Iowa Auditor of State Mary Mosiman Thursday (today) released a report on a special investigation of the City of Menlo for the period January 1st, 2001 through May 31st, 2013. The special investigation was requested by City officials as a result of concerns regarding certain transactions prepared by the former City Clerk, Brenda Simmons.

Mosiman reported the special investigation identified $82,893.51 of improper and unsupported disbursements. The slightly more than $81,632 worth of improper disbursements identified include:
• Over $62,362 worth of payments made by the City for health insurance coverage which
should have been paid by Ms. Simmons and the City’s former maintenance employee, John Freeman,
• Approximately $6,430 worth of unauthorized payroll and the City’s share of related FICA and IPERS payments,
•Nearly $12,680 of additional payroll issued to Ms. Simmons because of an improper increase in hourly wages and the City’s share of related FICA and IPERS payments, and
• And $160 of interest paid to IPERS.

The slightly more than $1,260 of unsupported disbursements identified includes just over $1,073 worth of payments to Ms. Simmons and almost $188 worth of payments to Simmons’ husband. Mosiman reported it was not possible to determine if additional improper disbursements were made because sufficient records were not readily available.

The report includes recommendations to strengthen the City’s internal controls and overall operations, such as improving segregation of duties, performing bank reconciliations, requiring adequate documentation to support disbursements, and performing an independent review of bank statements. In addition, all disbursements should be approved by the City Council.

Copies of the report have been filed with the Division of Criminal Investigation, the Guthrie County Attorney’s Office, and the Attorney General’s Office. A copy of the report is available for review on the Auditor of State’s website at http://auditor.iowa.gov/specials/1322-0367-BE00.pdf
and in the Office of Auditor of State.