An official statement has been provided by Winslow City Manager John Barkley on the findings of the Office of the Attorney General regarding allegations made by former budget analyst Olivia Todd who had made accusations of wrongdoing and possible illegal activities by Finance Director Elias Jouen.
“Upon conclusion of this investigation, I found no indication that the accounting method currently utilized by the finance director in any way compromises the city’s internal policies and procedures or generally accepted accounting principles. There is no evidence of criminal misconduct or financial impropriety,” stated Barkley.
On July 9, Todd, who had been terminated from her position with the city on May 29 after five months of employment, had addressed the council during call to the public stating that she had found discrepancies in the city’s financial report and reported alleged abusive behavior by Finance Director Elias Jouen.
During that meeting Todd had explained to the council, “I asked about grants. I questioned many aspects of the budget, including a number Mr. Jouen made up to make it appear the city’s budget comes in under the EEC’s (Economic Estimates Commission) expenditure limitation when, in fact, the budget exceeds that limit by well over half a million dollars.”
She also alleged that one of many conversations with Jouen, “ended with him yelling at me, bringing me to tears and striking fear in me to the point that I felt I needed to remove myself from the room.”
Following the July 9 statement by Todd, Mayor Tom McCauley initiated an investigation into the allegations. According to McCauley, “After that meeting, I spoke with John Barkley and asked him to get the attorney general’s office on the phone. I knew we had to look into what she was saying.”
McCauley’s concerns were immediately addressed by Winslow Police Chief Dan Brown who contacted John White in the Office of the Attorney General.
The Attorney General responded to Brown saying, “The AG’s office met with a state prosecutor who is very well versed in these types of cases. They did not feel as if there was enough information to indicate a violation of criminal laws occurred.”
In a comment to The Tribune, Barkley stated, “The Attorney General’s Office said they didn’t have enough evidence to go on. But in my mind, I think we will let the audit process ride it out. We will bring up what Todd said and will address those concerns with our auditors. I don’t expect anything to come of it, but we will do our due diligence because that is what we are supposed to do.”
Todd continued to appear before the council during the call to the public section of each meeting thereafter, including the Nov. 12 council meeting.
At that meeting Todd brought further concerns to the council regarding a tax revenue increase of 58 percent. She said, “A 58 percent increase in tax revenues in the general fund in the first quarter of 2019 over that same quarter last year is truly remarkable, particularly in light of the fact that we’ve lost a major taxpayer in Tate’s Auto Center.”
During the financial report, Jouen was asked about the increase by councilwoman Sam Crisp. “Total taxes came to about 18.9 percent of budget where we should be around 25 percent, so we are still below what is expected. There is not an increase, in fact we are below. We do have some lag in total revenues,” he replied.
The city’s annual independent audit is currently underway by contracted auditors Fester and Chapman. The results of the audit will be available in February of 2020.
