Cass County Treasurer Tracey Marshall responded on Thursday to a report released by the State Auditor’s Office. Marshall stated that the Treasurer’s Office has been cooperating with the investigation for quite a while.

Marshall said that she will be reviewing the report with Cass County Board of Supervisors Chair Gaylord Schelling and is willing to reimburse any monies they determine were improperly disbursed in regards to her office.

Marshall also stated that any improprieties were unintentional mistakes.

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office released details on multiple recent arrests Thursday.

61-year-old Bradley Alan Beaver of Adair turned himself in on an outstanding warrant for Theft 5th Degree. The charges stem from an insufficient check written to an Audubon County business on August 8th. Beaver appeared before the Magistrate, plead guilty, was fined, and released.

46-year-old Jacqueline Marie Phippen of Exira has been charged with 4 counts of aiding and abetting the Violation of a No Contact Order. The charges stem from the investigation into contact made between a defendant and victim in a Domestic Abuse investigation. Phippen was released following an appearance before the Magistrate on Thursday, September 28th. A preliminary hearing is set for October 12th.

Additional charges have been filed against 28-year-old Joseph Dean White of Exira. He has been charged with 15 counts of Violation of a No Contact Order. White was found to have made contact with a victim in a Domestic Abuse case while being held in the Audubon County Jail. During the investigation a search warrant was executed at his home at 311 West Washington Street in Exira. He was then additionally charged with Possession of Marijuana 3rd Offense within 1,000 feet of a park and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. White remains in the Audubon County Jail on $11,500 bond. The incident remains under investigation and additional charges are pending.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrests of two Creston men on Wednesday afternoon. At 3:00pm Deputies arrested 23-year-old Michael Steven Cox and 22-year-old Cody Joseph Reighard at the Union County Jail for Theft 3rd Degree. Both were being held in the Union County Jail on $2,000 bond.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Iowa businesses could soon face higher fees for legal filings under a plan by Secretary of State Paul Pate to raise money for his office’s technology upgrades.

Pate’s office published a “notice of intended action” Wednesday outlining fee increases that would affect businesses of all sizes.

The public has until Oct. 17 to comment on the rules, which are drawing some concerns from business groups.

Those who have accounts with Pate’s office for billing would face the steepest increase, with annual fees quadrupling to $100.

The fee for filing a Uniform Commercial Code paper document would double to $20. The fees for reports that must be filed every two years by corporations would increase $15.

The money would go toward a “Technology Modernization Fund” approved by lawmakers earlier this year.

A report issued by the State Auditor’s Office on a review of employee travel expenses for Cass County personnel and elected officials determined some officials used County credit cards improperly and a county employee was doing non-beneficial work on County time.  The review was for the period of July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2016 and was conducted as a result of citizen concerns regarding the frequency of County Treasurer Tracey Marshall’s travel and certain purchases made using a County credit card.

The review determined County-issued credit cards were used to purchase items not related to County business. County Treasurer Tracey Marshall used the County credit card assigned to her to make purchases for the National Association of County Collectors, Treasurers, and Finance Officers (NACCTFO) and the National Tax Lein Association (NTLA). Of the $16,972.07 of payments on Ms. Marshall’s County Credit card, $3,982.91 were issued directly to the credit card vendor by NACCTFO for purchases on its behalf.  Marshall also issued a payment directly to the creditor totaling $513.24 for purchases she made on behalf of NTLA.

County Veteran Affairs Commission Executive Director Mitch Holmes also used the County credit card for personal purchases but  issued payment directly to the creditor for those purchases.

The County credit card policy specifies that County cards may not be used for purposes other than County expenses such as fuel, meals during overnight travel, lodging, and equipment purchases.  The review also determined that supporting documentation is not always provided or required for employee travel expenses submitted for reimbursement.

Of the $42, 847.83 of travel expenses reviewed $1,334.39 of improper and unsupported disbursements were identified. Of that amount, $590.53 was improper disbursements and includes $251 of personal hotel expenses, $175 of guest registration fees for County Attorney Dave Weiderstein’s family at County Attorneys Spring Training Conferences, and $132.40 for excess miles claimed by certain County personnel. The remaining $743.86 is considered to be unsupported disbursements and includes primarily lodging expenses and mileage reimbursements for which the destination and/or purpose of the trip were not documented.

Additionally the review found that an employee within the Treasurer’s Office processed numerous financial transactions and maintained accounting records for NACCTFO during regular business hours at the instruction of Treasurer Marshall.  This is determined as an improper use of County resources because that work does not provide a direct benefit to the county. A Treasurer’s Office employee should not be fulfilling duties committed to by Marshall.

Recommendations were made by the State Auditor to strengthen the County’s internal controls and overall operations, such as ensuring County-issued credit cards are used only for County business, ensuring all County purchases are properly supported with original, detailed receipts or invoices, and ensuring the County Board of Supervisors reviews supporting documentation for expenditures on a periodic basis.

Copies of the report have been filed with the Cass County Board of Supervisors and is available for review in the Office of Auditor of State and on the Auditor of State’s website: http://auditor.iowa.gov/reports/1610-0015-BE00