Nowthen in northwestern Anoka County will ask a state auditor to help get its house in order after its interim city administrator found a series of a "dereliction of responsibilities" by past administrative staff.
The City Council Feb. 8 also extended the contract of interim city administrator Frank Boyles through July 1 as it seeks a permanent replacement. Boyles, who served as Prior Lake's city administrator for 26 years, was brought in after three employees of the city's administrative staff resigned in October, alleging they were bullied, harassed and intimidated by Mayor Jeff Pilon and a City Council member.
In the ensuing months, Boyles discovered 17 inconsistencies ranging from haphazard filing and missing files to issuing pay raises and benefits without City Council approval and failing to properly close the books on previous years. The findings, outlined in a four-page memo, also found the city missed state tax and unemployment filings, didn't inform employees about personnel policy changes and failed to deduct some pension contributions from employee paychecks.
"I take no joy in preparing this report which identifies multiple serious examples of dereliction of responsibilities by previous administrative city staff," Boyles wrote in the memo. "And I fear our discoveries are not over."
The findings were surprising because the departed employees said they would leave things "in perfect order," Pilon said in a phone interview.
Boyles and his team have corrected some of the issues and are working through others, Pilon said. "We are trying to get things rectified."
The city with a population of about 5,000 did not miss a beat despite the upheaval, Pilon said. Under Boyles' leadership, the city in the last quarter even added equipment for its recycling program, he said.
But large issues still remain. Former City Clerk and Treasurer Lori Streich and Deputy Clerk Ellen Lendt filed unemployment claims even though they voluntarily resigned their positions alleging harassment and a hostile work environment. An unemployment judge denied Lendt's claim for $12,000 and she has appealed.