Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 1
“Internal Investigation Report Concerning Commissioner Chuck Poling”
Thirty pages, dated September 2, 2026, made public by the commissioners the same afternoon on a 2–0 vote with Poling abstaining. Every card on this page opens the page of it, or of the transcript or exhibit, that a claim rests on.
Page 1. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
On September 2, 2026, the Grant County Commissioners met in special session and voted, 2–0 with Commissioner Chuck Poling abstaining, to make public a 30-page internal investigation report about him. They then voted 2–1, Poling opposed, to adopt the actions it recommends, and directed that the report and the evidence behind it go to the Indiana State Police, a prosecutor without a conflict, the FBI, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana and the State Board of Accounts.
The county published the report and its evidence the same afternoon: the document above, fifteen witness interviews, and a data room of several hundred files. This page is a summary of the report, section by section, in the report's own order. Every claim on it opens the page it comes from: the report, the transcript of the witness who said it, the exhibit it rests on, or the county's recording of the session. Tap a card to read the page. Tap "the whole of page" under it to open the document itself.
Read everything here as: the report says that a witness said so. The report is not a court finding, no charge has been filed, and no witness has been cross-examined. Where a document qualifies what the report says, this page says so. Where OurWeek checked a figure against the underlying record, it says what it found.
Contents. What this document is, and is not · Section 1: intimidation · Section 2: the cameras · Section 3: the plumbing business · Section 4: the primary · Section 5: retaliation · Section 6: medical leave and HR · Section 7: boards, hires and contracts · Section 8: the statutes and the vote · Poling's response · What we checked · What happens next · The witnesses
What this document is, and is not
It is an internal investigation ordered by two of the three commissioners and written by two outside attorneys the county retained. County human resources reported complaints from employees and elected officials in the last week of July 2026. The county attorney, who had represented Poling before, stepped aside. A memorandum dated July 28 appointed Gary Johnson of Beckman Lawson to lead the work, and he retained Martha Lemert of Burt Blee to conduct it. She interviewed fifteen witnesses between July 28 and August 24.
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 4
“Consequently, Commissioners Shane Middlesworth and Ron Stewart directed the County Legal Department to have this investigation conducted.”
Page 1 of the report. County human resources had notified county legal of the complaints in the last week of July 2026.
Page 4, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Exhibit: appointment memo · July 28, 2026 · page 1
“Martin A. Harker recuses himself from the investigation and from advising on its factual findings or the County’s response.”
County Attorney Martin Harker's memorandum to the two commissioners appointing Gary Johnson to lead the investigation and screening Harker off from it. Three pages; the county published it at the top of the data room.
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/appointment-memo.pdf
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 4
“County Attorney Martin Harker has a conflict of interest due to past representation of Poling, which prohibited his involvement under the rules of ethics governing attorneys.”
The same page names the two outside attorneys who did the work: Gary Johnson of Beckman Lawson as lead investigator and Martha Lemert of Burt Blee, who conducted the interviews.
Page 4, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
The two commissioners who ordered it are not the two who voted on it. Shane Middlesworth resigned effective August 2, while the interviews were still running. Chris Oliver, chosen at a Republican caucus on August 20, holds that seat and made both motions on September 2.
It is not a court finding, a verdict or a charge. The report says so itself, in the section that lists the statutes its allegations could implicate: it "assumes, solely for purposes of legal issue spotting," that the allegations are credited, and it is "not a charging decision, final legal opinion, or ruling." Every potential violation, it says, is "subject to additional review by investigation authorities with subpoena power."
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 24
“It assumes, solely for purposes of legal issue spotting, that the factual allegations described in the report are credited by criminal investigation authorities. This portion of the report is not a charging decision, final legal opinion, or ruling.”
Subsection 8.1, the report's own statement of what its legal section is and is not.
Page 24, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
It is not an independent inquiry either. It was ordered by the commissioners who serve alongside its subject and carried out by lawyers working for the county. The county has not said what it cost.
Before the report was finished, the consulting county attorney, Edward Ormsby, telephoned Poling on the evening of August 23 to put the preliminary findings to him. The report's account of that fourteen-minute call is on its first page. It is the attorney's description, not a recording.
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 4 · at 8:06
“During that fourteen-minute teleconference, Commissioner Poling consistently cursed, yelled, and cut-off Mr. Ormsby, said he knew who the witnesses were, said that they would all be gone, said to get ready for Hell, and then hung up.”
The report's account of the August 23 call in which the findings were put to Poling. It is a description by the attorney who made the call, not a transcript.
Page 4, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 8:01
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=481
The report groups what it found into seven categories, and an eighth section lists the state and federal statutes each could implicate. This page follows that order.
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 4 · at 8:37
“the interviews and supporting evidence reviewed revealed alleged criminal misconduct by Poling in seven broad categories”
The report's own framing: it began as a human resources matter and, it says, widened as interviews went on.
Page 4, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 8:32
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=512
Special session · September 2, 2026 · at 4:22
“I'll abstain. This is about me.”
The first vote of the session, to make the report public. Commissioners Oliver and Stewart voted yes.
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 4:17
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=257
Section 1: intimidation and threats
The section opens with what the report calls the criminal history "known to county employees," a passage that rests on newspaper clippings, a 1998 federal appellate opinion and what witnesses recalled hearing. The report itself states that the record was expunged. OurWeek is not repeating that passage. It is on printed page 2, and the reasons for leaving it out are at the foot of this page.
The rest of the section is first-hand. County Administrator Beth Winters, who is also the HR director, described a November 5, 2025 meeting about moving the clerk's files off the courthouse's fourth floor, which the fire inspector had found unsafe for the weight. Her account is in the report, in her interview, and in a statement she wrote that day.
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 5
“County Administrator Beth Winters described incidents in which Poling told her to “shut your mouth,” stood within inches of her face in a conference room for approximately 40–45 minutes, and made her fear for her safety.”
The opening of section 1, which the report builds from fifteen interviews.
Page 5, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Witness: county administrator · July 28, 2026 · page 2
“he looked at me with this ice cold stare and said you're not the boss, we're the bosses. You need to shut your mouth. We're in control here”
Beth Winters, county administrator and HR director, on a November 5, 2025 meeting about moving files out of the courthouse's fourth floor. Interviewed July 28, 2026.
Page 2, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-winters-1.pdf
Exhibit · November 5, 2025 · page 1
“Beth you need to be quiet, you are not in control here, we are”
Her written account, dated the day it happened and nine months before the investigation began. The sentence continues on the next line: “the bosses and you are not.”
Page 1, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/winters-stmt-nov.pdf
Two and a half months later, on January 27, 2026, she says Poling walked her by the shoulder into the sixth-floor conference room, the one room on that floor without a camera, and stood inches from her for about forty minutes. The HR coordinator told the investigator she saw him take her in.
Witness: county administrator · July 28, 2026 · page 12
“pulls me into the conference room, closes the door behind him. I am able to kind of crouch down and get out from underneath of the arm.”
January 27, 2026, on the sixth floor. The conference room, she told the investigator, is the one room up there without a camera.
Page 12, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-winters-1.pdf
Exhibit · January 27, 2026 · page 1
“put his arm around my shoulder and forcibly pulled me into the conference room and shut the door.”
Her statement from the day itself. The report's “40–45 minutes” is from this document and her interview.
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/winters-stmt-jan.pdf
Health Department Administrator Tara Street described February 7, 2025, outside the HR office, over a septic complaint that involved drain work by Poling's plumbing business. The HR manager at the time, Justin Saathoff, watched it from his office. The county's former health officer, Dr. Brenda Woods, named it in her resignation letter. Street's own dated documentation is in the file, beginning with a December 5, 2024 visit to her office and Poling's email to her that afternoon.
Witness: health department administrator · July 31, 2026 · page 5
“And I said STOP POKING AT MY CHEST!”
Tara Street, on February 7, 2025, outside the HR office, over a septic complaint that touched Poling's plumbing business. Commissioner Middlesworth, she says, ended it by touching Poling's elbow.
Page 5, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-street.pdf
Witness: health department administrator · December 5, 2024 · page 1
“Pounding the counter and with spit flying Chuck stated that is why we are going to "bring Brandy back to run the health department"”
Tara Street's own dated record, kept from December 2024. Page 2 is the email Poling sent her that afternoon from his plumbing company's address, citing the sewage-disposal rule and the statute: "I know I can come off a little rough, but I am passionate about this."
Page 1, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/street-documentation.pdf
Witness: health department administrator · February 7, 2025 · page 1
“we're gonna replace the entire board and then we're gettin you outta here and my wifes gonna come in here and run that place like it oughta be run”
Written by Tara Street after the encounter outside the HR office that the report and her interview describe: a complaint about a creek that morning, a call to Brandi Poling, a finger at her chest, and Commissioner Middlesworth coming down the hall to ask what was going on.
Page 1, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/ts-2025.pdf
Witness: former HR manager · July or August 2026 · page 2
“You can't bullshit me, Tara. You can't bullshit me.”
Justin Saathoff, then the county's HR manager, who watched the February 2025 encounter. He put its length at two or three minutes.
Page 2, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-saathoff.pdf
Exhibit · July 29, 2026 · page 1
“On February 7, 2025, Mr. Poling physically threatened and verbally assaulted the administrator of my department Ms. Tara Street.”
The former health officer's letter giving her reasons for resigning. Those are her words for the encounter; the report's are “accosting” and “close physical proximity.”
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/woods-statement.pdf
County Clerk Pam Harris described July 1, 2025, in her office, over where the clerk's shredding would go. Deputies were called, and the report says county video shows Poling escorted from the building. Nine employees wrote statements that week. Three are below: the clerk's and two from the prosecutor's investigators. The deputy who walked the two men out wrote his own report that day, and the prosecutor's office sent the statements to the Indiana State Police the next afternoon; the state police detective assigned asked for the footage three weeks later. The county published six camera exports from that morning, none with sound, from the first-floor elevator hall to the security exit; three open on the cards, and the county's folder holds all six. No camera covers the inside of the clerk's office.
Witness: county clerk · August 3, 2026 · page 4
“he said he was going to have me put out on the street and take my office clear away from me.”
Pam Harris, county clerk, on July 1, 2025, in her own office, over where the clerk's shredding would go. Deputies were called.
Page 4, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-harris.pdf
Witness: county clerk · August 3, 2026 · page 4
“Chuck, you do not own the buildings, the people own buildings, you are merely the caretaker of the buildings.”
Her reply, as she recalls it, to the words she says he repeated: that he owned the buildings.
Page 4, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-harris.pdf
Exhibit · July 1, 2025 · page 2 · on the county's camera
“He yell at me that he would have me moved out on to the street.”
The clerk's written statement from the day itself, one of nine the county collected that week. Page 1 carries her account of raising her fist to her chest.
Page 2, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/july1-witness-statements.pdf
Scan to see the county’s camera
Courthouse camera, first-floor elevator hall, July 1, 2025
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1txk2XQzCRE469Lqv2u9_3Gp0i9NVM_am/view
Exhibit · July 1, 2025 · page 9 · on the county's camera
“In the elevator was Chuck, Mike, Deputy Brroks, John, and me.”
A second investigator from the prosecutor's office, on the ride down. The statement is quoted as written, including its spelling of the deputy's name.
Page 9, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/july1-witness-statements.pdf
Scan to see the county’s camera
Courthouse camera, inside the elevator, July 1, 2025
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f9H8Li0JsVtK2m5Xs0IN4I70YuLIGDDn/view
Exhibit · July 1, 2025 · page 3 · on the county's camera
“witnessed a disturbance on the first and ground floors of the Grant County Courthouse”
John Kauffman, chief investigator for the county prosecutor, who came out of his office at the noise and rode the elevator down with the two men and a deputy.
Page 3, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/july1-witness-statements.pdf
Scan to see the county’s camera
Courthouse camera, ground-floor security exit, July 1, 2025
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10e3-rSxMmQJfNfyzaBy6aS5MnAFzeY9d/view
Exhibit · July 1, 2025 · page 1
“I am a commissioner, and you will address me as so and you do not talk to me like that”
The report of the deputy who walked them out, written that day. He says he told Poling to calm down and leave the building, asked the two men to take the stairs and was told "we do not take stairs around here. Do you know who we are?", and at the front desk was told he would address a commissioner as one. His own reply is on the page. Of the badge exchange the report relays from the prosecutor's investigator, "you see this badge, I'm a commissioner, this is my building!", the deputy's report has: "this is who I am, and I can get you fired. I will be talking to the Sheriff."
Page 1, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/july1-additional-docs.pdf
Exhibit · July 2, 2025 · page 4
“Attached you will find the statements from the employees that witnessed the incident yesterday with Chuck Poling and Mike Simison.”
The prosecutor's office chief investigator, to a state police first sergeant, the afternoon after. Three weeks later the detective assigned asked for the footage and the deputy's contact; the reply, on page 2, is that the prosecutor's office no longer had access to the courthouse cameras.
Page 4, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/july1-additional-docs.pdf
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 6 · at 13:29
“The incident escalated to the point that Poling was escorted from the building. Video evidence from July 1, 2025, corroborates that Poling was escorted from the building by deputies”
The report's characterization of the footage. The county published six camera exports from that morning in its data room; three are on the cards above, and the folder holds all six.
Page 6, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 13:24
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=804
A treasurer's office employee described her last day there, July 9, 2026, when she says Poling put his arm around her and walked her into the break room, out of camera view, to talk her out of a transfer to the clerk's office. A coworker read the investigator the text message she sent at 8:59 that morning.
Witness: former treasurer's office employee · July 29, 2026 · page 3
“he put his arm around me and he said we're gonna go have a talk. Then he took me back to the break room.”
A treasurer's office employee on July 9, 2026, her last day there before a transfer to the clerk's office. She told the investigator he walked her out of the break room the same way.
Page 3, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-johnson.pdf
Witness: former treasurer's office employee · July 29, 2026 · page 7
“April and Chuck talked and then Chuck made me talk to him alone and he was trying to get me to stay. Told me that the job isn't approved”
A coworker reads, into the record, the text message she received from the employee at 8:59 that morning. April is Treasurer April Laguerre.
Page 7, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-zech.pdf
An employee reported to the HR manager that on or about January 30, 2025, Poling opened his coat at an elevator and said he had almost pulled his gun on her. She saw no gun. The HR manager's note to file from the next day, which the report cites, records Poling's answer at the time: that he had said it, as a joke, and that he does not carry a gun. Nine months later the commissioners adopted an ordinance authorizing themselves to carry firearms in county buildings. The county attorney presented it under new business on October 6, 2025. The president asked the members for questions or comments; the recording carries none, and it passed on Poling's motion and Stewart's second, 3-0. It does not appear on any earlier commissioners recording in OurWeek's corpus, and the county's minutes index returns no earlier mention of it. The statute that governs county ordinances treats one as adopted when the presiding officer signs it and sets no requirement that it be read at more than one meeting.
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 6 · at 15:35
“Poling allegedly opened or flashed his coat and stated that he almost pulled his gun on her.”
An employee's report of an elevator encounter on or about January 30, 2025, as the report relays it from the HR manager she told. She saw no gun.
Page 6, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 15:30
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=930
Exhibit · January 31, 2025 · page 1
“Chuck admitted to saying that to her but that it was in a joking manner. He also stated that he does not carry a gun.”
The HR manager's note the day after the employee reported the remark. The report cites this document; this sentence in it is Poling's answer at the time, which the report does not quote.
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/saathoff-elevator-email.pdf
Exhibit · October 8, 2025 · page 1 · at 44:44
“AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE GRANT COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS TO CARRY FIREARMS IN AND ON COUNTY GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS”
Presented by the county attorney under new business on October 6, 2025, moved by Poling, seconded by Stewart, adopted 3-0 and recorded two days later. The president asked the members for questions or comments; the recording carries none before the motion. Witnesses told investigators it heightened rather than eased their concern; the ordinance itself cites employee and public safety.
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/ordinance-14-2025.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners, October 6, 2025, at 44:38
https://youtu.be/ngOHE1FJ-E4?t=2678
Commissioners minutes · October 6, 2025 · page 3 · at 44:44
“Commissioner Poling made a motion to approve ordinance #14-2025. Seconded by Commissioner Stewart; motion carried 3-0.”
The county's own minutes: the attorney presented the ordinance under new business, Poling moved it, Stewart seconded, and it carried 3-0. The minutes index returns no earlier mention of it, and no commissioners recording in OurWeek's corpus carries an earlier reading.
Page 3, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/min-2025-10-06.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners, October 6, 2025, at 44:38
https://youtu.be/ngOHE1FJ-E4?t=2678
Three more accounts in the section come from elected officials and court staff: the recorder, on a parking-lot argument under her umbrella; the clerk, on the February 2024 election board meeting where she says Poling invited the chairman outside; and a court bailiff, on the May 19, 2025 commissioners meeting, where she was speaking on courthouse conditions; the statement she had prepared is in the file. The county's recordings of the election board meeting and the commissioners meeting are on their cards, and so is the parking-lot camera's export of September 27, 2024, which has no sound.
Witness: county recorder · July or August 2026 · page 3 · on the county's camera
“he comes up, comes up to me and gets underneath my umbrella with me.”
Kathy Foy, county recorder, on a rainy day in the parking lot in September 2024, arguing about a party caucus. The report says a camera recorded it; there is no sound.
Page 3, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-foy.pdf
Scan to see the county’s camera
Courthouse complex camera, south stairwell exit, September 27, 2024
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JdFcMC1RlflA6ViEqxdMlG5UlgXhTnUe/view
Witness: county clerk · August 3, 2026 · page 13 · at 1:21:26
“invited the chairman to go outside where they could settle this”
The clerk on the election board meeting of February 27, 2024. The county's recording carries the chairman asking him to sit down and, later, telling him he is out of order; the words from the floor are her account.
Page 13, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-harris.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Election Board, February 27, 2024, at 1:21:18
https://youtu.be/dOPjJH201wQ?t=4878
Witness: court bailiff · July 31, 2026 · page 7 · at 54:10
“please let her talk, please let her finish -- you've taken up her whole 3 minutes”
A court bailiff on the May 19, 2025 commissioners meeting, where she spoke about courthouse conditions. The words are what she recalls the clerk saying from behind her at the podium.
Page 7, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-glickfield.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners, May 19, 2025, at 54:00
https://youtu.be/R54p21sCwCg?t=3240
Witness: court bailiff · May 19, 2025 · page 1
“I am here today in hopes that someone will finally hear us.”
The statement she brought to the podium: the cleaning contract, mold, sewage from ceilings, the email banning plants, fans and heaters, and a slideshow she had made. The recording on the card above is how far she got.
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/glickfield-notes.pdf
One item in this section has a published explanation the report does not mention. The report cites a newspaper's audio recording of minutes missing from the county's own video of that May 19 meeting; the county's copy of that recording, thirty minutes long, is in the data room. In the Chronicle-Tribune's May 24, 2025 follow-up, county IT director Marcus Elliott took responsibility for the gap and described it as an accident: when the board president said "we're done" and brought the gavel down, he assumed the meeting had ended and closed the recording software, restarting a minute or two later. Readers weighing the next section should know that the one recording failure in the file was publicly explained at the time by the same IT director whose testimony the report relies on.
Section 2: the cameras, and the audio
This is the section the report documents most heavily, and the one where the county's own records can be checked. The commissioners control the camera system. An IT ticket from January 2, 2025 records how the three divided their oversight. On February 3, 2025 a ticket in Commissioner Middlesworth's name restricted camera access to the commissioners, the sheriff's department and IT; within days the prosecutor's chief investigator and the EMS director were writing to the help desk that they were locked out, and IT told each that the commissioners had ordered it. That July, asked by a state police detective for the July 1 courthouse footage, the chief investigator wrote that the prosecutor's office no longer had access. In October 2025 Poling asked IT for a camera covering the entrance to the commissioners' office, the meeting room and the administrator's office. A ticket from July 2025 records audio being switched on in the clerk's office and the courthouse elevator on two commissioners' instruction. The county's written policy for the system authorizes the commissioners' office, the sheriff, IT and anyone the commissioners designate, and says nothing about audio.
Exhibit: help desk ticket · January 2, 2025 · page 1
“He's going to be over IT and Highway, chucks going to be over maintenance and drainage board, and Ron is over ema.”
January 2, 2025: an IT ticket recording how the three commissioners had divided oversight between them. The action adopted September 2 removes Poling's individual control of county functions.
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/ticket-4699.pdf
Exhibit: help desk ticket · February 3, 2025 · page 1
“Effective immediately, access to security camera system within county facilities will be restricted to the Grant County Commissioners, the Sheriff's Department, and the County IT Department.”
February 3, 2025; requester, Commissioner Middlesworth. The same text is the county's written access policy, linked in the sources below. Rendered by OurWeek from the county's ticket export; the export is linked.
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/ticket-5081.pdf
Exhibit: help desk ticket · February 6, 2025 · page 1
“I no longer have access to courthouse cameras for some reason. Dispatch was trying to reach a courthouse deputy that hit his panic alarm and I went to see if I could see what floor he was on but I don't have any cameras available to be viewed.”
Three days later, from the prosecutor's office chief investigator. IT's answer on the same ticket: the commissioners had it revoke camera access from everyone except a specific list of users on Monday. The county's EMS director hit the same wall the next morning, on ticket 5122 in the same export.
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/ticket-5111.pdf
Exhibit · July 23, 2025 · page 2
“When Poling and Middlesworth took over as commissioners they stripped me and the others at the Prosecutor's Office that had access from being able to view and/or copy it.”
Written to the state police detective who had asked for the July 1 footage. The help desk tickets of February 2025, in section 2, record the change he describes from the day it was ordered.
Page 2, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/july1-additional-docs.pdf
Exhibit: help desk ticket · July 16, 2025 · page 1
“per chuck and shane this morning 7-16-25 for public safety with money and customers”
July 16, 2025, two weeks after the clerk's office encounter: audio switched on for cameras in the clerk's office and the courthouse elevator, on two commissioners' instruction, per the ticket.
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/ticket-6618.pdf
Exhibit · Undated; published September 2, 2026 · page 1
“The purpose of this policy is to ensure that the Verkada security system is used solely for authorized security, investigative, and operational purposes.”
The county's own written rule for its cameras. It authorizes the commissioners' office, the sheriff, IT and anyone the commissioners designate; it says nothing about audio.
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/verkada-access-policy.pdf
Exhibit: help desk ticket · October 21–23, 2025 · page 1
“he would like to have a camera facing that catches the entrance to their office and the meeting room and Beth's office if we can.”
Requester, Chuck Poling; the comment is IT's note of what he asked for. By January 2026 the county's camera log names a camera called Commissioner Office, the one the report calls the HR-desk camera, and a ticket that month records him regaining the ability to view it. The report says audio on that camera was switched on at his request on July 31, 2026.
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/ticket-7490.pdf
On July 31, 2026, three days after the investigation was commissioned, Elliott says Poling telephoned him and asked for audio to be turned on for the camera over the HR desk, and not to tell anyone. Elliott says he did it, told no one, and opened a ticket for his own record. The ticket is timed at 9:16 a.m.
Witness: IT director · August 18, 2026 · page 7
“he was saying that he wanted the audio turned on for the HR office for their camera upstairs. Yeah, and he was telling me like not to tell anybody”
Marcus Elliott, the county's IT director, interviewed August 18, 2026. The request came by telephone on July 31, three days after the investigation was commissioned.
Page 7, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-elliott-1.pdf
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 11 · at 25:12
“Significantly, Elliott stated that Poling recently told him to turn on audio for the HR-office camera and also told him not to tell anyone.”
Section 2's central allegation, and the one the report ties to the federal wiretap statute.
Page 11, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 25:07
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=1507
Witness: IT director · August 18, 2026 · page 7
“I did make a ticket for it for my own documentation and I, I have the call logs from when he called”
Elliott says he enabled the audio, told no one, and wrote it down. The ticket is the next card.
Page 7, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-elliott-1.pdf
Exhibit: help desk ticket · July 31, 2026 · page 1
“Chuck Poling Request Audio be Turned on in HR Camera 7/31/2026 @ 9:15am EST”
The ticket Elliott opened at 9:16 a.m., for his own record, one minute after the time he logged for the call. Rendered by OurWeek from the county's export; the export is linked.
Page 1, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/ticket-9748.pdf
The report then counts. From the camera platform's user log it reports 4,870 events on Poling's account between May 21 and August 24, including 349 viewing sessions of the HR-desk camera and 137 audio changes. The county published two exports of that log, and OurWeek counted both. The longer runs May 21 to August 16 and has 3,971 rows; the shorter runs August 19 to 23 and has 899. Every row in each is under his user name. Together they hold 4,870 rows and 137 audio changes, the report's two figures exactly; the HR-desk camera accounts for 349 viewing sessions, counting each live stream once, which is the report's third; and the audio changes on August 20, the day county legal ordered audio off, number twelve, which is the figure the report gives.
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 11 · at 27:08
“During a three month period between May 21, and August 24, 2026, Poling logged 4,870 separate events on the log.”
The report's count from the camera platform's user log. The two exports it rests on are in the data room; the shorter one is checked on this page.
Page 11, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 27:03
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=1623
Exhibit: camera audit log · August 24, 2026 · page 1
“On 2026-08-20 the export records 241 events under this user name: 205 live streams started, 14 video history views and 12 camera audio changes.”
Every row of the county's August export is under his user name: 899 in five days. On August 20, the day county legal ordered audio off, the export records 12 audio changes; on August 21, 17. The row is date, all events, live streams, history views, audio changes.
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/verkada-audit-extract.pdf
Exhibit: camera audit log · August 24, 2026 · page 3
“On 2026-08-19 between 03:18:00 and 03:54:06 (EDT) the export records 4 camera audio changes, all on the camera named Commissioner Office.”
The camera the export calls “Commissioner Office” is the one over the HR desk. Four audio changes on it between 3:18 and 3:54 in the morning of August 19, as the export prints them.
Page 3, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/verkada-audit-extract.pdf
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 11 · at 30:23
“The Verkada log shows Poling attempted to access audio on county cameras 12 times on August 20th.”
The report's figure for the day audio was ordered off. OurWeek's count of the same export, above, is also 12.
Page 11, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 30:18
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=1818
County legal had the audio disabled on Thursday, August 20. What the report says happened over the next four days comes from the two IT employees and from Poling's own email. On Friday, Poling came to the IT office asking who had given the order, and Elliott sent him to legal. After Elliott left for the day, a second IT employee says Poling came back with two maintenance employees, asked for the audio to be restored, spoke of the other commissioners in a way that sounded to him like approval, and said that nothing about the investigation should leave IT without two commissioners' approval, HR and county legal included. He turned the audio back on Monday morning. No vote had been taken.
Witness: IT director · August 21, 2026 · page 1
“now I see where you stand with it”
Elliott's account, given the same day, of Friday, August 21, 2026: Poling in the IT office asking who had ordered the audio off, and Elliott sending him to county legal.
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-elliott-2.pdf
Witness: IT director · August 21, 2026 · page 1
“in January, you know, he's, you know, going to clean stuff up”
The same conversation. January is when the commissioners elected in November take office.
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-elliott-2.pdf
Witness: IT technician · August 24, 2026 · page 3
“Yes, I turned it back on this morning.”
A second IT employee, interviewed Monday, August 24, 2026, on the audio county legal had ordered off the Thursday before. Poling had come to IT after Elliott left on Friday, with two maintenance employees.
Page 3, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-kikendall.pdf
Witness: IT technician · August 24, 2026 · page 2
“the way it was worded and how he brought the other two up, made it seem like, at least from my memory, that he had the approval of the other two.”
Asked what Poling said about the other commissioners. No vote had been taken that he knew of, and he had not heard from either.
Page 2, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-kikendall.pdf
Witness: IT technician · August 24, 2026 · page 3
“He asked us to not, to like not share anything or whatever without two commissioners' approval”
The instruction given in the IT office on August 21, as he understood it: nothing about the investigation to anyone, HR and county legal included, without two commissioners' approval.
Page 3, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-kikendall.pdf
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 12 · at 30:29
“Poling instructed IT not to share information, data, or documentation related to the investigation unless two commissioners approved it.”
The report's finding on that instruction, under the heading “Obstruction and Interference with the Investigation.”
Page 12, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 30:24
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=1824
On Saturday, August 22, Poling wrote to the county attorney, copying the county administrator, the consulting attorney and Commissioner Stewart. It is the one written statement by him in the file.
Exhibit: Poling's email · August 22, 2026 · page 1
“who ordered IT to turn off the audio and why?”
Poling's own email the next morning, to the county attorney, copied to the county administrator, the consulting attorney and Commissioner Stewart. He writes that there are only two commissioners, that it takes two to make decisions, and that he was not consulted. It is the one written statement by him in the file.
Page 1, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/poling-email-audio.pdf
In a follow-up interview, Elliott said Poling had been having IT back up the county administrator's and HR coordinator's email since around April or May, on the stated reason that they might leave and delete files. Elliott said Poling had no access to the backups, had not asked to read them, and that commissioners cannot read employee email. The report's legal section says the concern there "may be more about preservation, monitoring, retaliation, and control of HR evidence than a completed unauthorized-access violation."
Witness: IT director · August 20, 2026 · page 1
“he's been having me back up Beth and Felicity's emails”
A follow-up interview. Elliott said the backups began around April or May 2026, that Poling had no access to them and had not asked to read them, and that commissioners cannot read employee email.
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-elliott-3.pdf
Section 3: the plumbing business, the invoices and the deed
Poling owns Chuck's Sewer & Drain Cleaning, Inc. The county uses it. The report puts the invoices from February 2025 to June 5, 2026 at $56,630. The county administrator, who processes the claims, told the investigator the business is used "exclusively" for plumbing and drain work, without a contract or bids, at about $60,000 a year, on bills that say little more than where the work was done. The commissioners approve the claims at their meetings. She recalled one meeting where he abstained.
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 14 · at 33:29
“Invoices produced from February of 2025 through June 5, 2026, show payments of $56,630 and, as Winters described, consistently show general, round-number bills with limited detail.”
Section 3. The invoices, 105 pages of them, are in the data room's financial folder.
Page 14, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 33:24
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=2004
Witness: county administrator · July 2026 · page 7
“Oh, exclusively.”
Asked whether the county uses Chuck's Sewer & Drain. She put the annual figure at about $60,000 and said there is no contract and no bidding; the work is called in as needed, much of it at the jail.
Page 7, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-winters-2.pdf
Witness: county administrator · July 2026 · page 7
“the bills are not real detailed or the invoices are not real detailed, they just work done at the jail, $4200”
The county administrator, who with the HR coordinator processes the claims, on what the invoices say.
Page 7, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-winters-2.pdf
Witness: county administrator · July 2026 · page 8
“I think there's only been one meeting where Commissioner Poling has abstained from that vote”
On the claims votes at commissioners meetings, which include payments to his business. She adds that he has lately begun abstaining at the drainage board, which he chairs. Those meetings are recorded.
Page 8, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-winters-2.pdf
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 14
“Winters further stated that Commissioner Poling generally did not abstain from approving claims that included payments to his own business, except on one occasion she recalled.”
The report on the claims votes. Its supporting list cites commissioner meeting records, which are public and recorded.
Page 14, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
The report says county maintenance employees were paid, including overtime, on the same dates and projects as the business on at least two occasions, March 24 and June 5, 2026. The time cards and the 105 pages of invoices are in the data room's financial folder, linked below. This page has not matched them line by line.
Two witnesses described a drain machine: Poling lent the county his, the county ordered a new one, and the new one, the HR coordinator says, went to his business. The county's invoice for the new machine, $1,210.41, is in the file.
Witness: HR coordinator · July 28, 2026 · page 6
“when the new one came in, Chuck took that one to his business.”
The HR coordinator on the drain machine: Poling lent the county his, the county ordered a new one, and the new one, she says, went to his business.
Page 6, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-miller.pdf
Exhibit: invoice · July 1, 2026 · page 1
“1,210.41”
The county's invoice for the new machine: $1,173.47 plus shipping, $1,210.41, billed to the Grant County Jail, placed by “Mike.” The HR coordinator's estimate was about $1,200.
Page 1, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/minirooter-invoice.pdf
Saathoff also described a dispute with the clerk over Poling's conflict-of-interest forms for 2022 and 2023, years he served on the county council. They were filed in April 2025, when he was a commissioner, and Saathoff told the investigator Poling said the clerk had lost them. The county's recording of the April 7, 2025 commissioners meeting carries the exchange. As the county attorney presents the two prior-year forms, they are described as misplaced by the clerk's office, and the clerk answers from the floor that they were not misplaced, her office had not received them. The board accepted both that morning, Poling abstaining, and the report says the clerk stamped them received the same day.
Witness: former HR manager · July or August 2026 · page 6 · at 1:15:00
“he tried to blame it that the clerk Pam Harris had lost them. And she even said in a public meeting, I remember her saying it, that you know she never received them.”
Saathoff on Poling's conflict-of-interest forms for 2022 and 2023, filed in April 2025. He could not place the meeting; it is the April 7, 2025 commissioners meeting, and the recording is on this card.
Page 6, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-saathoff.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners, April 7, 2025, at 1:14:50
https://youtu.be/1ueBnywfwuo?t=4490
Commissioners minutes · April 7, 2025 · page 3 · at 1:15:00
“Attorney Connor Sullivan presented conflict of interest forms. One for Commissioner Poling for 2022, one for Commissioner Poling for 2023, and one for Commissioner Middlesworth for 2025.”
The county's minutes record the forms and the votes, 2-0 with Poling abstaining on his own. They do not record the exchange with the clerk; that is on the recording.
Page 3, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/min-2025-04-07.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners, April 7, 2025, at 1:14:50
https://youtu.be/1ueBnywfwuo?t=4490
His conflict-of-interest filings name the plumbing company. They do not name Chomp Properties, a real estate company the county administrator identified as his. On March 9, 2026, eight weeks before the primary, Chomp Properties deeded a Marion lot the county assesses at $37,100 to Digital Marketing Productions LLC for a stated $0. The Secretary of State records that company as formed in December 2024 by Edward Bounds, whose podcast and social media pages carry local political advertising. Witnesses said candidates aligned with Poling got advertising there and candidates who were not were told there was no space, and the report says none of the aligned candidates' campaign finance filings show a payment to Bounds. The report raises the question. It does not answer it, and neither does this page.
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 14
“Winters stated that Poling’s conflict-of-interest forms disclosed his plumbing or sewer-and-drain business but did not disclose Chomp Properties LLC, which she identified as a real estate-related LLC owned solely by Poling.”
The disclosure question in section 3. The forms are the next card; the property transfer is the one after.
Page 14, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Exhibit: disclosure form · January 5, 2026 · page 14
“Chuck's Sewer & Drain Cleaning, Inc.”
His 2026 disclosure, stamped filed with the clerk on January 5, names the plumbing company and describes its services as hired by the county “on an as needed basis.” No real estate company appears on any of the sixteen pages.
Page 14, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/poling-coi-forms.pdf
Witness: county administrator · July 28, 2026 · page 9
“not as his property or his business, LLC for properties is Chomp Properties”
The county administrator on what the forms list and what they do not.
Page 9, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-winters-1.pdf
Exhibit: deed · March 9, 2026 · page 1
“for good and valuable consideration, specifically the sum of”
Chomp Properties Inc. to Digital Marketing Productions LLC: 1020 S Washington St, Marion, for the stated sum of $0. The county assessed the parcel at $37,100. The Secretary of State records Digital Marketing Productions as a single-member company formed December 3, 2024, by Edward Bounds.
Page 1, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/quitclaim-deed.pdf
Witness: HR coordinator · July 28, 2026 · page 12
“Chomp Properties, which is 100% owned by Chuck, quitclaim deeded a property in Marion to Ed Bounds Digital Marketing Productions LLC right before the election in May.”
The HR coordinator, who found the deed. The primary was May 5, 2026; the deed is dated March 9. Bounds runs a podcast and social media pages that carry local political advertising.
Page 12, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-miller.pdf
The report names a second outlet in the same allegation: Channel 27 News and Entertainment, whose owner it names beside Bounds. After the report's release, Channel 27 published its own account of it, disclosing that Poling "has been a longtime paying advertiser and sponsor of Channel 27," that the page is referenced in the report, and that neither relationship would keep it from reporting the story. The post ends: "As a matter of fact, this story was brought to you by Chuck's Sewer Drain and Plumbing." The county's own exhibit folder holds screenshots of the kind of material the report means: a Channel 27 courthouse update quoting Poling on the elevator with the sponsor line under it, and a post by Bounds promoting a candidate for clerk.
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 16
“Winters stated that candidates not aligned with Poling, including Stacci Landis and Commissioner Ron Stewart, were told there was no advertising space available, while Poling-aligned candidates received support and advertising access.”
The report's account of the advertising allegation, in section 4. The sentence before it names two media platforms: Ed Bounds' and Channel 27's. The report says the allegation is corroborated by campaign finance filings, deed records and screenshots of advertising; it reproduces none of the screenshots.
Page 16, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Exhibit: social media · Undated screenshot in the county's file · page 2
“Brought to you by Chuck's Sewer Drain and Plumbing”
From the folder the county labeled Social Media Ads: a Channel 27 courthouse update quoting Poling on the elevator brakes, with the sponsor line under it. The report lists "examples of advertising and campaign related materials on Channel 27, Facebook and Ed Bounds Podcast" among its exhibits. Page 1 is the top of the same post. OurWeek cropped the phone's own status bar from each screen.
Page 2, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/channel27-update.pdf
Exhibit: social media · Undated screenshot in the county's file · page 1
“If you desire change, consider voting for alternative candidates before the situation worsens.”
A post by Ed Bounds carrying a "Vote! Mike Scott, Grant County Clerk" graphic, in the county's advertising folder. The report's claim is that Bounds' platforms gave advertising and support to candidates aligned with Poling and that none of those candidates' filings shows an expenditure to Bounds or his company; it does not list the candidates by name. Page 2 is the search result the screenshot was taken from. OurWeek cropped the phone's own status bar from each screen.
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/bounds-scott-post.pdf
The former HR manager and the clerk each raised the renovation of the former Salin Bank building, which the county bought for offices: whether the work was split into pieces small enough to stay under Indiana's public bidding threshold. The report lists the records that would answer it and does not resolve it.
Witness: former HR manager · July or August 2026 · page 14
“There were three or four projects that were within umbrella’d within the whole thing”
Saathoff on the renovation of the former Salin Bank building: his concern, which the clerk shared, that the work was split into pieces small enough to stay under the public bidding threshold.
Page 14, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-saathoff.pdf
Section 4: the primary
On March 24, 2026, six weeks before the May 5 primary, Poling walked commissioner candidate Ed Hartman through county offices with two maintenance employees. An assessor's office employee, eating lunch at her desk, says Poling asked whether she was going to vote and then, close to her ear, told her that if she voted for Hartman she would be able to get a raise. The report says camera video with audio confirms her account. The county's data room holds screen recordings of that camera, with sound, for two visits four days apart: March 20, about office supplies, and March 24, the tour. She told the investigator the words can be heard "if you listen very, very closely." Both recordings are on the cards. The county's camera system logged the whole tour as an incident, thirty clips from sixteen cameras between 10:48 and 11:31; its own timeline is on a card, inside an archive too large to host. Forty minutes after the tour left her office, the assessor asked HR for the counter footage "along with voice," and the employee wrote her account by hand that day. The HR coordinator recalled Hartman on the sixth floor the same day.
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 16 · at 36:44
“moved off camera and stated close to her ear that “if you vote for this guy, you’ll be able to get a raise.””
Section 4's first allegation. The report says camera video of the March 24, 2026 encounter confirms the account, and relays her statement that the recording corroborated it, “including audio that could be heard if listened to closely.”
Page 16, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 36:39
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=2199
Witness: assessor's office employee · July 29, 2026 · page 2 · on the county's camera
“got into my ear, and said, if you vote for this guy, you would be able to get a raise”
An assessor's office employee on March 24, 2026, when Poling walked candidate Ed Hartman through the office with two maintenance employees while she ate lunch at her desk. She had said she only votes in presidential elections. She told the investigator the footage lets you hear the words "if you listen very, very closely."
Page 2, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-barnes-1.pdf
Scan to see the county’s camera
Courthouse camera, assessor's front counter, March 24, 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uBiI2rmEwFuSuFAV_OjbDIiBaYNPYSOP/view
Witness: assessor's office employee · July 29, 2026 · page 4 · on the county's camera
“the first event, incident, happened on March 20th, and then that's when I was organizing the paper, and then when he got into my ear and brought up the candidate of Ed Hartman, that was March 24th.”
Two visits four days apart, both on the same county camera. The March 20 visit, about office supplies, is on this card; the March 24 tour is on the card above. Both recordings are in the data room's electioneering folder.
Page 4, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-barnes-1.pdf
Scan to see the county’s camera
Courthouse camera, assessor's front counter, March 20, 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14XQbVQaJQUmFbms5NITQl0zPpyiieacf/view
Witness: assessor's office employee · March 24, 2026 · page 1
“well if you want a raise you will vote for that guy”
Her account in her own hand, dated the day of the tour and signed. Both visits are on the one page: March 20, the question about ordering paper in bulk and a raise; March 24, the introductions at the counter, the words "in my bubble," and that he "was in the Army and fought for my right to vote so I better vote." Shown whole; handwriting is not boxed.
Page 1. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/barnes-requests.pdf
Exhibit · March 24, 2026 · page 2
“May I request a copy of the video camera along with voice for the both side counters from 11:10AM to 11:25AM.”
Rhonda Wylie, the assessor, to the county administrator and the HR coordinator, forty minutes after the tour left her office. The next morning the employee asked for the videos of March 20 and 24 herself; that email is page 3.
Page 2, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/barnes-requests.pdf
Exhibit · Generated August 18, 2026 · page 1
“chuck and hartman entering courthouse”
The county's camera system logged the tour as an incident named for it: thirty clips from sixteen cameras between 10:48 and 11:31 a.m., from the courthouse main entry up three floors and back down, then the annex lobby, the auditor's and treasurer's counters, area plan, the sixth floor and the commissioners' office. The archive it sits in holds 34 videos and 454 stills, 2.9 GB, more than OurWeek can host, and the March 20 assessor's counter footage as well.
Page 1, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/tour-incident-report.pdf
Witness: HR coordinator · July 28, 2026 · page 6
“I've never really had an opportunity to be up to this floor, so I'm just checking things out.”
The HR coordinator recalls Hartman's words on the sixth floor the same day. She says the maintenance employees told her Poling had asked them to be with him in the building; that evening, she says, they worked a sewage leak with him at the sheriff's department.
Page 6, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-miller.pdf
The report also places here the county-paid listening sessions on the Exit 255 feasibility study, the subject of OurWeek's data center report. In the county administrator's account, the second session, in Fowlerton, became a campaign event when Poling stood up, and the other two commissioners stopped paying for them. That is her characterization, and the report adopts it.
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 16 · at 37:45
“She stated that the county stopped funding the sessions after they became, in her words, “campaign things” and a “campaign circus.””
The county-paid listening sessions on the Exit 255 feasibility study, in the county administrator's account, which the report places under electioneering.
Page 16, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 37:40
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=2260
Witness: county administrator · July 2026 · page 4
“young man, you go sit down. I paid for this building. I'm in charge of this meeting”
The second listening session, in Fowlerton, as she describes it: the study's author trying to run the meeting, and Poling standing up.
Page 4, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-winters-2.pdf
Witness: county administrator · July 2026 · page 5
“If you don't want a data center, you need to vote for these people.”
Asked whether the Fowlerton session became a campaign event, this is what she says Poling told the room. The study's mention of data centers, in her account, became "the weapon" used against Commissioner Stewart in the primary.
Page 5, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-winters-2.pdf
Section 5: retaliation
The fifth section gathers accounts of people who left offices aligned with Poling, or disagreed with him, and then faced attempted discipline, blocked transfers or threats to their jobs. Several of its examples appear elsewhere on this page: the clerk's July 2025 encounter, the treasurer's office employee's transfer, the IT director's account of August 21. The rest are below.
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 17
“Witnesses described attempted or threatened retaliation against employees who left offices aligned with Poling or who were perceived as disloyal.”
The opening of section 5. Its examples reach back to July 2025 and forward to the week of the interviews.
Page 17, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Witness: county administrator · July 28, 2026 · page 14
“because he wants to find grounds to terminate me”
The county administrator's belief about a call Poling made to Commissioner Stewart. She names the HR coordinator in the same sentence.
Page 14, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-winters-1.pdf
Witness: former HR manager · July or August 2026 · page 5
“I knew, you know, I was training my replacement”
Saathoff on the months before his dismissal in 2025. He disputes the performance reasons he was given; the report records his belief and does not resolve it.
Page 5, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-saathoff.pdf
Witness: county assessor · July 29, 2026 · page 2
“our HR department came to me and informed me that he was pursuing to get her fired”
Rhonda Wylie, county assessor, on an employee of hers who was on approved family leave. Wylie says only she can dismiss her staff.
Page 2, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-wylie.pdf
Witness: IT director · August 18, 2026 · page 11
“that was the same thing he did back when he was saying the council wanted my head”
Elliott on a vendor quote for the juvenile detention building that ran to several hundred thousand dollars. He had heard nothing from the council, which does not employ him.
Page 11, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-elliott-1.pdf
Saathoff's employment ended at the end of May 2025, within two weeks of the May 19 meeting. The report records the bailiff's concern that her remark at that meeting, that she had not gotten a response from the commissioners, had cost him his job, and his own account: the response he drafted was not approved until the Friday before, which he called an excuse, saying Poling wanted his own person in the role. The Chronicle-Tribune reported on August 15, 2025 that Commissioner Stewart said the dismissal was Middlesworth's decision and that he had advised against it, and that Middlesworth said the county does not comment on personnel matters. On July 1, 2025, on Poling's motion, the commissioners moved Winters into the administrative executive position and appointed Felicity Miller HR director.
Witness: former HR manager · July or August 2026 · page 8
“And they just provided their typical, ‘we don't, we don't comment on personnel issues’.”
Saathoff on the county's answer when his firing made the front page. The Chronicle-Tribune's August 15, 2025 story is linked in the text above.
Page 8, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-saathoff.pdf
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 18
“he felt that was an excuse to terminate him as Poling wanted his own person in the role.”
The report's account of his dismissal, in section 5, beside the bailiff's concern that her remark at the May 19 meeting had cost him his job. The report records both beliefs and does not resolve them.
Page 18, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Section 6: medical leave, accommodations and the HR desk
Three things sit here. Employees with doctors' notes for lamps, air purifiers and heaters, whose requests the report says maintenance leadership resisted. An employee's protected medical leave, which the report says was discussed on a podcast in July 2025 by a figure it describes as aligned with Poling; the county administrator told the investigator she could not confirm where that information came from. And the camera over the HR desk, which the report says is why employees stopped bringing concerns to HR.
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 20
“Winters stated that employees were reluctant to speak with HR because a camera was located above or near the HR desk and because employees believed their conversations might be observed or monitored.”
Section 6. The HR desk camera is the one the audit log calls “Commissioner Office.”
Page 20, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Witness: HR coordinator · July 28, 2026 · page 3
“We know he watches the cameras.”
Asked how she knew, she described being told about a two-hour lunch on a day he was not in the building, and login data showing access from home.
Page 3, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-miller.pdf
Witness: former treasurer's office employee · July 29, 2026 · page 5
“Treasurer's office got these cameras for safety, not to spy on us.”
A former treasurer's office employee. She told the investigator she had no direct evidence that Poling reviewed the cameras himself.
Page 5, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-zech.pdf
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 21
“the maintenance director allegedly responded that “anybody can fake a doctor’s note.””
One of the accommodation disputes in section 6: an air purifier with a doctor's note taped to it, removed as if it were a fan.
Page 21, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
OurWeek is not itemizing the medical-leave allegation beyond that sentence. Naming the employee and her diagnosis here would repeat what the report treats as the harm.
Section 7: boards, hires and contracts
The report lists appointments and hires it says were connected to Poling: the area plan director, members of the area plan commission and the drainage board, the maintenance director, relatives in county-adjacent jobs. Most of that rests on the county administrator's account and on public appointment records the report cites but this page has not pulled. Two items have documents.
The commissioners reappointed Brandi Poling, who runs the plumbing business, to the county health board in December 2025. The health officer at the time, Dr. Brenda Woods, gave notice the same day, citing the statute that bars anyone with a financial interest in the department's decisions from serving on its board. The health department permits and inspects septic systems.
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 22
“The former medical officer, Dr. Brenda Woods, indicated this as a reason for her resignation since Poling’s wife being on the Health Board is a direct conflict of interest under IC 16-20-2-13.”
Section 7, on the commissioners' December 2025 reappointment of Brandi Poling, who runs the plumbing business, to the county health board.
Page 22, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Exhibit · July 29, 2026 · page 2
“According to Indiana Code, Mrs. Poling was prohibited from being on the health board”
The health officer's own words on why she gave notice on December 15, 2025. The health department, she writes, permits and inspects the septic systems the business works on.
Page 2, the boxed line. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/woods-statement.pdf
The county's cleaning contract. An auditor's office employee who runs a cleaning business says Poling told her what to put in her bid and what to ask for. The contractor who holds the contract told investigators he felt pressure to keep Poling's daughter and the maintenance director's daughter on his payroll, because the contract can be canceled on thirty days' notice.
Witness: auditor's office employee · August 3, 2026 · page 2
“He approached me, whispered, telling me what to put in my contract, telling me that if I asked for $300,000, I would probably get that”
An auditor's office employee who runs a cleaning business, on the county's cleaning contract. She says the current contract reached her by email from Poling's wife and that she was not told when bids were taken.
Page 2, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-landis.pdf
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 23
“creating the concern that the vendor understood continued county business could depend on employing these individuals.”
The cleaning contractor's account as the report relays it: a 30-day cancellation clause, and Poling's daughter and the maintenance director's daughter on the payroll.
Page 23, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Witness: HR coordinator · July 28, 2026 · page 4
“You're either with me or you're against me”
A phrase the HR coordinator says he uses often. The county administrator, separately, recalled “if you're not with me, you're against me.”
Page 4, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-miller.pdf
Witness: county assessor · July 29, 2026 · page 8
“you walk in and you feel like you could cut the air”
The assessor on morale across county offices.
Page 8, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/w-wylie.pdf
Section 8: the statutes, and what the board did
Section 8 lists the laws the seven categories could implicate. Federal: the Wiretap Act and the Stored Communications Act, First and Fourth Amendment claims, the ADA, the FMLA and Title VII. Indiana: official misconduct, bribery, ghost employment, conflict of interest, election law, intimidation, battery and criminal confinement, obstruction, false informing, theft and conversion, fraud, and stalking. The report's own caveat governs all of it: this is issue spotting on the assumption that the allegations are true, and on Title VII in particular it says the record "appears stronger" on other theories.
Then subsection 8.6, which the commissioners adopted in full on a 2–1 vote.
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 29 · at 41:27
“The commissioners should immediately remove Commissioner Poling from any individual control over county administration, county maintenance, HR, IT, surveillance systems, all investigation materials identified in Subsection 8.5, county claims, contracts, personnel and employee decisions, and referral communications on behalf of the county.”
Subsection 8.6, item 1, which the board adopted 2–1. It cites the statute making the board, not any one commissioner, the county executive.
Page 29, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 41:22
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=2482
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 29
“Poling should be warned not to threaten, intimidate, retaliate against or harass, directly or indirectly though other persons or means, any witnesses that made statements or contributed to this internal investigation report”
The same item. Employees are to report any such action to HR for county legal to follow up.
Page 29, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 30 · at 44:40
“The county should provide the complete investigation report and supporting evidence to the appropriate unit of the Indiana State Police and a conflict-free prosecuting attorney for further action on implicated state law issues as they deem appropriate.”
Item 3. If the county prosecutor has a conflict, the report says, counsel should ask a court for a special prosecutor. The prosecutor's chief investigator is a witness.
Page 30, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 44:35
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=2675
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 30 · at 45:03
“The county should provide the complete investigation report and supporting evidence to the FBI Indianapolis Field Office and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana”
Item 4.
Page 30, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 44:58
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=2698
Investigation report · September 2, 2026 · page 30 · at 45:32
“The county should provide the complete investigation report and supporting evidence to the Indiana State Board of Accounts for audit and referral as deemed appropriate”
Item 5. The State Board of Accounts audits Indiana local government as a matter of routine; its findings are public documents.
Page 30, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling-report/report.pdf
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 45:27
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=2727
Special session · September 2, 2026 · at 48:13
“This investigation is not about politics.”
Consulting county attorney Edward Ormsby, near the end, on social media posts he said had tried to discourage publication of the report.
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 48:08
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=2888
Special session · September 2, 2026 · at 51:45
“We have Commissioner Poling opposed. Motion carried.”
The vote to adopt subsection 8.6 in full. Commissioner Chris Oliver moved; Commissioner Ron Stewart, presiding, seconded.
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 51:40
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=3100
Special session · September 2, 2026 · at 52:11
“Commissioner Poling, would you like to speak or say anything?”
The presiding commissioner, at the end of the session. The recording carries no answer, and the meeting moves to adjournment.
Scan to hear it said
Grant County Commissioners special session, September 2, 2026, at 52:08
https://youtu.be/zHvhklGvJMg?t=3128
Commissioner Poling's response
Everything he has said on this record:
- He abstained on the vote to release the report: "I'll abstain. This is about me."
- He voted against adopting the recommended actions.
- Offered the floor at the end of the session, he said nothing.
- On August 22 he emailed the county attorney asking who had ordered the camera audio off and why, writing that it takes two commissioners to make decisions and that he had not been consulted. The email is in the file and on this page, in section 2.
- In January 2025, according to the HR manager's note the report cites, he said the elevator remark was a joke and that he does not carry a gun.
- The report's account of the August 23 call is the attorney's, not his.
Later on September 2 he told IndyPolitics.Org: "I have no comment because I just found all this out myself today." WISH-TV reported the same day that he had not responded to its I-Team. Readers can weigh that against page 1 of the report, which describes the county's attorney putting the preliminary findings to him by telephone on August 23.
He remains a sitting county commissioner. If he issues a statement or disputes any part of the report, this page will carry it, and OurWeek will ask him for one.
What we checked ourselves
The report cites the county's own records, and some of them can be counted.
- The camera log. The August 17–24 export has 899 rows, every one under Poling's user name, dated August 19 through 23. Twelve audio changes on August 20 match the report's figure. The export also records four audio changes on the HR-desk camera between 3:18 and 3:54 in the morning of August 19, as it prints the times. The longer export, May 21 to August 16, has 3,971 rows, all under his name; with the shorter export's 899 that is 4,870, the report's total, and the two carry 137 audio changes between them, the report's count. Both exports are linked below.
- The timing of the audio request. The appointing memorandum is dated July 28. The ticket for the HR-camera audio is timed 9:16 a.m. on July 31.
- The deed. Recorded March 9, 2026, stated consideration $0, from Chomp Properties Inc. to Digital Marketing Productions LLC. The assessment record for the parcel, in the data room, shows $37,100.
- The disclosure forms. Sixteen pages of filings, 2022 through 2026. The plumbing company appears on them. No real estate company does.
- Two small discrepancies in the report, noted for the record. It attributes the audio recording of the May 19, 2025 meeting to the Chronicle Tribune on printed page 4 and to a "Chronicle Gazette" on printed page 6. On page 4 it dates the election board meeting to "2023 or 2024"; the board's recording is dated February 27, 2024.
- Spellings. The county's automatic captions render the name "Polling"; the report and county records spell it Poling. Where the captions and a document differ, this page follows the document.
What happens next
A referral is a request. The county has been directed to hand the report and its evidence to the Indiana State Police, a conflict-free prosecutor, the FBI, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana and the State Board of Accounts. None of those agencies has said anything publicly. A referral does not mean an investigation has been opened, and an investigation would not mean charges.
A special prosecutor may be needed. The report says that if the Grant County prosecutor has an actual or apparent conflict, counsel should ask a court to appoint one. The prosecutor's chief investigator is a witness.
The State Board of Accounts is the one to watch on money. It audits Indiana local government as a matter of routine. Procurement, ghost employment, equipment and public funds are its ordinary work, and its findings become public documents.
The commissioners cannot remove him. What passed on September 2 removes Poling's individual control over county functions. It does not remove him from office. Removing an elected county official in Indiana does not run through the county board.
The county party has weighed in. On September 2 the chairman of the Grant County Republican Party, Nick McKinley, issued a statement calling the allegations "deeply troubling," supporting the referrals to independent authorities, and saying that witnesses must be protected and that Poling is entitled to due process.
Statement · September 2, 2026 · page 1
“The findings and allegations contained in the investigative report concerning Commissioner Chuck Poling are deeply troubling and deserve to be taken seriously.”
The county party chairman's statement, issued the day the report was released. It supports the referrals to independent authorities, says witnesses must be protected, and says Poling is entitled to due process. OurWeek hosts the release; a party statement has no durable address of its own.
Page 1, the boxed lines. ourweek.in/records/poling/gop-chairman-statement.pdf
The evidence is supposed to be preserved. Subsection 8.5 lists what the county is to hold: camera logs, help desk tickets, email backup records, invoices and time cards, the March 24 tour footage, the July 1, 2025 courthouse footage and the listening-session records. If those turn out to be incomplete, that itself is a story.
The fifteen witnesses
The table below lists each witness, what they addressed and where to read the interview. Elected and appointed officials are named. Other county employees are identified by their office. The county published every name; repeating them here adds nothing a reader needs, and each transcript is one tap away.
The fifteen witnesses
| Witness | Interviewed | What they addressed |
|---|---|---|
| Beth Winters, county administrator and HR director | July 28, 2026, and two follow-ups | The November 2025 meeting; the January 2026 conference room; the plumbing business and its invoices; the disclosure forms; the listening sessions; hiring and appointments; the HR camera. |
| Marcus Elliott, IT director | August 18 and 21, 2026, and two follow-ups | The camera system and its logs; the July 31 audio request; the email backups; the August 21 conversation; a vendor quote. |
| Pam Harris, county clerk | August 3, 2026 | July 1, 2025 in the clerk's office; the election board meeting; cameras in her office; access to the child-support fund; the disclosure forms. |
| Kathy Foy, county recorder | Summer 2026; the transcript carries no date | The umbrella; the caucus dispute; items removed from her office; a podcast. |
| Rhonda Wylie, county assessor | July 29, 2026 | Three employees of her office she says were targeted, one on approved leave; morale. |
| Tara Street, health department administrator | July 31, 2026 | December 2024 at the department window; February 7, 2025 outside HR; the health board. |
| Tiffany Griffith, former county treasurer | July 31, 2026 | Her reasons for leaving county government in 2024, and an insurance account she says she was removed from. |
| Justin Saathoff, former HR manager and county administrator | Summer 2026; the transcript carries no date | February 7, 2025; the elevator report; his own dismissal; the Salin building; hiring. |
| The HR coordinator | July 28, 2026 | The cameras; the conference room; the drain machine; the deed; the Hartman visit; the cleaning contract; the treasurer's office. |
| A court bailiff | July 31, 2026 | The May 19, 2025 meeting and what followed it; cameras and confiscated office items in the courts. |
| An IT technician | August 24, 2026 | August 21 in the IT office: the audio, the other commissioners, the instruction on records. |
| An assessor's office employee | July 29, 2026, and a follow-up | March 20 and 24, 2026: the office visit with Ed Hartman and the raise remark. |
| A former treasurer's office employee, now in the clerk's office | July 29, 2026 | July 9, 2026: the break room. |
| A former treasurer's office employee, now in the assessor's office | July 29, 2026 | The text messages of July 9; cameras in the treasurer's office; an attempted write-up after her transfer. |
| An auditor's office employee who ran for clerk in 2026 | August 3, 2026 | The cleaning contract; advertising during the primary; the Hartman visit to the treasurer's office. |
Each link opens OurWeek's PDF rendering of the county's Word transcript, the same copy the cards on this page open, so page numbers match. Follow-up interviews and the county's own summaries of each interview are in the data room's witness folder, linked below. Where a witness gave more than one interview the link opens the first.
Read it yourself
| Document | Date | What is in it |
|---|---|---|
| Internal Investigation Report Concerning Commissioner Chuck Poling (PDF, 30 pages) | September 2, 2026 | The full document. Background, sections 1 through 8, citations and pertinent quotes, supporting documentation lists, the statute analysis, and the recommended actions the commissioners adopted. |
| Investigation data room (SharePoint folder) | Posted September 2, 2026 | The underlying evidence the report cites: witness statement transcripts, video, camera access logs, invoices, help desk tickets and filings. |
| Grant County Commissioners special session (video, 53 minutes) | September 2, 2026 | The meeting itself. Sections 1 through 4 read aloud, the recommendations explained, the vote taken. Sections 5 through 8 were not read aloud and exist only in the PDF. |
| Grant County website — "Quick Links" | Retrieved September 2, 2026 | Where the county publishes both, at the foot of its home page: "Commissioner Poling Investigation Report" and "Commissioner Poling Investigation Data Room." |
| Investigation evidence, mirrored copy (Google Drive) | Mirrored September 2, 2026 | The same evidence, copied to a location we control. The county's own copy is shared from an outside law firm's account, and links of that kind can be withdrawn or expire. |
Every row is a public record published by Grant County. The report and the data room are both linked from "Quick Links" at the foot of the county website, and from the commissioners' Special Sessions page. We downloaded the report on September 2, 2026 and recorded its checksum (sha256 54bdd4d4a90fb8b04d5a29b41c5916547955574dabb77cc081a3171a78849ba6) so that the copy we read can be compared against the file the county serves later.
The evidence, section by section
| Folder | What is in it |
|---|---|
| 01 — Intimidation of county employees | Witness statements, the county ordinance on commissioners carrying firearms, the February 27, 2024 election board meeting video, courthouse camera footage, the former health officer's statement, and the 1998 Seventh Circuit opinion the report cites. Two subfolders hold the July 1, 2025 clerk's office encounter — nine witness statements plus video — and the court bailiff's materials. |
| 02 — Surveillance | The county's own written access policy for the camera system, commissioners' minutes, an email about camera audio, and three subfolders: the Verkada audit log exports, IT help desk tickets, and call log screenshots. |
| 03 — Official misconduct, financial misconduct, conflict of interest | A subfolder of financial documents: the conflict-of-interest forms, the quitclaim deed and the assessed value of the property it transferred, invoices, a spreadsheet on the Salin Bank project, and a further subfolder on clerk fund access. |
| 04 — Electioneering and bribery | Campaign finance filings for Poling and for a second candidate, the Secretary of State record for Digital Marketing Productions LLC, a signed June 2024 note about a Republican caucus, and a subfolder of social media advertising. |
| 05 — Retaliation | A witness filing and a call log screenshot. The thinnest folder in the set; most of what section 5 rests on sits in the witness transcripts. |
| 06 — HR, ADA, FMLA and confidentiality | The county employee handbook as amended, a linked social media post, and a discrimination charge filed by a county employee. We do not link that charge directly; see the note above. |
| 07 — Abuse of power, nepotism, preferential hiring | The health department administrator's documentation, the former health officer's statement, the caucus note, and a summary of a lawsuit involving an area plan official. |
| Witness transcripts and summaries | Around 45 files: full interview transcripts and short summaries for the county administrator, HR staff, the IT manager and a second IT employee, the county clerk, the assessor, the health department administrator, the former treasurer, the court bailiff, a former HR manager and others. |
| The whole file | The top level, including the report itself and the memorandum appointing the investigators. |
Folders as the county organized them. Numbers match the report's section numbers, so section 3 of the report is the 03 folder. Contents described from a listing taken September 2, 2026; folders can change.
Public records inside the file, linked individually
| Document | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Investigation appointment memorandum | How the investigation was set up and who was authorized to conduct it. The document behind the report's Background section. |
| Grant County access policy for the Verkada camera system | The county's own written rule for who may use the cameras and how. The yardstick the surveillance allegations are measured against. |
| Verkada audit log export, August 17–24, 2026 | The machine record of camera access. Section 2's figures — the viewing sessions and audio-change events — come from data of this kind. |
| IT help desk tickets | The tickets the IT manager says he opened to document requests, including the HR camera audio request. |
| County Ordinance 14 (2025), commissioners carrying on county property | The firearms ordinance witnesses connect to the elevator allegation in section 1. |
| Commissioners meeting minutes, February 18, 2025 | Contemporaneous county record from the period section 2 covers. |
| Poling conflict-of-interest forms | The filings section 3 says disclosed the plumbing business but not the real-estate company. |
| Quitclaim deed | The property transfer from Chomp Properties to Digital Marketing Productions LLC described in section 3. |
| Assessed value of the quitclaimed property | Where the $37,100 figure in the report can be checked. |
| Indiana Secretary of State record, Digital Marketing Productions LLC | Who owns the company that received the deed. |
| Poling campaign finance forms (CAN-2, CAN-12) | State campaign finance filings behind section 4. |
| Randy Adkins campaign finance forms (CFA-4) | A second candidate's filings, cited on the question of undisclosed advertising. |
| Grant County employee handbook, as amended | The policy framework the HR allegations in section 6 are measured against. |
| United States v. Miller, 159 F.3d 1106 (7th Cir. 1998) | The published federal appellate opinion the report cites for the 1998 perjury finding. A court document, citable and checkable. |
| Election board meeting video, February 27, 2024 | The recording the report says corroborates the "go outside" exchange with the election board chair. |
| Camera audit log export, May 21–August 16, 2026 | The longer of the county's two exports: 3,971 rows, all under Poling's user name. With the August export it makes the report's 4,870 events and 137 audio changes exactly. |
| The March 24, 2026 camera archive | The camera system's export of the tour as an incident: 34 clips and 454 stills from sixteen cameras, 2.9 GB, with the system's own timeline inside. Too large to host; the timeline opens on a card in section 4. |
| Help desk tickets filed under the commissioners | A 45-ticket export of the commissioners' own tickets, January to December 2025, including the February access restriction and the October camera request that open on cards in section 2. |
| Additional documentation of July 1, 2025 | The deputy's own report of the day and the prosecutor's office emails sending the witness statements to the Indiana State Police; three pages open on cards in sections 1 and 2. |
| Indiana Secretary of State record, Chuck's Sewer & Drain Cleaning, Inc. | The plumbing company's corporate record, as pulled July 29, 2026. |
| Indiana Secretary of State record, Chomp Properties, Inc. | The real estate company's corporate record, same principal address, as pulled July 29, 2026. |
| Accounts payable vouchers and invoices, Chuck's Sewer & Drain | 105 pages of county vouchers and the company's invoices behind them. |
| Time cards and invoices, side by side | A 12-page county file pairing maintenance time cards with the company's invoices. |
| Maintenance time cards, March 23–April 5, 2026 | Scanned time cards for the pay period that includes March 24, one of the two dates section 3 names. |
| Maintenance time cards, May 4–17, 2026 | Scanned time cards for a second pay period, in the same folder. |
| Salin building project spreadsheet | The county's spreadsheet on the former Salin Bank renovation, behind the bidding-threshold question in section 3. |
| Signed note on the June 17, 2024 Republican caucus | Poling's own one-paragraph statement as a precinct committeeman: that the validity of those voting was questioned at the caucus and the vote might need to be redone. |
| Glancy v. Harris, docket summary | The public case summary of the area plan director's 2024 suit against the clerk, filed July 15, 2024 and decided December 9, 2024. Section 7 of the report mentions the suit. |
| Ordinance 6-2025, county bank accounts | Requires county funds to be deposited with the treasurer and bars separate accounts by county offices; recorded June 16, 2025. |
| Ordinance 9-2025, amending it | Exempts the health department; recorded July 1, 2025. |
| Commissioners' memorandum of July 21, 2025 | The directive to elected officials and department heads on complying with the bank account ordinance. |
| Camera export, September 27, 2024 | Seven minutes from the parking-lot camera the report cites for the recorder's umbrella account; no sound. It plays on her card in section 1. |
| Chronicle-Tribune audio of the May 19, 2025 meeting | The newspaper's thirty-minute recording the report cites for the minutes missing from the county's video, as the county published it. |
These are documents that exist as public records in their own right — ordinances, minutes, court opinions, state filings, campaign finance forms, county policies and machine-generated logs. They can be checked against the office or court that issued them, which is why we link them one by one. Witness statements, medical records and private messages are reachable through the folders above and are not itemized here.
How this page was made, and what we left out
Every card opens a page. The report's cards open the county's PDF at the page quoted, with the sentence boxed. Witness cards open the county's interview transcript. The county published those as Word files, and OurWeek converted them to PDF so they would have page numbers and searchable text; the page numbers on the cards are ours, and the county's files are linked from every card and from the witness table. Exhibits open the county's own PDFs, except the help desk tickets and the camera log, which the county published as spreadsheets. Those cards open OurWeek's rendering of the export, with the file name, a checksum and the rendering date printed on every sheet. Recordings open the county's video of the September 2 session at the second cited.
We are quoting the report, not confirming it. OurWeek has not interviewed the fifteen witnesses or examined the invoices line by line. Where this page says something happened, read it as: the report says a witness said so. The county's six camera exports from July 1, 2025 open on this page from its data room; OurWeek looked at them to identify each camera and the minutes it covers, and has not reviewed any other footage. Where the report says video corroborates an account, that is the report's characterization. Where OurWeek counted something itself, the page says so in the section headed "What we checked ourselves."
We are not repeating the expunged criminal record. Section 1 opens with a passage on Poling's criminal history as discussed among county employees. The report itself states that he obtained expungement of that record. Indiana law treats expunged records differently from ordinary public records, and parts of that passage rest on newspaper clippings and on what witnesses recalled hearing rather than on court records the report produces. The report also floats, and immediately concedes would need "further corroboration," a claim about his eligibility to hold office. We are not printing any of it. It is in the PDF at printed page 2 if you want to read it.
We name officials, not staff. Elected and appointed officials, and the heads of county departments, are named. Rank-and-file county employees who described what happened to them are identified by their office. A quotation is the witness's own words and is left as spoken. That applies with particular force to the employee whose medical leave the report treats as a privacy violation, who is not named or described here beyond the fact of the allegation.
Four kinds of file we do not link directly. A named employee's discrimination charge and the medical detail in it; the criminal-history clippings; private text messages between two employees; and a court order about a third party's own expungement. All are reachable through the county's folders.
If you find something we got wrong, tell us and we will correct it on this page, with a note saying what changed.
Sources and methods
Everything on this page comes from the county's own release of September 2, 2026: the report PDF, the fifteen witness transcripts, the exhibits in the county's data room, and the county's recording of the special session. Every card opens the page or the second cited. Where OurWeek counted something itself, the page says so and links the file it counted.