PINE BLUFF -- A Pine Bluff official said Wednesday that Mayor Debe Hollingsworth did not attend an event at the Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Maryland last year as a recent Legislative Audit Division report indicated.
Instead, four members of the Pine Bluff Fire and Emergency Services Department represented the city as part of the honor guard at the memorial's dedication, Pine Bluff Finance Director Steve Miller said Wednesday.
In the audit, the mayor's office was cited for $2,189 in improperly disbursed funds "for non-business travel reimbursements" related to the trip. Miller said that receipts for the trip were not in proper order when auditors reviewed the city, "but we are taking steps now to rectify that."
Hollingsworth was out of the office Tuesday when the audit became public, and Miller didn't indicate Tuesday that the mayor was not a member of the city's delegation to Maryland.
Hollingsworth was also out of the office on Wednesday and did not respond to a message left on her mobile phone.
"We just want to clarify now that the mayor did not make that trip," Miller said Wednesday.
In addition, the audit found that the mayor's office paid $16,913 to Class A Apparel Graphics, owned by city employee Melissa Johnson, without obtaining an authorizing ordinance, as required by Arkansas Code Annotated 14-42-107.
Miller said an ordinance up for a final vote when the City Council meets Oct. 6 would make such spending of funds as that for the monogrammed shirts no longer unauthorized. The ordinance would make it legal for the city to conduct business with stores or firms owned by city employees.
The audit also found that the city violated Arkansas Code Annotated 14-59-115 by outsourcing its payroll to a private company. State law "prohibits the governing body of a municipality from assigning duties relating to the collecting or disbursing of funds to anyone other than an employee of the municipality," the audit states.
Miller said the city was unaware that such a law existed, adding that he and other city officials are working with the Arkansas Municipal League to ask the Legislature to amend it.
Miller said the city chose to use a private company to do its payroll because it is more efficient.
State Desk on 09/18/2014