By Dewey Terrill
JC Post
There was not any illegal activity or missing money reported following a recent 2021 Geary County audit report to the county commission. But it did show confusion on multiple issues. One of those involved a $2.7 million COVID-19 check that officials noted was never deposited in the County accounts and then voided at the end of 2021. The action to void the check freed up the money for a radio project. The other issue involved 24 accounts that were being held outside the County's general checking, including 18 that were not on the County's audit report and were unknown to the commission. Those accounts, or funds, were legal.
During their weekly meeting held on Monday the members of the governing body addressed the issue. Commissioner Trish Giordano called for more public education on the subject beyond a previous JC Post article and felt that officials need to meet on how to educate the public better.
Chairman Alex Tyson said some blame can be put on the commission for not knowing, while Commissioner Keith Ascher made it clear that the audit pointed out that no money was missing and the funds were put in the wrong bucket. Giordano called the situation "sloppy," while Tyson also added that nobody did anything illegal.
Giordano stated, "I just feel like the public needs to know. Nobody's perfect, we all make mistakes and you don't know what you don't know. "
County officials will meet and prepare a checklist of issues for dicussion.