State Comptroller Releases Findings of Records Investigation in Town of Liberty

January 19, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The Town of Liberty will apparently have to change the way it does business.

During a recent limited investigation into selected records for the 37-month period of January 1, 2020, through January 31, 2023, the state comptroller’s office found that except for holding monthly meetings there, the Liberty town hall is not used by the city for transacting daily business duties even though the town bears the expense of monthly utilities. The state comptroller’s office also found that the town secretary and city tax collector perform duties for the city out of their personal residences and in previous years the secretary conducted city business out of her other workplace in town.

Read the State Comptroller’s Office Report at the link below.

https://comptroller.tn.gov/content/dam/cot/ia/advanced-search/2024/town/TownOfLibertyReport.pdf

In a separate matter, the comptroller’s investigation revealed that in 2022 the city awarded a bid to a heating and air conditioning company owned by a former alderman’s family to replace a failed air unit at the Liberty Community Center and that this former alderman did the install of the unit. According to the comptroller, this was a conflict of interest.

While no criminal acts were uncovered during this investigation, the comptroller wants the Town of Liberty to establish better internal policies and procedures.

“Our investigation primarily centered around the town’s operations, in particular how they are using their town hall,” said John Dunn, Director of Communications for the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury in a phone interview with WJLE Thursday. “What we found was that employees really haven’t been using the town hall to conduct business since at least 2020 and really even before then, when they were using a privately owned local machine shop for town business,” said Dunn. “Right now, if you want to conduct business with the town of Liberty you have to make an appointment to visit the personal residence of either the town secretary or the town tax collector. The town government should offer posted hours of operation to its residents. The town is also paying about $18,000 for utilities and maintenance on the town hall when they are not using it. Our investigators determined that this money could be used elsewhere. The town does have monthly meetings at the town hall but because the town owns other facilities, they don’t need to be using a town hall building for monthly meetings and therefore don’t need to be paying for electricity, gas, water, and insurance on that building,” Dunn explained.

Although working from home is and has been done in other communities across the state, especially during Covid, Dunn said the Town of Liberty should have good policies in place in governing how the work is done.

“The Town of Liberty doesn’t have good internal control policies over its financial affairs, and it also doesn’t have good storage solutions for money that is being provided at these homes. For example, if the secretary is collecting payment from town citizens, the secretary doesn’t have a safe or a cash drawer at the personal residence and that is a problem. Our investigation found that when we visited the secretary’s home there was money setting on a table in the kitchen and that money should have been kept either in a cash drawer or a safe and that was not present at the secretary’s house,” said Dunn.

Liberty Mayor Audrey Martin said some of the state’s findings need clarification. For example, the town hall, while not for daily city business, is owned by the City of Liberty and is used for other community functions throughout the year including at Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas time, and the Liberty station of the county fire department previously had access to the building for meetings, and training.

City officials also point out that the $17,960 in (town hall) expenses cited in the state comptroller’s report is for utilities, maintenance, and insurance over a three-year period and that the insurance portion $11,485, is the combined payments for coverage on all city owned buildings (not just the town hall) including the community center, fire hall, and elementary school, as well as the town hall. Average monthly payments for utilities over the cited three-year period at the town hall came to $59 for electricity, $72.40 for gas, and $10.76 for water.

As for the conflict-of-interest issue Dunn said, “We also found that in June, 2022 an air conditioner broke in the town community center and the town decided to bid that project out and award it to a company that was owned by a former town alderman and his relative,” explained Dunn. “That former town alderman actually performed the work to install that new air conditioning unit. Because there are real strong prohibitions in state law against conflict of interest, the town board should not have awarded that job to the former alderman and the former alderman himself should not have done the work,” said Dunn.

“Our investigation found no allegations of any fraudulent activity or theft,” said Dunn. “This is just a simple matter of using town resources properly and not paying for those town expenses to operate a town hall that really isn’t being used for that; to put good policies in place; and to oversee and properly account for all the funds that the town is accepting,” added Dunn.

Still, Dunn said the District Attorney General’s Office will be provided a report of the state comptroller’s investigation.

“Our job is just to report what we find and then we provide our report to the office of the District Attorney General. In this case the DA in the 13th judicial district and his office will make any determination on whether criminal charges will be pursued. I can’t speak as to what might come of that only to say we provided our report to the DA’s office,” said Dunn.

According to Dunn, city leaders in Liberty are willing to address the concerns.

“Our investigators met with town officials, and they do intend to correct these problems and we hope they do now that our investigation is complete,” said Dunn.

Although some of the findings by the state have been occurring for several years, even prior to her taking office in 2022, Mayor Martin told WJLE Thursday that the town will address all of them.

“I am very pleased with the thoroughness of the state comptroller’s investigation and that there were only two findings which are an easy fix and very doable. I am in the process of making things right to put us back in good standing with the state,” said Mayor Martin. “We are going to have inside, and outside cameras and Wi-Fi installed at our town hall which will also cover the surrounding area including the community center and playground. We are anxious to put this behind us and set our sights on making Liberty better,” said Mayor Martin.

January 19, 2024
By:

Do you have cattle, sheep, goats, or equine animals? If so, you could be eligible to receive payment from the DeKalb/Cannon County Farm Service Agency. According to Donny Green, County Executive Director, signup for the Livestock Forage Program will end January 30, 2024.

The Livestock Forage Assistance Program (LFP) has been approved for DeKalb and Cannon counties due to recent and extreme drought conditions that have affected livestock grazing during the 2023 normal grazing period. LFP provides compensation to eligible livestock producers that have suffered grazing losses for covered livestock on land with permanent vegetative cover or planted specifically for grazing.

Since the LFP signup began in early November, nearly 400 livestock producers in DeKalb and Cannon counties have been approved and received over $1.5 million.

If you are a livestock producer and have not filed your LFP application since the signup period began in early November, please visit the FSA office in Smithville to file your application before the January 30, 2024 deadline. There are no approval provisions for late filed LFP applications.

For more information, call the office at 615-597-8225, Ext. 2, or come by the Smithville USDA Service Center located at 647 Bright Hill Rd., Smithville, Tennessee. The Farm Service Agency’s office hours are 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

January 18, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is now available for Tennessee students, including recent changes to make it easier than ever to apply for financial aid to support a college education.

While the FAFSA typically launches in October on StudentAid.gov, this year the launch was delayed by the U.S. Department of Education due to program updates to improve online functionality.

The Tennessee Promise FAFSA deadline has officially moved to May 15, 2024 to accommodate the late opening and to allow students extra time to complete the form.

“The FAFSA is now available for all Tennesseans” said James Snider, Director of Tennessee Promise at the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. “Now is the time to finalize your plan to pursue education after high school. We are hopeful that we will continue to lead the nation in our FAFSA Completion efforts.”

An average of 350,000 Tennesseans complete the FAFSA each year. This crucial form is used to determine state and federal grants eligibility, as well as a requirement for the Tennessee Promise
scholarship.

The revised FAFSA will be shorter for some families, with certain information automatically filled in based on tax returns along with changes in the formulas used for aid calculations. However, the delay in launching the FAFSA means that students can expect to receive their loan and scholarship packages later than usual, reducing the time available for evaluating competing offers before making enrollment decisions.

Here are some key takeaways for Tennessee students:
What’s new this year?
• The updated FAFSA is expected to be shorter for some individuals, with the U.S. Department of Education predicting that some may need to answer as few as 18 questions, taking less than 10 minutes.
• Changes may require students to report information for spouses or stepparents not considered in previous years.
• The elimination of the “sibling discount” in aid calculations may affect some families negatively, but others may see an increase in aid. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that an additional 610,000 students from low-income families nationwide will be eligible for federal Pell Grants.

How can students prepare?
• To complete the FAFSA, students and contributors to their family income, including parents and spouses, should create online accounts at StudentAid.gov. Creating these accounts in advance is recommended to save time before completing the FAFSA.
• Required information includes names, dates of birth, email addresses, and Social Security numbers for all parties filling out the FAFSA. Tax information should transfer automatically from
the IRS with family consent; however, having tax returns, child support records, and current balances for cash, savings, and checking accounts ready is advisable. Families should also know
the net worth of their investments and businesses.
• A student starting classes in the fall of 2024 will fill out the 2024-2025 FAFSA form although aid calculations will be based on tax filings from 2022.
• Families are cautioned to only submit the FAFSA through the official government website (StudentAid.gov) and never pay to submit the free form.

How will students know what aid they’ll get?
• Students can share their information with up to 20 colleges and trade schools, an increase from previous years. Early submission is encouraged, as some schools have priority deadlines for
grants and scholarships. The deadline to remain eligible for the Tennessee Promise scholarship is May 15, 2024.
• After completing the FAFSA, students should expect communication from the schools they’ve applied to. However, due to late opening this year, any communications from campuses will be delayed until early February at the earliest. Families are warned against accepting unexpected offers of financial aid, as they could be scams. The U.S. Department of Education advises
verifying the legitimacy of offers by checking with the school’s financial aid office when in doubt

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