ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. -- The Arapahoe County Treasurer, like many elected officials, answers only to the voters as to how much he works and how much vacation he takes.

But a CALL7 Investigation raises questions about Treasurer Doug Milliken’s work ethic.

“There was days that he didn't even bother coming in," says Jan Nielson, former deputy treasurer, who came forward to expose the lack of accountability after she was forced to retire by Milliken.

“How often do you recall Mr. Milliken working five days and forty hours?” asked CALL7 Investigator Tony Kovaleski.

“Never," Nielson answered.

Records, former employees and sources within the county building show that Milliken is often absent from work. Many times he only spends a few hours a day at the office, the sources say. CALL7 Investigators also followed Milliken on several days, finding him at the grocery store and a local recreation center during work hours.

Milliken makes $87,000 a year and oversees hundreds of millions of dollars in county tax money. He is responsible for investing the money and says that he works more than 40 hours a week though it might not be in the office.

“I work very hard at least five days a week if not seven days a week," Milliken told Kovaleski.

The computer analysis of parking records supplied by the county showing days with a logged entry and exit, indicates 58-percent of the time the treasurer was in the office less than four hours.

In 60 percent of those weeks, Milliken is at the county building three days or less.

“Do you know what those records show?” Kovaleski asked.

“Well if you look at these very incomplete list of records you might say that I wasn't in and out of the garage... but I was," Milliken said.

The county keeps a computerized record of employees entering the garage by entry card. The record, however, is erased if no one runs a report for several months. It also does not record individuals if they follow another employee into the garage or out of the building. At other times the garage door was propped open for repairs and there is no recording of employees entering the building.

The records, provided by the county, show 20 complete weeks.

Milliken said he often works early in the morning from home or is out at meetings. His job isn’t necessarily at the county building, he contends. He said the best proof that he is doing well in his job is that county investments earned $3.7 million more than under the previous treasurer.

At CALL7 Investigators' request, Milliken provided his calendar, which shows that he checks the markets from home at 7 a.m., but on the day of the interview he could not describe what happened in the foreign markets that morning.

He also conceded that he made changes or added entries into his calendar from memory after Kovaleski asked for the records.

Milliken also said he works from his cell phone/PDA, but refused to show 7NEWS the web history on the device or his calendar on his computer during the interview. Milliken refused several attempts by 7NEWS to review the work history on his county-owned electronic devices that could have confirmed his claim that he often works away from the office.

"Can you bring up your history?” Kovaleski asked.

“I don't know I am interested in doing that," Milliken answered.