The State Auditor has released the results of a special audit of the New Hampton Municipal Light Plant that shows some questionable activity. Chief Deputy State Auditor, Warren Jenkins, says one problem involved the material used by the plant.
“The light plant really didn’t have an inventory of the scrap metal that it held, and a lot of that scrap metal was being sold, the money was not being deposited with the city clerk as it was supposed to be. That was about 60-thousand dollars,” according to Jenkins.
There are also issues with money paid for employee training. “The light plant manager was receiving payments from an outside organization called NIMECA to help defray the costs of attending different conferences and training events. And although the light plant was paying all the costs of his attendance, he was not remitting that money back to the light plant to help reduce his costs for attending those events,” Jenkins explains.
The costs for the training and conferences was about six-thousand dollars Jenkins says the Auditor’s Office has made recommendations on how the light plant can improve. He says they recommend that light plant establish and inventory of its scrap metal, including its weight and approximate value.
And he says they should know the types of receipts they should be collecting to ensure they are being properly collected. Jenkins says the general manager of the plant, Brian Geschke was placed on leave while the investigation was underway and he later resigned.
The information from the report has been turned over to the county attorney and state attorney general.
See the report here: NewHampton LightPlant PDF
