OCR Text |
Show _Opinion JuLy 20, 1999 and Editorial __ ee CouNTY Lost Audit Problems In layman’s terms the auditors District (JSSD) to task for improper the County responded, “We agree with need of additional funds for comple- the finding and will implement the rec- tion of the sewer and water lines to the ommendation.” The recommendation was that, “financial duties be properly separated. c Even though the county agreed to implement this recommendation, it wasn’t until two years later when some concerned citizens brought this to the attention of the commissioners that the change was made. e Why did it take so long? might have said, “If business owners let their employees write their own checks, those businesses run the risk of having their costs go through the accounting practices. It wasn’t until this year when Ralph Duke and Mike Kohler were elected that there was finally a separation of accounting duties in the JSSD. Loren Provost did O08!’ i -1997, Leeroy Farrell’s Western — Both LeeRoy Farrell and Dan Land and Water collected over not address these concerns about inter- _ nal controls while he was the chairman of the Wasatch County Commission. When LeeRoy Farrell was the head . of the JSSD he had check writing authority for his own checks. Dan Matthews, the current head of the __JSSD, also had this check writing $115,000 in management fees from two SSDs. In 1997 Dan Matthews col- Matthews explained that these audit -concems were probably not taken care lected’ over $25,000 in addition to his regular salary as County Attorney. Both may have also worked for addi- of immediately since the county had to have enough additional accounting work to justify hiring an additional person. Commissioner Provost was | not available for comment. tional SSDs besides the Jordanelle Special Service District and the Twin Creeks Special Service District. This authority when he was serving as a Getting There cannot be confirmed since the 1997 consultant to the Special Service SSD files are incomplete. When this internal accounting concern was brought before the County District during his tenure as County. Attorney. In dry accounting terms the audi- PAGE 5 | In The News tors stated, “Currently, some operating and financial functions at the District are performed by a single person. The lack of segregation of duties poses an internal control problem.” HEBER- For three straight years, beginning in 1996, the firm of Hawkins Cloward & Simister has taken the Jordanelle Special Service COURIER HEBER - The Wasaich Chee Olympic site, Soldier Hollow, is in SLOC president, Mitt Romney, announced a week ago that the 2002 Olympic budget was being cut by $113 million. The slashing at SLOC combined with the lack of funds for Soldier Hollow have officials wondering _ where the funds will come from. Local Heber resident, Luke Bodensteiner, was appointed to the SLOC three weeks ago as an Athlete Representative. Bodensteiner’s appointment is the first step in the right direction for a voice of represen_tation on SLOC from Wasatch County. Wasatch County Olympic coordinator, Bob Mathis, applauds the appointment of Bodensteiner as a move in the right direction, but realizes that the future economic stability of the site calls for a greater representation from Wasatch County on SLOC. nice Commission in 1996 by the auditors, “site. Letters to the Editor More Leaders _dom as being won on.a battlefront. ‘But freedom live in, saying no to politicians who have made the job to serve, the job of take. We need a larger group of I applaud your new paper and your . Commissioners, not a higher paid threeformat. It is healthy to have more than some. Commissioners with a salary of one window when trying to see the whole 55k make it a career. Wages would make oe ia " eae PTE i aes CEE +9 ee view! Thank you for your up-front fatter bureaucrats. Look on Capital Hill, approach. I would encourage more people we don’t need any more! Let’s work on to take the hands on approach to issues in voting a 5 to 7 member commission our county. Reading the proceedings of where we could have a rep from each of the county is- only part of the process. the areas, Daniel, Wallsburg, Midway, Attending meetings, voting and voicing etc. Other counties have done it. Growth your views is American. As was stated in has required the change. Wages for your first edition, we have different views Commissioners are lower, input is higher. and opinions. (Freedom allows for those Isn’t that the way America was formed? to be expressed.) We are also a governTo have a voice and be represented? ment established for and by the people, As our county has grown we have not for and by the politicians. — added more hoops to slow the process However, most of the time we as citirather than make solutions. Policies and -zens have felt muffled instead of heard: If codes we have spoken up we are classified as radical. When in fact we are more conser- there were too many people clamoring at have been the door. Adding vative than those that speak for us are. overlooked hoops, because perhaps was thought to slow the process, but it has send — only added to the pot. Since policies were letters for sponsorship with Olympic flair not upheld each case in Wasatch County on a bill we already pay. That we are payhas been dealt with case by case. ing to cast cement, with Olympic seals (Wasting everyone’s time and money.) and the year 2002, yet have no complete Thursday’s rules were different than It sickens me that bureaucrats roads - its seems we hired the interior Tuesday’s and if you were on the inside track there were no rules. For those of us designer before we constructed the home. Does our hospitality fix our roads or add who have built or tried to build we can tax dollars to our budget? (If so, H bake _ some rolls!) We are facing some serious issues and the Olympics are only one in a list too long to write. Our taxes are too high, our wages too low. We are building for the elite to come and burdening the middle attest to that! | So now we have the pot full and the new additions daily. How do you manage a full boiling pot? I think that the Commissioners have tried to do what they thought to be right. Control is easier than committees. However, we need more voice. We need to have a say. We need to have more public an and less executive class. Isn’t the safety of all the families important? When fire breaks out, is the hill put out faster than the farm, track meetings. houses hotels, etc.? Why does the dollar — Meetings — be held wet the insure protection? We are footing the bill. public is home to attend, with room large It-is past time that the middle man stand. enough for a crowd. Where in all the tax up, even when the bulk of the burdens on paid buildings can you hold more than 60 people? Does 60 people represent the our backs. It is the defending of freedom that freedom is won. Most think of free- EDITOR POLICY whole county? is standing up in the town you Editor: LETTERS TO THE I grow weary of We invite the submission of reader opinion letters for publication in The Wasatch County Courier. We will do our best to print all letters we receive. We promise not to pick and ees comment that cit- izens don’t care and won’t come. Give them a chance, don’t assume anything. Ask questions, look, listen, watch, stand up and be a choose which ones to publish based part. Being informed and on our own agenda. However, a few rules are probably in order. 1. We reserve the right not to print letters we deem to be inflammatory, factually inaccurate or with unsupported accusations. 2. We apologize in advance if we are unable to print your letter because of space considerations. But, please, don’t stop writing. We will try our best to print your next letter. aware is healthy for all of us. If we are in trouble by financial debt then let’s call the neighbors on the hill, who we are building for, and get them to help. We are all part, we all belong. We all put our pants on one leg at a time. We all — need to pitch in and help. Julie Owens 3. We will print letters as they are submitted, with spelling and gram- matical errors. This is not because we want to embarrass or ridicule writers with their errors. It is because we do not want to unintentionally change the meaning of your letter. Some letters are written in character with. intentional errors to emphasize aa Editor: point. We will be glad to proof and cor- First, let me say that I am so excited about a second publication to inform the rect any letters that have a written request to do so after the signature. citizens about the happenings in Wasatch Of course, we won’t print that County. I was very impressed with your layout and presentation of the Courier request in The Courier. news. Keep up the great work! _ Now let me respond to Mr. Allen’s column [Courier July 7]. I do agree with 4. We give priority to letters sub- a couple of points that Mr. Allen made. mitted on 3 1/2 floppy disks in text only format. Please keep your letters Specifically, I agree it is harder for the part-time commission to regulate the | under 500 words. We do reserve the lives of citizens. I think that is should be right to edit long letters for brevity. All letters must include a signature and a phone number. Please bring a photo ID with your submitted letter. The Courier will confirm the identity of the writer. We will not print your letter see conformation. for commissioners to do so. Next, I also agree that poor planning leads to poor performance such as “creative accounting.” Where I disagree with Mr. Allen is in the solution. He proposes a full-time commission. I disagree. Let me explain. A full-time commission will not . increase the knowledge, education or experience of commissioners in relationship to the public government nor the nuances of working with department heads and the public. A full-time commis-. . You are also invited to come to our Office and write your letter at one of our computers. Please call 6542661 in advance to schedulea time on one of our machines. . : The Wasatch Coins) Courier is not responsible for, nor do letters to the editor express the views of The Wasatch County Courier. The Wasatch County Courier cannot and does not vouch for the accuracy or validity of any Letters to the Editor. see OPTIONS on page 6 _ — a ee ee ee Seb eete titer erence ee RRS KE CEE ffeer re ee SESS KP OSs Tet PFS ES ew eee Ses |