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KAYSVILLE — Public Works Director Larry Mills stepped down from his position last week after investigators found nearly $13,000 locked in a safe in his department.
The discovery was made while the Davis County Attorney's Office was conducting an investigation on an unrelated issue involving the public works department, though Kaysville officials refused to elaborate on that case.
Kaysville City Manager Shayne Scott said he and Mayor Steve Hiatt were surprised when they were informed that a city employee reported the funds to investigators.
After they confiscated the money and addressed the issue with Mills, he chose to resign his position as department head Friday, Scott said. Mills will continue to work for Kaysville until November, when he plans to retire after 27 years with the city.
"It's really unfortunate," Scott said, adding that it's not believed that Mills used or was stashing the funds for personal use.
Rather, Mills told city officials that he, his assistant and his secretary had been using the fund for more than 15 years, stowing away cash from scrap metal reimbursements to be used on small public works department expenses — such as gloves or shoes — or sometimes food for monthly luncheons for staff, Scott said.
"When I asked Larry about it, he was very forthright about it," he said.
Mills explained he didn't mean to do any harm or misuse taxpayer money, but Scott noted that the fund was still problematic because it contained no receipts or any way for the city to track how much entered or exited the safe.
"It's been really hard to track where that money's gone," Scott said. "That's the problem. (Mills) couldn't even give me an estimate since it's been so long."
While Scott doesn't believe any criminal charges will come of the situation, Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings has been asked to look into the situation.
Scott said it will be very difficult if not impossible to track down how much money the department could have collected from scrap metal companies because only a few kept records of cash transactions, and if they did, they only have records for about a year.
Related:
Sparks fly at Kaysville City Hall over allegations of public funds misuse
Sparks are flying at City Hall over money spent on Kaysville's Fourth of July celebrations earlier this month and who will ultimately end up footing the bill.Scott said the transactions qualify as an inappropriate use of city funds. All cash and checks are supposed to be processed through the city's system.
"In this case, (the process) was either not correctly communicated to (Mills and his staff) or they completely disregarded it," he said.
Scott, who began working as Kaysville's city manager in June, said city leaders are retraining employees on proper cash-handling practices.
"It's an unfortunate situation, but it's also an opportunity to have a frank discussion about … ways we can tighten up," he said. "That's my message to our department heads and our employees."
Cody Thompson, assistant public works director, will serve as interim director of the public works department.
Scott said county officials have been interviewing numerous public works employees as part of the other investigation, though he declined to provide any other details. That investigation, he said, should be done by the end of next week.
Another investigation involving Kaysville city government was concluded Tuesday.
The state auditor determined that nearly $6,000 in city credit card charges by Kaysville City Councilman Dave Adams was "questionable," lacked formal approval and may have even been used for political purposes. Some of those funds were used to make repairs to his personal fire truck, which plays a key role in the city's annual Fourth of July water parade.
Contributing: Ladd Egan
