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A4 NEWS Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, November 18, 2020 State auditor says Grant County CARES Act spending could cause concern By Steven Mitchell Blue Mountain Eagle A state report showed Grant County’s COVID-19 federal reim- bursements could be at risk for a fed- eral audit. Upwards of 20 hours per week of overtime for COVID-19 Emergency Operations Center leaders and allo- cating 100% of county court labor costs to Grant County’s COVID-19 response with scant documentation could raise questions from federal or municipal auditors, according to a report last month from the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office obtained by the Eagle. The Department of Administra- tive Services, the agency responsible for dispersing to local governments millions in federal Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act money, audited Grant County COVID-19 expenses last month and determined it was at medium risk of being questioned by federal auditors. The auditors chose 32 local gov- ernments to audit for the first round of reimbursements from March to May 15. According to the report, Grant County was selected due to its large payroll request and its regional location. Grant County was one of 12 local governments that had a medium risk of being questioned by municipal or federal auditors, the report said. The county has since returned $15,481 of the $35,268 received for the county court salaries, which was recommended by Treasurer Julie Ellison. The original figure submit- ted to the state included 100% of County Judge Scott Myers’ wages, even though he tracked his COVID- 19 hours separately. With the exception of the county Eagle file photo Grant County Emergency Manager Paul Gray, left, and County Commissioner Jim Hamsher, the county’s emergency management liaison, talk during the county’s Nov. 5 curbside testing at the fairgrounds. court salaries and the high overtime, the audit report said the county’s request was not high relative to the county’s budget. For three months of work, the county requested reimbursement for about $100,000 for the EOC and $75,000 for the health depart- ment. The report noted that, in light of budgeted costs, the figures were reasonable. The EOC, public health work- ers and the county court made up the lion’s share of the county’s request based on time tracked for COVID- 19-related activities. The county chose not to claim 100% of public safety and public health costs, which would have been allowed, per the Treasury guidelines. The state’s auditors requested documentation for the court’s labor costs and a rundown of daily tasks to justify allocating the reimbursement to the county’s COVID-19 response. In an Oct. 21 phone interview with state auditor Scott Learn, Grant County Commissioner Jim Ham- sher said he kept track of his hours on a FEMA form and put in 1,000 hours over 10 weeks. Learn said in an email the audits division did not receive the forms. The Eagle submitted a public records request in July for the FEMA daily activity reports and so far the county has not provided them. Hamsher also said the coun- ty’s emergency manager at the time, Ted Williams, resigned the day of the governor’s statewide emergency order. The EOC employees with high overtime came into help the EOC “get on track,” he said. Williams, who had been the coun- ty’s emergency manager for four years, stepped down after an emer- gency Grant County Court session March 6. Williams disagreed with the court’s decision to appoint Dave Dobler, a sheriff’s deputy, to head up “coronavirus task force,” which effectively replaced his emergency management team, on the recommendation of Sher- iff Glenn Palmer. He also dis- agreed with opening up an EOC when one existed next door to the county health department, the lead agency, during a health emergency. Both Dobler and EOC staffer Steve Fletcher averaged at least 20 hours per week of overtime. Dobler, in a September email with Learn, said the projected death toll in both the state and county justified the overtime. According to Learn’s report, the explanation was reasonable, but a large amount of overtime for several employees “could raise questions on the appropriateness of spending.” Fletcher’s base wage on his time card showed $16 per hour as his base wage, but the amount used in the request was $24. It turned out, according to an email between Ham- sher and Learn, that Fletcher received a raise to $24 in May. The auditors noted the staff posi- tions at the EOC and the health department were “reasonable” and tied to public health. The report also said they had seen commissioners involved in response to the virus in other rural areas. Community Counseling Solu- tions, contracted by the county to pro- vide public health services, tracked its COVID-19 time separately while county employees did not. While the auditor noted the EOC documentation showed public safety and public health costs were logi- cal for coronavirus-related uses, the county court 100% reimbursement was not well documented and lacked detail on what the commissioners did. In emails and interviews with auditor Learn, Hamsher said both he and the EOC’s public information officer, County Commissioner Sam Palmer, both devoted “a lot of time” to protect the public health and devel- oped reopening plans for the county. Hamsher said Myers was also extensively involved in the COVID- 19 response when asked for details on what kind of tasks he did. “It appears the county can make a strong argument of substantially dedicated for the employees that make up the majority of the reim- bursement requested, public safety and public health. However it is not clear if the county’s percentage allo- cation approach for commissioners is valid,” the audit said. Overall, three of the local govern- ments reviewed were at a high risk of being questioned. For example, Sun- set Empire requested reimbursement for 100% for its parks and recreation staff, asking for reimbursements for fitness instructors and lifeguards. The others the Port of Morrow, which put in for high-dollar payouts for all of its staff including administrators, and Lincoln County, which requested reimbursement for expenses incurred before March. The auditors did an overall review of how the counties documented expenses, requested reimbursement of allowable costs and accurately filed. Roughly $200 million of the $1.64 billion Congress sent the state in March through the CARES Act to help pay for pandemic-re- lated expenses requires the money to respond to the public health emer- gency, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. Expenses have to be unexpected and not accounted for in a budget as of March 27, when the CARES Act became law. For a cost to be eligible, it must occur between March 1 and Dec. 30, 2020. Local governments have until the end of the year to spend the money. Rep. Owens planning for upcoming legislative session By Steven Mitchell Blue Mountain Eagle State Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane, who represents Grant and Harney counties, updated Grant County Court about the state response to COVID-19 at the last county court meeting Oct. 28. Owens said COVID-19 is dominating the conversations. He told the court that the peo- ple he talks to in communities within his district are “ready to move on.” Owens said he believes communities need to protect their vulnerable populations so they do not overwhelm their health facilities. Owens said the weekly calls he sits in on with other local repre- sentatives, State Rep. commission- Mark Owens ers and sena- tors have been valuable. He said he believes that it would not have been possible to push back against Gov. Kate Brown’s first restrictions on phased reopenings and school reopenings without those calls. In the future, he told the court that he is concerned the “second- ary effects of COVID are going outweigh the primary effects.” Owens told the court that he believes the virus is real, but said waiting for a cure or a vaccine before moving on to another phase is “no longer acceptable.” He said 40% of Oregon’s hospitality businesses have said they will go out of business in the next six months. Owens said another situa- tion that relates to COVID-19 is that the capital has been locked down. “The public has not been able to participate,” he said. “That, in my opinion, is wrong. You can’t make public policy and good public policy without public participation.” He said the state has to figure out how to allow public partici- pation before the legislative ses- S165199-1 sion begins Jan. 18, 2021. Presently, he said, the long session in odd years starts the day after Martin Luther King Day and goes for 160 days. Owens said he is bringing 35 legislative concepts that either have come from him or his constituents. One that directly affects Grant and Harney coun- ties that came from new Emer- gency Manager Paul Gray is declaring 911 dispatchers first responders. Owens said he has a con- cept that would limit the gover- nor’s emergency declaration to 14 days. Under his plan, the gov- ernor would have the ability to extend the declaration one time. Any other extensions would need to come before a legislative assembly for a vote. “I don’t think there is any- thing wrong with that,” he said. “It is checks and balance. I don’t care if they do their vote virtu- ally, but we need to make sure that there is some balance even in a so-called pandemic.” He said another piece of leg- islation he hopes to introduce is creating a special district to increase the county’s Payment in Lieu of Taxes payment. Owens said the county’s PILT, an annual payment local governments receive to help offset property tax revenue losses because of federal lands, was considerably lower this year. He said PILT is linked to the Secure Rural Schools Act, and in 2017 the SRS was not authorized. “That finally caught back up to us,” he said. He said, if the county sets up a special district, the state will funnel the funds to a special dis- trict that would go to roads and schools. He said funds would not be considered a prior payment on PILT. Owens said Grant County could receive roughly $600,000 more that would go into its gen- eral fund. “It’s a loophole,” he said. “Yeah, maybe we shouldn’t exercise it, but other states are, so we’re going to try and exer- cise that to bring more money into Grant County.” He said he also wants to dis- connect from Oregon’s corpo- rate activity tax, the 2019 gross receipts tax that the legislature passed in 2019 after the voters turned it down. “It’s a horrific tax,” he said. “It’s a pass-through tax we’re all paying for, different areas are going to be affected quite more, and if we could abolish the whole thing, I would, but we can’t. But we’re going to start trying to take small bites of that elephant. The first one we are trying to get excluded from that is ag.” S165194-1
