In Clayton County, public paralysis arises from a family crisis

A public servant's devotion to his dying wife has gotten him into trouble with Clayton County supervisors.

Dennis Freitag, in his 39th year as the Clayton County auditor, has been engaged since June in nearly round-the-clock attention to the needs of his wife, Pam, who is under hospice care in the closing days of her 42-year struggle with the ravages of lupus.

While Freitag manages his wife's respirator and accompanies her on thrice weekly hospital visits for kidney dialysis, the auditor's office has fallen so far behind in its duties that it will soon paralyze county government's ability to function, according to the Board of Supervisors.

After discussing the issue at their meeting Monday, supervisors dispatched a letter requesting that Freitag appear at their Oct. 26 meeting to answer questions under oath, with a court stenographer in attendance.

Acknowledging that a sheriff's deputy delivered the letter Tuesday afternoon, Freitag said he plans to attend the 2 p.m. meeting, perhaps accompanied by an attorney.

'We feel sorry for him. We all know how adversity can affect our lives. But we are talking about county business. The work is not getting done,” Supervisor Larry Gibbs said Wednesday.

Gibbs, in his fourth term as supervisor, said the county tried to accommodate Freitag by appointing on Aug. 24 Loyce Dumke as a special assistant auditor for three months, at a cost of up to $14,000.

The resolution authorizing Dumke's hiring stated that Freitag would continue 'to transact business in a diminished capacity by working out of his residence.”

Not only has Freitag transacted little county business from his home, but he has also sequestered at home key documents and data that office staff need to fulfill the auditor's duties, according to Gibbs.

Since June 30, when Gibbs last spoke with Freitag, more than 1,600 emails have gone unopened, checks have gone un-deposited and expense reports have gone un-filed, Gibbs said.

'We need him to allow his staff to do the work,” he said.

Gibbs said supervisors are frustrated that Freitag, who still draws his $50,432 public salary, has spent no more than 20 hours in the office since June while not missing a day at his second job in an Elkader grocery store.

Both Freitag and the supervisors acknowledge that friction between them preceded Pam Freitag's increasingly grave illness this summer.

'We had lengthy discussions about my job performance two years ago and last year,” Freitag said.

Gibbs said Freitag frequently pushes the filing of reports to the deadline or beyond and that he has been negligent in the publication of board meeting minutes, which is required by law.

'This time it is going to come to a head,” Gibbs said.

Freitag, 61, who has been elected auditor 10 times, said he frequently asks himself, 'Am I doing the right thing? Am I a good man?”

Only time will tell, he said, 'but I think the answer will be ‘yes.'”

Freitag said his wife was diagnosed at age 12 with lupus, a chronic inflammatory disease that occurs when one's immune system attacks the body's own tissues and organs. She has been on prednisone, a steroid drug, for the subsequent 42 years, he said.

Around the end of June, doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., predicted she would die within a week, according to Freitag, who said an increase in her prednisone dosage prompted a rally.

Freitag said hospice provides housekeeping help nine hours a week, and a massage therapist visits to help his wife control her pain.

Otherwise, Freitag relies on a few volunteers and himself to care for his wife, he said.

Freitag said he considered admitting his wife to a care center but could not bring himself to do it.

'I consider it a gift to be able to live with my wife for a few more days,” he said.

l Comments: (319) 934-3172; orlan.love@thegazette.com