The board of a publicly funded Minneapolis nonprofit that offers commuter resources has fired its leader following a scathing city audit last month.

Move Minneapolis' board chairman announced the termination of Dan MacLaughlin in a recent letter to city officials. The city's transportation committee separately voted Tuesday to end City Hall's official advisory role over Move Minneapolis, an organization it founded in the early 1990s.

The nonprofit with four employees is largely funded through a federal grant.

City auditors said the organization overbilled its federal grant by negotiating discounts with vendors but claiming reimbursements for the full amount. The federal grant pays 80 percent of eligible costs, and Move Minneapolis counted discounts as its 20 percent local match.

The city's audit also found that more than a thousand files had been wiped from a key computer just before it was received for analysis.

MacLaughlin said previously that he was trained to report transactions using this method when he took over the position in 2010. He noted that the city — as one of Move Minneapolis' vendors — was well aware of its accounting practices and worked with it to develop a new methodology.

He added that the files deleted from his work laptop were of a personal nature, not related to Move Minneapolis.

In a statement Tuesday, MacLaughlin said he was grateful to have worked at Move Minneapolis and wishes its staff and board well in the future.

"If I have one regret, and one piece of advice I would pass along to prospective directors of nonprofits, it would be to request an audit before taking on the responsibilities of the director, to ensure that you aren't held responsible for 'bad' practices inherited with the position," he wrote.

Eric Roper • 612-673-1732

Twitter: @StribRoper