Redkey audit provokes tough questions (01/20/06)

REDKEY — Town officials were peppered with questions Thursday in the wake of a state audit that alleges former clerk-treasurer Brenda Adkins misappropriated more than $32,000 from the town’s utilities.

Adkins, who resigned in October, has repaid the town of Redkey nearly $40,000 since the Indiana State Board of Accounts audit was completed.

But about 25 people attending Thursday evening’s regular Redkey council session had more questions about audit and town council oversight during the period when Adkins was in office.

Redkey resident Joe Anderson questioned why Adkins was not bonded, as cited by the auditors as a violation of state statutes.

Town attorney John Brooke quickly pointed out that the new clerk-treasurer, Sandy Kirby, is properly bonded.

Brooke said that Adkins had told town officials that she had renewed her bond for 2005, but no one, including the State Board of Accounts, had checked until the audit was under way.

Brooke then explained that during the course of the audit he first received a call from the state that there were irregularities in the Redkey accounts but they should be covered by the clerk-treasurer’s required $50,000 bond. However, Brooke said, he later received a second call from the State Board of Accounts that while Adkins had been bonded in 2004, her bond had not been renewed for 2005.

Redkey resident and former town council president Clayton Phillips questioned the council’s handling of the situation over the past few years and called for the resignation of Violet Erlenbush, who was council president during that time.

“It is very evident after reading the State Board of Accounts report that none of the procedures that the town of Redkey stated that they would implement in 2003 were ever put into place, Phillips said. “It is obvious that the blame for this lies specifically to two individuals, Brenda K. Adkins and Violet Erlenbush, who both signed an official response on Oct. 9, 2003, that the corrective measures had been put into place, therefore I believe that Violet Erlenbush should step down as a member of the Redkey Town Council.”

Several persons at the meeting pointed out that Erlenbush’s term on the council expires this year, and voters would be able to voice their views on whether or not she continues to serve on the council, if she chooses to seek re-election.

Also speaking at the meeting was Redkey resident Bobby Miller who has a large family with seven children and an $8,000 past-due water bill which he has been trying to get adjusted. Miller said he has tried to work this matter out with town officials in the past. “I want it resolved. I’m tired of coming up here,” Miller said.

“As far as anything Brenda told you, we’re not going to sit up here and make excuses for what Brenda did,” said council member Dottie Quakenbush.

The council asked that Brooke review Miller’s request for an adjustment and said the matter would be discussed and settled at the next town council meeting at 6 p.m. Feb. 16 in town hall.

Quakenbush was elected as the new council president, replacing Erlenbush.

Erlenbush was not present at Thursday night’s Redkey Town Council meeting, but the vote to elect Quakenbush was unanimous with the four council members present all voting in her favor.

Dixie Toy was re-elected town council vice president, also by a unanimous margin.

Erlenbush had reportedly planned on attending the meeting, but decided against it at the last minute in order to be with her daughter, Tressa A. Erlenbush, 24, who was injured in an automobile accident on slippery roads Wednesday evening in Noble Township.

Also at Thursday night’s council meeting Erlenbush’s department supervisory assignment was switched from the police department to the streets department. Council member Jim Guffey will now take charge of the police department.

Other council assignments remained the same with Toy in charge of the fire department, Darrell Smith over the water and sewer departments, and Quakenbush over the parks department.

In other business at Thursday night’s meeting, Redkey council members:

• Conducted a public hearing and then approved a list of appropriations to re-instate the town’s 2006 budget. The previous budget document for 2006, submitted while Adkins was still the clerk-treasurer last year, was rejected by state officials because Adkins didn’t sign it, Kirby and Brooke explained.

Kirby said she had asked state officials if she could sign the previous document since she was the new clerk-treasurer. She said they told her no, because she had not been the clerk-treasurer at the time it was passed. The new appropriations proposal contains basically the same amounts as the former one, Kirby said.

• Approved an ordinance to allow the clerk-treasurer to pay certain required claims prior to formal council approval in order that these bills can be paid on time, avoiding any late fee charges. In the recent audit, state officials criticized Redkey for paying bills late and being forced to cover finance charges from vendors.

• Discussed problems with the spreading of rock salt during recent winter storms, and the need for town department heads to attend future council meetings.

• Agreed to lower the sewage-only fee for the approximately one dozen residents who have their own wells. The new monthly rate will be $20.14 for a single family home, and $80.56 for a four-unit apartment building which has a private well.[[In-content Ad]]