An inspector general position will not return to Loudoun County government, the Board of Supervisors determined earlier this month.

Instead, the county will establish a “waste, fraud and abuse hotline” to serve as a publicly available structure for county residents and employees to report any concerns or wrongdoing. The hotline will be managed by a third-party vendor, according to county officials.

The Board of Supervisors decision follows a recommendation from the board-appointed Government Reform Commission that determined an inspector general wasn't necessary.

Loudoun County had an inspector general from 1992 to 1997. In its report, the reform commission stated the previous inspector general position did not work “due to inadequate direction, definition and oversight, and because it became a political tool to investigate elected officials and county staff whose positions were sometimes at odds with the majority view.”


-Trevor Baratko