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faith in their elected and appointed of-
ficials when behavior like this goes un‘
checked, especially by those who were V
elected to ensure transparency and ac—
countability. I expect the Mason Coun-
ty Prosecutor’s Office to review the re—
port filed by SAO and take appropri-
ate action to hold all those involved ac—'
countable. I am grateful for the work
done by staff at SAO. State Auditor
McCarthy and her team are true pro-'
fessionals and exhaust every opportu-
nity to work with organizations to find
resolutions and ensure accountability.
I trust their work and know the com-
munity’s best interests are in mind
throughout. Their findings should not
be discredited in order to protect and
enable people in a position to abuse
their power.” .
According to the fraud investiga-
tion report, the Auditor’s Office recom-
mends the district “seek recovery of the
misappropriated $68,672, including
questionable amounts of $95,093 and
related investigation costs of $48,500”
from former fire chief Kelli Walsworth,
former secretary Brenda Wilder, com-
missioner Albert Wilder and volunteer
captain Bryan Walsworth. Any com—
promise or settlement of the claim by
. the district must be approved in writ—
ing by Attorney General Bob Ferguson
and Auditor McCarthy as directed by
state law. -
The report allows the district to re-
spond to the allegations.
“The Board of Commissioners of
Mason County Fire Protection Dis-
trict No. 12 is‘committed to operat-
ingtransparently and in full compli-
ance with the law,” the response in
the report states. “We appreciate the
At Shelton Health we combine the
personal touch of our-talented
therapists with a modern spacious
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create an environment that encourages
patients and residents to reach their
personal best level of health.
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Thursday, Sept. 29, Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page 13
Fire 12:. SAO report recommends recovering lost, money
.«
‘sa
it ,\ a
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—Mason County commissioner Kevin Shutty,
about the state Auditor’s Office allegations
auditor’s efforts in identifying areas
of concern and the district is working
to further investigate and address the
allegations contained in this report.
Given the short deadline for providing
a response to this report, and not hav-
ing access to the auditor’s supporting
documentation, the district is unable
to provide a detailed factual response
within the constraints of the audit re-
port format. The district is following
the recommendation of the auditor to
investigate the allegations, is retain—
ing an attorney to assist with further
investigation into the allegations and
the district will take appropriate ac—
tion if it determines that any of the
allegations are sustained. The Board
of Commissioners recognizes that au-
ditor’s report of misappropriation and
questionable expenditures is based
primarily on an absence of supporting
records. The Board of Commissioners
is working to implement better record-
keeping processes and is working to
improve its process of reviewing and
approving expenditures to avoid simi-
lar issues in the future. The board has
already begun working with the IRS
to bring the district into full compli-
ance with all reporting requirements.
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The board believes that once it has the
chance to further investigate the al-
legations contained in the report the
majority of the auditor’s concerns will
be addressed by the district’s inves-
tigation and the district is confident
that the investigation will determine
that no fraud occurred.” '
The state Auditor’s Office respond-
ed to those remarks in the fraud inves-
tigation report, stating “Our investiga—
tion was based on an audit of the dis—
trict’s financial activity using the dis-
trict’sown records. When the district
could not provide records it should
have had, we subpoenaed credit card
statements and vendor activity re-
ports to identify inappropriate trans—
actions. Our determination of misap-
propriation is based on an overall as-
sessment of the financial transaction,
not merely on an absence of support-
ing records. The office of the Washing-
ton state auditor reaffirms its findings
and will follow up on the district’s in-
ternal controls during the next audit.”
Other than the alleged misappro-
priation and questionable spending,
the accountability audit also identified
other areas of concern, including con-
flicts of interest and ethical violations.
Thank you Shelton for voting
us #1 Septic Service FIVE
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you Belfair for yotln us
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The report says state law limits the
amount public officials can receive
to $1,500 in a calendar month, and
a commissioner was paid $2,819 and
$1,600 in two months in 2021 for pro-
viding maintenance services on dis-
trict vehicles.
The report states the district violat-
ed the Open Public Meetings Act, fail—
ing to provide adequate notice of meet-
ing days, admit members of the public
to virtual meetings and hold regular
board meetings, including having only
One meeting in and not holding
regular meetings at a regularly sched-
uled time in 2021 and held meetings
“inconsistently and unpredictably.”
The district also did not properly doc-
ument voucher payment approvals
in meeting minutes since September
2018, and the total voucher payments
shown in minutes were inconsistent
with accounting records, according to
the audit. .
The report also states the district
submitted its 2018 and 2019 reports
to the Auditor’s Office 496 days and
99 days after the statutory deadline
respectively. The 2020 and 2021 an-
nual reports were due May 30, and
as of Aug. 1, .had notsubmitted either
report. i I
Fire Chief Kelli Walsworth also
misused the district vehicle, using it
for personal purposes, such as shop—
ping and- going to her spouse’s place of
employment in Shelton and hauling a
personally owned utility trailer for” a
purpose not clearly intended to banefit
the district, according to the report.
The Journal submitted a public re-
cords request to the- district July 21,
but has not received a response that it
was reéeived or is being processed by
the district.
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