The Hedley City Council accepted the resignation of City Secretary Kim Davis Gossman Thursday night, January 19, and Mayor Carrie Butler said an investigation is underway related to allegations of misappropriation of funds.
The action came at the end of the city’s regular meeting and after the council met in closed session for about ten minutes. Following the acceptance of Gossman’s resignation, the council then approved a motion for the city not to pursue charges against Gossman, and Butler stated that currently no funds are missing from the city.
Following the meeting, Butler said the council’s vote was intended to mean the city would not pursue legal action against Gossman, but she said the sheriff’s office may still pursue criminal charges with its investigation. The funds involved were payroll funds and contract labor funds, Butler said.
Butler said discrepancies were discovered during an audit of the city’s fiscal year 2022, and that Gossman had since returned money to the city. Butler declined to reveal the amount of money in question with the sheriff’s department’s investigation still underway. She also said she is conducting an internal audit herself.
Butler said the funds in question are related to vacation pay.
“The sad part is that if she had brought this to the board, we probably would have approved paying it,” Butler said.
The Enterprise will have more details of the case and a complete report of Thursday night’s meeting in next week’s edition.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect the investigation is being conducted by the Donley County Sheriff’s Office rather than the District Attorney’s office.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.