A state investigation has identified more than $577,000 worth of improper transactions involving a long-time employee of two eastern Iowa communities.
In May of last year, Joel McCubbin was placed on paid leave from his jobs working for the City of Long Grove as well as the Water and Sanitary District for the City of Park View. He was being paid to work 40-hour weeks for both.
McCubbin started working for the two communities in 1987, but the state auditor’s report just covered transactions over the last eight-and-a-half years he’d been a “shared employee.” It found McCubbin had been overpaid by about $12,000 because he had filled out timesheets claiming to be working, but his “player’s card” at a nearby casino showed he was there instead. Auditor’s concluded McCubbin’s $725-a-month auto allowance was “not reasonable” and he’d been overpaid an estimated $37,000 for that.
In total, McCubbin received $427,000 worth of improper payments according to the auditors. The report also cited “significant deficiencies” that had existed in the waste water system in Park View “for quite some time,” raising concerns McCubbin had not been maintaining it properly.
Auditors noted McCubbin was paid more than $100,000 while he was on paid administrative leave from the City of Long Grove — after an outside attorney had advised city officials to fire him. He had been placed on unpaid leave from Park View during that time.