YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

Report No. 2004-83

September 30, 2004

IMPORTANT: The Missouri State Auditor is required by state law to conduct audits once every 4 years in counties, like McDonald County, that do not have a county auditor. In addition to a financial and compliance audit of various county operating funds, the State Auditor's statutory audit covers additional areas of county operations, as well as the elected county officials, as required by Missouri's Constitution.

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This audit of McDonald County included additional areas of county operations, as well as the elected county officials. The following concerns were noted as part of the audit:

· Cash receipts totaling $16,375 collected by the McDonald County Sheriff's office from January 2003 through March 2004, were not deposited and are missing. Unrecorded checks totaling $12,148 of accountable fees were deposited into the Sheriff's bond bank account. These unrecorded checks were apparently substituted for the missing cash bond receipts. In an effort to further conceal the shortage, $1,000 was transferred to the bond account from the civil fee bank account and $1,600 of cash from the Sheriff's calendar sale proceeds and another $500 unrecorded bond was deposited into the bond account.

In March 2003, our office performed a limited review of the Sheriff's management practices and provided recommendations of how accounting controls and procedures could be improved; however, the Sheriff failed to implement most of those recommendations. The Sheriff indicated that an employee of his office notified him in December 2003 that a $300 cash bond recorded in the jail receipt book was not deposited into the bond account; however, there was no evidence that an investigation into the missing monies was performed by the Sheriff.

These shortages may have been prevented or detected if our recommendations had been implemented or had the Sheriff conducted an investigation of the missing bond or notified our office. These missing funds were not detected on a timely basis due to various internal control weaknesses including little or no review by someone independent of the Sheriff, lax cash receipting procedures, and the lack of appropriate reconciliations. The Sheriff indicated he is cooperating with the Missouri State Highway Patrol investigation.

· The Sheriff apparently claimed and was paid for more miles than he actually incurred in the personal vehicle used to conduct official business. In addition, the validity of civil service payments to the Sheriff and his office employees is questionable, and controls over fuel purchases for county patrol cars need improvement.

(over)

· Controls and procedures over the Sheriff's seized property need improvement. Three ATVs and two dirt bikes seized in October 2000 were not included on the current seized property listing, and as of August 3, 2004, the three ATVs and one of the dirt bikes were being stored at a former deputy's family property.

· Controls and procedures over the Sheriff's inmate and commissary funds need improvement. Duties are not adequately segregated, inmates' monies are not deposited or properly accounted for, and a system for tracking the profit and loss from the sales of commissary items has not been established.

• The county did not prepare budgets for various county funds, which resulted in significant omissions from the county's financial statements. In addition, the county's annual published financial statements did not include the financial activity of several county funds.

• As noted in our prior two reports, the county did not distribute a portion of its General Revenue Fund property tax collections to the Special Road and Bridge Fund as authorized by a ballot issue approved by voters. At December 31, 2003, the General Revenue Fund owed $276,036 to the Special Road and Bridge Fund.

• Officials' salary increases of $27,160 for the year ending December 31, 2004 are not supported by salary commission actions, and the Public Administrator, the County Collector, and the County Assessor salary amounts were questionable.

• Time sheets or other records of actual time worked and leave records of the Sheriff's office employees are not filed with the County Clerk. In addition, an employee of the Sheriff's office was supervised by her spouse, an adequate review of her timesheets was apparently not performed which allowed inaccuracies to go undetected, and as a result, compensatory wages paid to her upon termination totaling $14,000 appear questionable.

• The County Treasurer does not prepare formal bank reconciliations; however, upon our request bank reconciliations were performed at December 31, 2003 and 2002. The reconciled bank balances were $1,519 and $548 less than the total book balances recorded on the Treasurer's semi-annual settlement. In addition, the County Treasurer does not properly reconcile her records with the County Clerk, and the County Commission does not review the Treasurer's semi-annual settlements. Also, county records are not always maintained at the county courthouse.

Also included in the audit were recommendations related to officials' bond coverage, county expenditures and closed meeting minutes, budgetary practices, general fixed assets and health department procedures. The audit also suggested improvements in the procedures of the Prosecuting Attorney, the Circuit Court, the Public Administrator, the Assessor, and the 911 Authority Board.

Missouri Revised Statutes

Chapter 228
Establishment and Vacation of Roads
Section 228.110

August 28, 2007


Roads may be vacated, how.

228.110. 1. Any twelve residents of the township or townships through which a road runs may make application for the vacation of any such road or part of the same as useless, and the repairing of the same an unreasonable burden upon the district or districts. The petition shall be publicly read on the first day of the term at which it is presented, and the matter continued without further proceedings until the next term.

2. Notice of the filing of such petition and of the road sought to be vacated shall be posted up in not less than three public places in such township or townships, at least twenty days before the first day of the next term of the commission, and a copy of the same shall be personally served on all the persons residing in the district whose lands are crossed or touched by the road proposed to be vacated in the same manner as other notices are required to be served by law; and at the next regular term the same shall again be publicly read on the first day thereof.

3. If no remonstrance is made thereto in writing, signed by at least twelve residents of the township, the commission may proceed to vacate such road, or any part thereof, at the cost of the petitioners; but if a remonstrance thereto in writing, signed by at least twelve residents of such township or townships, is filed, and the commission after considering the same shall decide that it is just to vacate such road, or any part thereof, against the vacation of which the remonstrance was filed, the costs shall be paid by the parties remonstrating, and the original costs, and damages for opening such vacated road shall be paid by the petitioners to those who paid the same, except that if five years have elapsed since the original opening of the same no such reimbursement shall be made.

4. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the contrary, in any county with a charter form of government, any twenty-five residents of the county through which a road subject to this section runs and who reside on any portion of such road or on another road that intersects such road and within one mile of the right-of-way to be vacated, may apply for the vacation of such road or part of such road as no longer serving the public health, safety, and welfare. The county may, by order or ordinance, provide for notice and hearing of such petitions and for filing and hearing remonstrances against them.

(RSMo 1939 § 8482, A.L. 1990 H.B. 1070, A.L. 2007 S.B. 22)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 7836; 1919 § 10634; 1909 § 10445

CROSS REFERENCES:

City streets, how vacated, RSMo 71.240 to 71.280

Temporary abandonment to permit mining--limited to certain counties-- procedure, RSMo 229.420 to 229.450

Vacation of streets in cemeteries, proceedings, RSMo 214.060, 214.070

Two commission meetings on May 28-29 cite the Shorty Holland Lane Issue. The County notes state Jonell Lawyer, Joyce Marrs and Harry McAfee approached the McDonald County Commissioners who stated the county hasn't given permission to close the road without explaining why they believe Shorty Holland Drive to be a public road.
The County Clerk said no tape recordings are being made of McDonald County Commissioner Meetings.

Missouri Revised Statutes

Chapter 228
Establishment and Vacation of Roads
Section 228.190

August 28, 2007


Roads legally established, when--deemed abandoned, when--roads deemed public county roads, when.

228.190. 1. All roads in this state that have been established by any order of the county commission, and have been used as public highways for a period of ten years or more, shall be deemed legally established public roads; and all roads that have been used as such by the public for ten years continuously, and upon which there shall have been expended public money or labor for such period, shall be deemed legally established roads; and nonuse by the public for five years continuously of any public road shall be deemed an abandonment and vacation of the same.

2. From and after January 1, 1990, any road in any county that has been identified as a county road for which the county receives allocations of county aid road trust funds from or through the department of transportation for a period of at least five years shall be conclusively deemed to be a public county road without further proof of the status of the road as a public road. No such public road shall be abandoned or vacated except through the actions of the county commission declaring such road vacated after public hearing, or through the process set out in section 228.110.

3. In any litigation where the subject of a public road is at issue under this section, an exact location of the road is not required to be proven. Once the public road is determined to exist, the judge may order a survey to be conducted to determine the exact location of the public road and charge the costs of the survey to the party who asserted that the public road exists.

(RSMo 1939 § 8485, A.L. 1953 p. 674, A.L. 2006 S.B. 932, A.L. 2007 S.B. 22)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 7839; 1919 § 10635; 1909 § 10446

(2005) Road created by implied or common law dedication is subject to section's provision of abandonment through nonuse. Kleeman v. Kingsley, 167 S.W.3d 198 (Mo.App. S.D.).

The three images were filmed from 911 Maps published by McDonald County.

The two images were taken at McDonald County Democratic Headquarters in Pineville, Missouri. The top photo depicts Jane as viewed by the county including public roads and property ownership. The bottom photo encompasses the entire county grid with a legend on the bottom left hand side.

McDonald County 2007 Database of Government Maintained Roads excludes Shorty Holland Lane.