CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — An audit conducted by the state for the fiscal year that ended in June 2014 is recommending that Harrison County develop adequate policies when it comes to reimbursing county employees and constitutional officers in order to be more transparent with taxpayer money.
Commission President Ron Watson said after Thursday’s meeting he believes his fellow constitutional officers share his desire to be open to the public and they will be able to follow the suggestions.
“When I am shown that I haven’t been accountable or that I erred somewhere, it’s not premeditated,” he said. “It’s because I either didn’t know or wasn’t sure. Whatever comes up out of that, then I’ll act accordingly based on that.”
Three of the four reimbursements questioned by the audit involved county-sponsored travel taken by Commissioner Bernie Fazzini, in which he either provided a summary statement rather than an itemized receipts or deducted funds spent on a family member from his claim so that the county would not pay for it rather than requesting split bills.
“Proper controls dictate that the County Commission should have policies and procedures in place to ensure that all expenditures made are for county business only,” the auditor wrote in a draft of their findings.
Fazzini is currently under indictment in Harrison County Circuit Court on felony fraud charges related to alleged improper reimbursements received while on county-sponsored trips.
An arraignment for that case was scheduled for January 11 after two county prosecutors recused themselves from the case due to conflict of interest.
The state Ethics Commission took up similar charges against the commissioner and resolved them in May with a conciliation agreement which stated that there was no finding of intent, but he would still be subject to training on the West Virginia Ethics Act, pay a fine of $3,500 and reimburse the county $298.08–the amount the Ethics Commission determined he improperly received.
Findings in the audit related to Fazzini have been brought up either in the criminal case or in the Ethics Commission proceedings, according to County Administrator Willie Parker.
Fazzini at Thursday’s meeting asked if a more detailed policy needed to be put in place and whether the current one applies to constitutional officers the same way it does to county employees.
If a new policy were to be put in place, it would aim to stay the current course when dealing with reimbursements, according to Watson.
“This board has the final approval on approving the expenses for anything that a commissioner has done, or another constitutional officer, to make sure that it’s accountable and that the costs are all legitimate costs, and so on.”
The commission did not finalize their response to the finding involving Expenditures, as Commissioner Frank “Chunki” Angotti wanted to look over the reimbursements in question (Angotti has repeatedly brought up Fazzini’s travel and called for his resignation after the conciliation agreement and indictment).
The reimbursements were one of eight findings that also included:
-Not properly including taxable fringe benefits for county employees on Form W-2
-Reporting on mileage on Gasoline Logs for two county vehicles
-One former temporary, part-time employee within the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office did not submit sufficient timesheets
-A lack of adequate policies and procedures regarding bank errors, deposits in transit and outstanding checks in the Sheriff’s tax office
-A lack of monthly financial statements from the Sheriff’s Department in a timely manner
-A lack of monthly financial statements from the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in a timely manner
-A lack of controls to ensure the proper approval of expenditures.
On the last point, the auditor claimed the County Commission “was not approving a detailed listing of invoices during regularly scheduled meetings with them being voted on as a singular item on the weekly Consent Agenda.
The county quickly put a policy in place to remedy this issue.
“What the Clerk and our Administrator worked out is that they will attach with the minutes a computerized copy of all the expenditures,” Watson said. “Companies, whoever received it as well as the check and all that and I think that’s what the auditor was looking for.”
In the next few weeks, the commission will work to address and put policies in place for the remaining recommendations.
“Everybody has a right to know what we’re doing,” Watson said. “If a flaw has been recognized by the auditor, then we’re going to take care of it and move forward. Hopefully, during our time on the bench we’ll not repeat that.”
The commission will have to approve their response to each item before sending it back to the State Auditor’s Office, which could be done during its first meeting of the new year.