AG: District mismanaged funds
 
By Patrice St. Germain
patrices@thespectrum.com
 
COLORADO CITY - The Arizona Attorney General will go to court today to ask that Colorado City School District No. 14 be put into receivership because of what he terms as "gross financial mismanagement."

In a brief prepared for the court, state attorney general Terry Goddard cited thousands of dollars that he says were spent needlessly each month on cell phones and satellite television bills for a district employee and on forfeited prepaid rents to the United Effort Plan, the financial arm of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The 11-page petition outlines charges that district officials forfeited $190,000 in rent to the Colorado City Improvement Area, a wholly owned subsidiary of the UEP, after terminating its contract for several buildings in 2000. However, two years later, officials said they needed a new school because of overcrowding, even though district enrollment dwindled from 1,200 to less than 350 students.

All of the Colorado City school district's governing board members and administrators are members of the polygamous FLDS Church.

In the petition, Goddard argues that "the district was either grossly incompetent in anticipating its facilities needs or its officers and employees had a much more sinister motive, which was to allow non-district entities to profit from misspent public dollars."

The petition came as no surprise to Mike File, superintendent of the Mohave County School District, which includes Colorado City.

"I like the way it is written," File said of the petition. "It goes over all the things we've been sending information on and talking about for years."

Goddard is asking the school board, on behalf of the state, to place the school district, which has approximately 325 students, into receivership. A state law passed earlier this year allowing control of school districts in financial difficulties to be placed into the hands of a receiver.

In May, the Arizona Attorney General's office served the district with a search warrant and seized more than 100 file boxes of documents, computers and miscellaneous financial records to investigate district administrators' use of public monies. Those named on the search warrant included school superintendent Alvin Barlow, business manager Jeffrey Jessop and assistant business manager Oliver Barlow. None of the men could be reached for comment Thursday evening.

Andrea Esquer, press secretary for Goddard's office, said it would take until October before the Board of Education makes a decision to place the financially strapped school district into receivership.

Esquer said the district will be served with the petition and have 15 days to respond. It will take another 20 days to set a meeting.

If a receiver is chosen, it will have the authority to hire and fire staff and overrule the Colorado City school board, which would no longer be able to make financial decisions.

Business manager John Livingston said the intention of all business mangers is to be accountable and for smaller school districts, it is more difficult since one person may be oversee multiple funds.

"Our intent is to do the best for the students with the taxpayers' dollars," Livingston said. "We are compliant with issues such as financial management, in my opinion."

Goddard's office used the Fredonia/Moccasin School District as a comparison to Colorado City because it has about the same number of students.

Based on the figures gathered by the Arizona Attorney General's office, the Fredonia/Moccasin School District spends about $600 less in classroom dollars per pupil and about half of what the Colorado City School District does on non-classroom dollars per pupil.

Livingston said the district doesn't pay for extras such as cable television and multiple cell phones for administrators.

Riley Frei, chief administrative officer for the Littlefield Unified School District in Beaver Dam, said his district is very careful with the way it spends public funds, adding that officials work hard to get the maximum amount of services with the limited funds it has.

"We like to think everyone does that, but apparently not," Frei said.

Frei said the district does provide him with a cell phone since he spends time on the road to attend meetings, but said it is strictly for district use. He said the district also has a few vehicles for employees - one van, one car and a 1978 Ford work truck.

"It's nothing to show off," Frei said of the work truck. "I've seen the vehicles they drive at the Colorado City School District and, while I am envious, it's not worth spending public monies on."

File said there are hundreds of people in Mohave County and thousands of people in the state of Arizona who work toward providing the best education for children with limited funds. File said those schools do it right.

"What it boils down to is people take an oath to do their job and these people milked funds for their personal use," File said.
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published August 12, 2005
 
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