Fallout Over Jonestown Windmill Scam

Members of the Jonestown City Council voted not to renew City Administrator Dan Dodson’s contract during a special meeting today. The council held the meeting regarding the fraud investigation over a questionable wind power project that Dodson had a hand in getting approved.

On Friday afternoon, Jonestown residents filed into the town council chambers to see whether or not Dodson would be fired over his role in the wind power project scandal. According to court records, Dodson helped his friend, Charles Malouff, get the $2 million in federal grant money to finance the building of 18 windmills to be used as an alternative energy source. Only a few of the windmills ever saw completion, and investigators claim they do not work and were merely part of an elaborate scam.

Investigators say Malouff's girlfriend, Mary Jo Woodall, who worked in the State Comptrollers Office at the time, processed the grant money and helped manipulate paperwork in order to get the project approved.

Dodson’s contract as City Administrator ends on December 17, but the city of Jonestown will keep him on as a temporary at-will employee for at least the next two months, giving him time to complete several important projects.