More ethics violations in Houston planning commission

Two groups want Griffin investigated

The head of the Houston County Planning Commission is being accused of violating ethics rules, in discussion of frac sand rules for the county.

The FREE (Families Resisting Energy Extraction) organization claims commission chair Dan Griffin has tried to bully fellow commissioners to vote his way on mining rules. 

The group says Griffin was disrespectful to other panel members, and shouted and interrupted while others were talking. It argues that Griffin is attempting to enact a mining ordinance that was defeated by the county board earlier this year.

This is the person within Houston County to be questioned on their ethics. Bob Scanlan, the former zoning director, was in the middle of the frac sand controversy not long ago.

Scanlan, who just took a job with the Root River Soil and Water Conservation District, was suspended three days and given mandatory ethics training as a result of an internal investigation over the vote to continue the frac sand moratorium in the county.

Residents there, against the moratorium, filed complaints that Scanlan, who, himself, owns a mine, retaliated against them.

Scanlan claimed the controversy over frac sand mining in the county did not lead him to seek this job. He worked 15 years for the county and predicts the local fight over frac sand will go on for some time after he leaves the zoning office.