$1,500 called into question by Chickasaw County officials

By James Grob, news@nhtrib.com

The Chickasaw County Board of Supervisors held a special meeting on Thursday in reaction to a state auditor’s report issued Wednesday afternoon and made public on Thursday morning.

The report by state Auditor Mary Mosiman stated that Chickasaw County officials need to better determine and document the public purpose of certain expenditures, and called into question about $1,500 worth of questionable expenditures made by the county.

It also recommended that the county establish better procedures for postage and landline phone claims, cellphone policies, review of employee time sheets, proper documentation of vacation payouts, and pop machine receipts.

Chairman Tim Zoll and supervisors Jacob Hackman, David Tilkes and Dan Carolan were all present. Supervisor Steve Geerts was absent.

“Today is not the day to make any decisions,” said Zoll. “We need to thoroughly review this audit and then decide what we want to do.”

The agenda for the meeting suggested that the board might go into closed session, but Chickasaw County Attorney Jennifer Schwickerath advised the board members they could not go into closed session because they could not declare any exemption under Iowa law that would allow them to do so.

Zoll expressed his surprise that the audit was made public so quickly. County officials were notified by email on Wednesday that the audit was complete, and the report was made available online to the public at 8 a.m. Thursday.

“I had no clue it was going to be public within 24 hours when I received the email,” Zoll said.

“It did say the date was in there,” responded Chickasaw County auditor and board secretary Joan Knoll. “The email said Nov. 9.”

“I just thought they would give us a couple more days notice,” Zoll said. “I apologize to everyone. I didn’t realize this would be public so fast.

The audit report was for the period from July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2016. The audit also covered items applicable to the period July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017, and was requested by a county official due to concerns regarding county employees’ paid leave and the hiring of the Veterans Affairs director.

Schwickerath said that representatives from Chickasaw County had already responded to all of the recommendations outlined in the audit.

“The auditors accepted all our responses,” she said. “We need to make sure all of our policies are in writing. We need to make sure we comply with the state auditor’s recommendations. The first step is for an additional investigation to be done.

According to the report, in January 2017 the Veterans Affairs director resigned his position. In April 2017, the county paid a former member of the board of supervisors $202 for 15 hours worked while acting as the Veterans Affairs director.

However, the former board member had not been officially hired for this position by the Veterans Commission, so the county made the payment through accounts payable rather than payroll and the appropriate federal and state taxes were not withheld.

“We voted to do this at a public meeting, and you were right there,” Supervisor Carolan said to Assistant County Attorney Mark Huegel, who was at the meeting Thursday. “Why didn’t you say anything to us? We didn’t know we shouldn’t do that. You didn’t say anything.

In addition, the individual had access to confidential and other county information for a period of time that only someone officially hired for the position should have had access to.

“I just wanted to mention that I talked to Human Resources consultant Paul Greufe — he told me he was very concerned about giving keys out to non-employees,” said Supervisor Hackman.

Schwickerath suggested that once the supervisors and the department heads looked fully into the report, they might want to do more than what the state auditor suggests.

“The county is committed to following through with the state, but you aren’t limited to just the state’s recommendations,” she said. “You can go beyond what the state recommends.

The audit identified certain expenditures that may not meet the requirements of public purpose since the public benefits to be derived have not been clearly documented.

According to the opinion, it is possible for certain expenditures to meet the test of serving a public purpose under certain circumstances, although such items “will certainly be subject to a deserved close scrutiny.”

“The line to be drawn between a proper and an improper purpose is very thin,” the audit said.

“The boards all need to better document the public purpose for all expenditures,” Schwickerath said.

Among the expenditures in question in the audit report:

• The Department of Conservation, $23 to Wilshire’s Awards N Time in New Hampton for a plaque for a retiring board member.

• The Department of Sanitation, $90 to Linda’s Photos to Go for 40 unknown items.

• Various departments paid $50 to various places as expenses for a Christmas Party.

• The Department of Emergency Management paid a total of $1,419 to various establishments.

“I let all the department heads know this was public,” Schwickerath said. “I think it’s important for all departments, whether they are mentioned in the audit or not, to review their policies.

The audit report also recommended time sheets should be reviewed and approved by supervisory personnel prior to the preparation of payroll. County Assessor Doug Welton questioned that recommendation.

“I don’t understand why that’s in there about time sheets,” Welton said. “I always approve and sign all the time sheets myself. I don’t know where they’re getting that, I don’t.”

“I’m not sure the state auditors had a complete understanding of how things are done here,” Schwickerath responded.

The audit report addressed the cellphone, postage and phone claims of the county attorney, and recommended the county establish a formal policy to regulate the reimbursement of personal cell phone costs.

The report said the county will now establish a formal cellphone policy to regulate the reimbursement of personal cellphone costs. The board did not address that issue on Thursday.

The audit also found that receipts for pop machine sales were not deposited intact. Each year collections are reduced by $50 and this amount is used to help cover costs related to the annual employee Christmas party. The report recommended that all receipts be deposited intact.

“As county employees, we all need to be responsible for our actions, and for the taxpayers’ money,” Hackman said, just before the meeting concluded.