Missing Public Works money investigated

Mason County Public Works Department “immediately strengthened internal controls” and implemented new procedures to deal with cash after the state Auditor’s Office found almost $50,000 went missing in 2021, according to an investigation report released Oct. 19.

In September 2021, the county discovered money in a deposit bag from one of the landfill stations was not properly deposited after a customer called to ask why a check payment made a month earlier hadn’t cleared.

When the county investigated, it found money from several deposit bags were missing and notified the Mason County Sheriff’s Office and the state auditor, according to the auditor’s report.

Officials identified 55 missing deposit bags, totaling $47,582.

During its investigation, the auditor’s office reviewed county procedures for handling money at the transfer stations. The county employed 11 solid waste attendants in 2021 who collected dump fees, put the funds in deposit bags and took them to a safe at the Shelton Transfer Station. Then a manager took the bags to the Public Works Department where a senior accounting technician verified the contents for deposit, the report states.

“The county could not assign responsibility because it could not determine when the bags disappeared between the attendants filling them and the accounting technicians preparing deposits,” the report says.

The auditor expanded the investigation by extending the period under review for three months, from April 10, 2021, to Oct. 24, 2021, and found an additional $6 missing, but also couldn’t find out who took the funds, the report says.

Officials interviewed solid waste staff, but the results were “inconclusive,” according to the auditor.

The investigation found the county didn’t have adequate controls in place to ensure all dump fees collected were deposited and that all deposit bags were collected each day with a documented chain of custody.

The county responded with immediate changes, the report states.

“The county wishes to assure the public and its employees that additional measures have and will continue to be implemented and monitored for the protection of both. The Public Works Department immediately strengthened internal controls to safeguard and monitor access to funds awaiting deposit, and revised reconciliation procedures,” Mason County Public Works Director Loretta Swanson said in a statement.

New procedures enacted by the

county include installing cameras to monitor safe openings, using locking deposit bags, installing a cardlock to identify who enters the safe room and implementing a clear chain of custody for deposits that are transported from field locations to the Public Works office, according to the report.

Swanson told the Journal that the department will continue to provide training on the new procedures to all employees. “It’s not a one and done,” she said.

While any amount of misappropriated money is concerning, Swanson said the transfer stations collected $5.36 million in 2021, $5.6 million in 2022 and are on track to collect $6 million in 2023.

The lost money, minus a $5,000 deductible, were recovered through the county’s insurance, Swanson said.

The auditor has referred the case to the Mason County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, according to Adam Wilson with the state Auditor’s Office.