A special investigation conducted by the State Auditor’s Office has identified 122-thousand dollars’ worth of questionable transactions at a chamber of commerce in northeast Iowa. The investigation reviewed records while Brandie Tomkins was director of the Guttenberg (GUT-en-berg) Chamber of Commerce. She was hired in October of 2020 to be director of the Guttenberg (GUT-en-berg) Chamber of Commerce. Two years later the chamber entered into an agreement that made Tomkins an employee of the chamber AND the City of Guttenberg. State Auditor Rob Sand says officials from the chamber of commerce and the City of Guttenberg asked for the review after Tomkins resigned from the job in 2024.
Auditors identified about 30-thousand dollars in cash withdrawals and about 51-thousand dollars worth of pay to Tomkin that wasn’t properly documented.
Auditors found a 50-dollar DraftKings purchase on the chamber’s debit card. Tomkins told auditors she doesn’t have a DraftKings account and wouldn’t know how to use it. Tomkins says she left all documentation for the chamber’s finances in the chamber office when she resigned. A chamber board member and their spouse told auditors some records were left behind, but they can’t be sure what was for the chamber and what was personal.
