News
Elbert 10.31.13
Elbert County
Elbert County, Colorado • Volume 118, Issue 40
October 31, 2013
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourelbertcountynews.com
County targets audit of budget Firm is hired following finance director’s firing By George Lurie
glurie@ourcoloradonews.com
SMOOTH MOVE
A paving crew from Salida-based PMS Inc. spent Oct. 23 resurfacing the south end of the Safeway Center parking lot in Elizabeth. Photo by George Lurie
Library chief leads state group Kari May hopes for more early literacy resources By George Lurie
glurie@ourcoloradonews.com Kari May, the director of the Elbert County Library District, assumed the presidency of the Colorado Association of Libraries during a conference held Oct. 17-19 in Loveland. More than 600 Colorado librarians and library board members attended the respected association’s annual three-day meeting. CAL advocates statewide for quality library services, supports access to information and fosters the professional development of its members. Association members include librarians, library employees, institutions and corporations drawn from public, school, academic, and special libraries; public library trustees; education administrators; library service providers; library vendors; volunteers; and library supporters. May said CAL’s goals are to support intellectual freedom, provide continuing education opportunities, pursue legislative initiatives and provide professional development and networking opportunities between librarians and civic leaders. POSTAL ADDRESS
Originally from North Carolina, May, who has a master’s degree in library sciences, has been the director of the county’s library system for five years. Prior to coming to Elbert County, she spent seven years directing the High Plains Library in Greeley. In her capacity as the county’s library director, May oversees three branch libraries (Elizabeth, Kiowa and Simla) and two satellite facilities, which are located in the Elbert school and at the Singing Hills Fire Station. The library district, which is overseen by a five-member board of directors, has an annual budget of $750,000 and operates independently from the county government. Elbert County Library Director Kari May speaks at the “The library district has its own revenue Oct. 17-19 Colorado Association of Libraries conference source,” May explained, which comes from a mill levy on property taxes and vehicle in Longmont. Courtesy photo registration fees. Her duties as CAL president, May estiMay’s appointment to the top leader- mates, will take about five hours per week. ship position in the organization is actually “Mostly I’ll be corresponding with other a three-year commitment. “For the past library professionals and planning the acyear, I’ve served as the association’s presi- tivities and direction of the organization,” dent-elect,” she said. “My term as president she said. runs one year, after which I’ll spend an“One of the most important things the other year serving in the capacity of past- organization does,” May added, “is to empresident.” ploy lobbyists to represent the interests of “I’m really excited about this opportuni- libraries to state legislators. A legislative ty to work with libraries and librarians from committee serves as a liaison between the across the state,” May added. “It’s going to organization and state lawmakers.” be an exciting year.” Recently, May said CAL was able to reintroduce into the state budget, after a 10year period of dormancy, a $2 million line item for libraries across the state to spend on early literacy resources. “That was a huge accomplishment,” Printed on recycled May said. “We are hoping we can increase newsprint. Please that to $5 million a year.” recycle this copy. May said her “platform” during the next year as CAL president is “integration. What that means,” she said, “is libraries of all types — school, public, academic — working together to increase the value of libraries in all of our communities.”
At its regular Oct. 23 meeting, the Board of County Commissioners approved a short-term contract with a Denver-based accounting firm to complete an audit of Elbert County’s 2012 budget, an annual requirement that should have been completed and submitted to the state months ago. The decision to bring in additional help to complete the 2012 audit follows the firing on Oct. 9 of Stan Wilmer, who had served for less than a year as the county’s finance director. BOCC Chairman Robert Rowland blamed the former finance director for the current disarray in the county’s finance department, saying before the Oct. 23 meeting that Wilmer was “let go” because “he just wasn’t getting the job done.” Noting that Wilmer had been hired “one day before Commissioner (Larry) Ross and I took office,” Rowland said the BOCC is in no hurry to hire a new finance director. “I don’t believe in bringing in somebody new in the middle of a crisis,” he said. Wilmer’s annual base salary, according to Rowland, was $70,000. Wilmer did not respond to messages left on his home phone requesting more details regarding his departure from the county finance office. “We are going to apply the money we would be paying for Stan’s salary toward this contract with the accounting firm,” Rowland said. “It’s going to cost the county a net of about $6,500 to get this thing done.” Rowland estimated the county will have to pay the accounting firm about $24,000 to complete the 2012 audit. “That will be offset by a savings of a little more than $17,000 in the salary we would have been paying our former employee,” Rowland said. The county has contracted with Denver-based accounting firm Poysti & Adams LLC to do the work. Rowland confirmed that the county had recently received a warning letter from the state — which he called a “shot across the bow” — stating that the county was overdue in submitting the required document. “Contrary to what some people have claimed, the state is not withholding tax reimbursements to the county because we’re late,” said Rowland. “We are actually not even scheduled to get those reimbursements from the state until March of next year.” Rowland said that since Wilmer’s departure, county interim budget officer Johanna Sanders has been working with commissioners to “address some of the issues” related to the problems in the finance department. Audit continues on Page 7