July 2, 2017

To:

From: Tim Flora, Finance Director

Subject:

Here are areas of concern that were investigated by myself and regarding
. While I involved and in May
regarding an audit review of the County’s Retirement/Retention Incentive, the information below were
items that arose as a result of events between Wednesday, June 21 and Friday, June 23. Based on these
events and a review of financial records and limited conversations with some staff, I believe
has been involved in the following abuses: use of other staff member’s purchase cards
(pcard) contrary to County policy, misuse of County resources, falsifying timecard records, and coercion
of subordinate staff to take an inappropriate action. Below is information that was obtained during an
investigation done between Monday, June 26 and Friday, June 30, 2017. We have stopped
investigation pending further direction.

Use of Staff Purchase Cards: requested the pcard information of two County
administrative staff ( and ) in two different County departments and over an
extended period of time used this information to make what appears to be inappropriate purchases.

• Email between and regarding the purchase of Bose radio system in May has
documented the use of pcard.
• I have documented a conversation with and myself where says requested a
copy of pcard and used it occasionally. We also have email conversations between
and where tells has made purchases.

Misuse of County Resources via the County Purchase Card Program:

• Bose radio (purchased in May) appears in vacated office on Monday morning,

June 26. On two occasions the week prior I had been in vacated office to meet with
. The radio was not there. It’s probable that knew I had the pcards of
and canceled on Thursday and Friday and suspected I may have been doing some
preliminary investigating.
• An envelope of gift cards totaling $14,400 was given to by
on Monday morning, June 26. I learned on Friday, June 23 that makes “thousands
of dollars” of gift card purchases. The envelope contained all gift cards purchased in April 2017.
In an interview with on Thursday, June 29, said gift cards were for
use and kept in a secure location in office. Temporary office of last few
weeks did not have a secure location, and if these cards were purchased for a legitimate
purchase, would have given them to Finance to store in Finance safe. Subsequent
Internal Audit review indicates thousands of dollars of gift cards have been purchased over the
past several years.

1|Tim Flora, Finance Director

 • One large iPad Pro and two small iPads were requested by to be purchased on
pcard after announced retirement. indicated the larger iPad
was to replace one broken by . In the interview of on Thursday, June 29,
could not recall needed this iPad. Typically, when an iPad or
iPhone is broken and needs replaced or issued new, comes to me to coordinate with the
IT Department. I had no knowledge of this replacement. The large iPad has not been accounted
for nor been questioned about this.
• While there was vague documentation provided by on certain pcard purchases
made on card, we were able to drill into the Bank of America WORKS system to pull
detailed purchase information. On two occasions where used pcard, questionable
household items were purchased and delivered to home address. These included two
side chairs, a table, decorative pieces, and two twin bed quilts. said the chairs, table, and
decorative pieces were in office suite. could not remember anything about the twin bed
quilts. Both the and I searched the entire County spaces of 200 College Street
and none of these items were located.

Falsifying Timecard Records: stands to benefit greatly from the sale of accrued
annual leave time and perceived understanding of ability to sell earned comp time. Because of
reporting 100 additional hours worked over regular time (80 hours over a two-week time
period), I had Internal Audit review timesheets, which auto-approve. No annual or sick leave
has been taken over the two-year time period of the cursory review and an excessive amount of comp
time hours have been recorded over the past year. Not much time was spent on this review due to time
constraints.

Coercion of Subordinate Staff to Take an Inappropriate Action: Not much action has been taken in this
area due to time constraints, although I document in a Memorandum of Record on June 21, 2017 in a
meeting with myself, and , attempt to prevent us from asking
certain procedural and qualification questions of the State retirement system regarding benefits was
receiving. In another instance, explained a situation where
and asked to alter documents
that were later distributed to WLOS. said this situation made extremely uncomfortable but it
had been made clear to from (while decision was being made about getting a
permanent position with the County) that any work for was confidential and should not be discussed
with anyone.

END OF DOCUMENT: By Tim Flora, Finance Director, July 2, 2017

2|Tim Flora, Finance Director