NEWS

Philo officials liable for thousands

Kate Snyder
Reporter

ZANESVILLE - More than $4,700 was paid to Philo village officials and employees in 2013 and 2014, and the state auditor's office has no idea why.

According to an audit released Thursday by Ohio Auditor Dave Yost, the village has kept insufficient records in documenting these payments, which were made without evidence of village council approval. Some documentation that the village did provide to auditors was altered and included handwritten dates, and two payments were excluded from the village’s list of approved bills.

Without sufficient supporting documentation or evidence that the village council authorized the payments, Yost said in a release, auditors could not determine if any of the expenditures were for a proper public purpose.

Philo Mayor Lloyd Miller, former clerk-treasurer Sam Hutcheson, and two other employees received payments in addition to their regular compensation during fiscal years 2013 and 2014. Several of the disbursements lacked any supporting documentation or information describing the nature of the transactions. Others were simply labeled for “phone” or “trapping animals.”

Miller said as far as he knew, everything in the report was correct, but he did not believe the village administrators had done anything wrong.

If they have, he said they would work to fix the situation. He plans to speak with village council members about the report.

"I've been mayor for nine years, and (finances were) done the same way beforehand," Miller said. "We want to make sure everything was done correctly."

According to Yost, findings for recovery in the amounts of $2,540, $1,136, $600 and $520 were issued against Hutcheson, Miller, Water Clerk Tammy Blake and village employee Eric Fesler, respectively, for a total of $4,796.

Hutcheson is jointly and severally liable for $2,256 because he processed the improper payments made to Miller, Blake and Fesler.

Miller received eight quarterly payments — in addition to his regular pay — of $142 each, which were labeled "phone." Miller said because the village office is only open part time, employees receive reimbursement for using their personal phones.

Trapping animals, Miller said, was for payments made to a man who caught live animals, such as skunks, in places animals should not be and released them safely in appropriate locations. That man, Fesler, according to the audit report, received six payments totaling $520 without any evidence of a village ordinance or resolution to indicate these types of expenditures were determined to be for a proper public purpose.

One payment to Fesler, for $120, lacked any kind of documentation at all and was not on the village's approved list of bills, the report stated.

Miller said Fesler was a part-time village employee.

The findings in the report will be sent to the Muskingum County Prosecutor's Office for the prosecutor to determine if legal action will be taken to recover the funds, according to the state auditor's office.

Muskingum County Prosecutor Michael Haddox could not be reached for comment.

ksnyder2@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com

740-450-6752

Twitter: @KL_Snyder