Ring in the New Year with a clean house

Time for change

In these grim economic times, careful stewardship of public money is the most important duty of elected officials. They must make hard choices to ensure that vital services are not interrupted without imposing onerous tax burdens on citizens struggling with their own fiscal woes.
Unfolding revelations of, at the very least, monumental bookkeeping irregularities the Goochland County utilities department are clear evidence that little attention has been paid to the county financial affairs for some time.
A low level employee was fired in November when it came to light that a number of utility payments, some allegedly going back years, had never been deposited.
An audit of all county departments completed by the county’s longtime auditing firm Robinson, Farmer, Cox earlier in 2008 is believed to have found no irregularities. Yet, when retained by county administrator Greg Wolfrey to perform an additional audit of the utilities department in the past few weeks the same firm determined that the undeposited checks were the result of faulty internal reporting procedures.
On December 22, Wolfrey fired Doug Harvey who was the county engineer and head of the utilities department. Harvey was seen leaving the administration building that day with a large number of cartons whose contents are unknown.
The board of supervisors held a special called meeting at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, December 23 to discuss the matter.
After spending one hour and twenty minutes in closed session, the board returned to address approximately 50 people who attended the meeting.
Board chairman Bill Quarles, District 2 told the assembly that the board would prepare a letter referring the matter to the Goochland Commonwealth’s Attorney Claiborne H. Stokes, Jr. for review.
When asked why the audit of the utility department was performed by the county’s long-term auditors instead of a firm with no previous affiliation with the county, Quarles said that perhaps the audit should have been performed by an independent firm.
He also said that there may be additional audits and that there will be “more to come.” Quarles did not elaborate on what that meant.
Stokes is expected, at the least, to recommend that the county retain a forensic accountant to audit the utility department.
District 4 Supervisor Rudy Butler promised that all county taxpayers “will be protected.”
Although the county contends that the uncashed utility payment checks found in Harvey’s office have been accounted for, troubling reports of water and sewer customers who have never received bills for service are bubbling to the surface.
The whole matter raises a great many questions.
First and foremost, why was no one paying attention? Running a utility operation seems pretty straightforward. Attach customers to the system and charge them a connection fee. Then read the meter periodically, compute the use charge and add whatever other fees are attached. Send out the bills. Collect the payments and deposit them in the proper account. Compile a report noting the amount of money collected. Repeat.
Given that the Tuckahoe Creek Service District (TCSD) was expected to provide the county with an additional and badly needed revenue stream, it defies belief that neither Harvey, Wolfrey nor the supervisors were paying attention to the money generated by the system.
You’d think that at the end of each billing period, there would be great interest in the amount of money actually generated by public utility customers. Not so.
Until November of this year when first term supervisor Ned Creasey, District 3, refused to rubber stamp a motion to pay a two year old bill from the city of Richmond, little attention was paid.
No one, except perhaps the county treasurer, Brenda Grubbs who made repeated inquires about utility payments, that fell on deaf ears, seems to have missed the money, for years.
Other questions arise. Whose checks were not deposited? Were they checks for large amounts, small amounts, or a random selection? Was it the same customers every time? An investigation of Wolfrey and Harvey and the whole utilities department is badly needed to get to the bottom of this sludge lagoon.
This is not the first time that high weirdness has been part of utilities billing.
In June, 2006, Harvey notified the supervisors that Kinloch Golf Club had been overcharged for water to the tune of $25,171.45. This occurred, according to Harvey, because since Kinloch connected to county water lines in 2002, the rate charged was $40 rather than $4 per unit of water.
The supervisors laughed the matter off as a big “oops” after voting to refund the difference instead of ordering a detailed investigation to ensure that billing was done properly. Harvey said that other customers who had been over billed for shorter periods of time agreed to credits on their accounts instead of refunds.
Emerging reports of fiscal anomalies in the parks and recreation department indicate that more than one county department needs to have a visit from the forensic accountants.
What exactly is Wolfrey doing to justify his handsome six-figure salary and generous fringe benefits?
According to the Code of Virginia, the county administrator shall “… be responsible to the board for the proper administration of all affairs of the county which the board has the authority to control. He shall keep the board advised as to the financial condition of the county… and examine regularly the books and papers of each department, officer and agent of the county and report to the board the condition in which he finds them.”
No regular inspections or reports about the condition of the utility department seem to have been made.
In December, Wolfrey admonished the supervisors to be very careful about spending money. He had the audacity to tell the supervisors that in the future they might need to skip expensive conferences. Yet, Wolfrey attended the Virginia Association of Counties meeting this fall even though he plans to retire, supposedly to hunt and farm, next year.
Wolfrey often asserts that Goochland County is run like a business. What sort of business does Wolfrey have in mind? Enron? Lehman Brothers?
Even children running a lemonade stand know that it’s important to keep track of all of the money.
Wolfrey is reported to have turned over many of his duties to assistant county administrator Greg Reid. The next task on his plate is to prepare the county budget. In light of the revelations of how little attention Wolfrey seems to have paid to fiscal matters, the last thing the county needs is his involvement in the budget. Perhaps it is time for the supervisors to sharpen their pencils, meet with department heads and devise their own budget instead of rubber stamping something prepared by Wolfrey and outside consultants.
The mess in the utility and perhaps other departments occurred on Wolfrey’s watch. If the county were a private company, he would be out the door. Failure to remove Wolfrey calls into question the integrity of the supervisors who protect him. What are they hiding?
It is time for Wolfrey to emulate Elvis and leave the (administration) building to allow Goochland County to put its fiscal house in order and move forward.
Please let your supervisor know your thoughts on this matter.

Andrew Pryor, District 13376 Pryor RoadGoochland, VA 23063(804)457-4177(h)apryor@co.goochland.va.us

William E. Quarles Jr., District 22671 Broad Street RoadGum Spring, VA 23065(804)556-2927(h)wquarles@co.goochland.va.us

Ned S. Creasey, District 32210 Denver LaneMaidens, VA 23102(804)556-3229ncreasey@co.goochland.va.us

Malvern R. Butler, District 4784 Three Chopt RoadManakin-Sabot, VA 23103(804)784-4241(h & f)mbutler@co.goochland.va.us
James W. Eads, District 51506 Windsor WayManakin-Sabot, VA 23103(804)784-3944(h)jeads@co.goochland.va.us