An area city has received the report back from the State Auditor’s Office.
According to a press release from the city, in October 2017, a group of citizens brought to the attention of the Glasgow City Council a number of questionable expenditures related to the then city administrator, who was also the chief of police. Upon receiving the information provided by these citizens, Councilman (Chris) Damron, Mayor (Fred) Foley and City Attorney (Randall) Barron conducted a lengthy review of these expenditures, which included credit-card and firearm purchases. At a special session on October 19, 2017, the council met in closed session with the city administrator in relation to the purchases, and the city administrator was placed on administrative leave for 30 days, pending further inquiry; and he subsequently resigned as city administrator and chief of police, effective November 19, 2017.
Thousands of dollars are missing, city funds were used to pay a personal credit card and firearms are unaccounted for, according to an audit of Glasgow released by State Auditor Nicole Galloway. The suspicious activity took place under the supervision of a former city administrator, Kevin Atwood, who was responsible for many of the city’s accounting functions.
Atwood became the city’s police chief in 2004, a position he continued to hold after being appointed as city administrator in 2013.
The audit found missing cash totaling more than $4,000. Approximately $3,200 went missing from bulk water sales. According to records, over nearly four years, an estimated 608,000 gallons were distributed by an automatic distribution system. While this should have resulted in $3,800 in funds, records indicate only $552 was received by the city. The former city administrator was the only employee with access to the funds at this time. Additionally, a check was written to the former city administrator for $1,050 for a “drug buy,” but there is no evidence that such a buy took place.
The audit also found the former city administrator directed city staff to pay his personal credit-card bills. Of the $5,500 paid by the city, nearly $4,000 of the charges were improper or personal in nature. This included online purchases from Amazon and video game subscriptions. The city recouped some of the funds, but $2,700 has yet to be repaid.
The audit also questioned the cost effectiveness of phone lines, smart phones and a tablet computer purchased by the former city administrator and brought forward concerns that the former city administrator may have used city fuel for his personal vehicle.
Additional concerns were identified within the city’s clothing allowance program. Under the program, the city would purchase both work-related and personal items for employees, and allow the employees to reimburse the city through their clothing allowance and payroll deductions. This included allowing employees working for the police department to purchase firearms.
Poor record keeping made it difficult to determine what was actually purchased and whether the item was purchased for personal or official use. The former city administrator purchased eight firearms over a four-year period through this program, and several other officers of the city used the program to purchase firearms. At least three firearms purchased by the city are not in inventory, were not reimbursed by an officer through the program and are considered missing.
The release from the city says “As part of the audit, the Auditor has made a number of recommendations to the city in an effort to provide more oversight of city employees and to minimize the opportunity for misuse of city resources in the future. The city has begun implementing some of these policies and will be moving forward with establishing a number of new policies and procedures as suggested by the Auditor.”
The full report, which received an overall rating of poor, is available at <http://app.auditor.mo.gov/Repository/Press/2018100583533.pdf>.