By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader executive editor
The state Legislative Audit Committee had another showdown with the Pulaski County Special School District Board on Friday and warned the board to straighten out its finances.
More checks and balances are being put in place under new Superintendent Charles Hopson to eliminate improper reimbursements to board members and others.
School board member Bill Vasquez of Jacksonville said the audit committee was exaggerating problems in the district, which prompted Sen. Bobby Glover (D-Carlisle), the committee chairman, to say, “I don’t appreciate your criticizing the Legislative
Audit Committee for doing its job. We’ll continue to call you in and stay on top of it.”
The committee told the board to return for the next audit meeting in December and threatened to subpoena board members who were not there on Friday.
Most of the school board attended the session, although Gwen Williams, who still owes the district for improper expenses, was not there. Board member Sandra Sawyer was also absent.
The meeting was called to review what steps had been taken to improve the district’s financial practices after an audit in June revealed several abuses.
“I don’t think they have theiract together,” said Sen. John Paul Capps (D-Searcy).
But Hopson, who became superintendent earlier this year, said after the meeting, “This is a wakeup call for the district to be more accountable and govern itself more efficiently.”
“We’re working aggressively to put controls in place and tracking expenditures,” he continued. “If there had been structures in place, many of these things wouldn’t have happened because of the checks and balances we now have.”
Board member Mildred Tatum has repaid the district $2,788 for improper charges, including a ticket to a Broadway play and $321 for two nights and valet parking at the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock, when she attended a local conference.
Tatum lives a few miles outside Little Rock. Williams has repaid $369 in improper expenses and only owes about $150. In a separate case, she’s accused of taking a $100 bribe to help a contractor build a sidewalk at Harris Elementary School in an area she represents.
According to the audit, former Superintendent James Sharpe owes the district more than $25,000 for overpayments, including travel reimbursements and unearned sick leave.
Board expenses from July 1, 2006 to March 3, 2006 included $37,855 for travel reimbursements and $8,544 for food and catering for workshops and meetings. Board policy does not impose a limit on food purchases.
The audit found about $7,000 of that improper. When it met in May, the Legislative Audit Committee discussed having the state take over the district for financial malfeasance and incompetence, and in June, it decided to audit the PCSSD annually.
In May, the auditors said more than half a million dollars had been stolen or misappropriated over the past six years.
Some employees, including former maintenance supervisor James Deimer, have gone to jail. Deimer stole about $440,000 worth of school property for resale.
He has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Williams has received other improper cash advances or reimbursements. Several years ago, she received an advance of about $2,000 for a workshop that she didn’t attend, and she did not repay the money for more than a year, until it was discovered and made public.
The school board has stopped paying expenses in advance.
The audit committee expressed concern over mileage reimbursements of $2,030 for 100 trips, 58 miles each, from board president Tim Clark’s home to the central office and back between February and December 2009.
Tatum was paid $1,447 in mileage between July 2007 and September 2009. Williams billed the district and was paid $339.
Board members Vasquez, Sawyer, Charlie Wood and Danny Gilliland apparently asked for no reimbursement.
Leader senior reporter John Hofheimer contributed to this article.
