald-Record, which got its hands on a damning report about Bemis's "total incompetence" just before Christmas. A few gems from that report: Bemis manipulated the agency dental plan to pay for his childrens' braces, gave away an agency truck to a friend, and "feigned masturbating in the workplace."
Despite the fact that alleged Bemis's misconduct was extreme, this chronicle of his failings was considered top secret by the public servants who drafted the report, according to the article:
Ulster County might never have known some of the details behind the firing of former trash czar Mike Bemis. That's because the Resource Recovery Agency's report outlining his job performance was prefaced by two paragraphs about confidentiality, limiting who could read the report. The hush-hush nature of the report, however, runs contrary to state laws on public records.
1/31/11 update: This post has been updated to correct a spelling error and to clarify that the charges about Bemis' conduct were allegations. (See comment below.)
