MOUNT VERNON — The Ohio Auditor of State’s Office has notified the City of Mount Vernon that it will issue a finding for recovery for an incorrect payout of accrued sick leave.
The finding is against former employee Darren Tyson, former city auditor Terry Scott, and Scott’s bonding company, Liberty Mutual Surety.
The OAS notified the city on April 24 that it would issue the finding for recovery. However, the office stated it was withholding the release of all reports until after the May 6 election.
The auditing firm Clark Schaefer Hackett (CSH) noted the finding in its December 2024 audit of fiscal year Jan. 1, 2023, to Jan. 31, 2023.
City policy states that employees terminated for just cause can transfer unused sick leave to another government employer, but the city will not pay them for the unused leave.
In 2023, the city terminated Tyson for cause and paid him $12,363.25 for unused sick leave. The CSH report states that this happened partly due to the lack of segregation of duties in the auditor’s office.
Tyson, Scott, and Liberty Mutual are jointly and severally liable for repaying the $12,363.25 to the city’s general fund.
Incorrect payment of sick leave was one of two noncompliance instances the CSH audit noted.
The other involved failing to file the annual report within 150 days of the fiscal year-end. The auditor’s office filed the report on Sept. 5, 2024; it was due May 30.
Three other deficiencies reflected weak internal controls.
‘Untangling the spaghetti plate’
Safety-service Director Tanner Salyers said the city is still sorting through previous accounting transactions, a process made more difficult by transitions in the auditor and human resources offices.
After Scott retired in September 2024, Paul Mayville served as auditor for four months. When Mayville resigned, the Knox County Republican Central Committee appointed Daniel Brinkman to the position in February.
Additionally, Elizabeth Turner will soon be the new human resources director.
Salyers said the city will release a Request for Proposal for a three-year forensic payroll audit sometime this month. He anticipates something coming from the audit.
He also cautioned that the fiscal year 2024 audit, which comes out this year, will likely show some issues.
He said that stems from previous accounting methods and new employees “trying to undo the spaghetti plate of the accounting.”
“What it won’t reflect is the progress that we’ve made. You’ll see that in 2026 [in the 2025 audit],” Salyers said.
“We’re not out of the woods yet, but we’ve made crazy strides.”
mount vernon safety-service director tanner salyers
Salyers said he is comfortable with what city officials have found and corrected.
“It is not my job to say what is misfeasance, malfeasance, or nonfeasance, but I know the complications that we had, and I know the complications that don’t currently exist. And they are significant,” he said.
Salyers said the city submitted other potential issues to the state auditor’s office. The state’s auditing department forwarded them to the Special Investigative Unit.
“When it didn’t meet the threshold of theft in office or those kind of things, they didn’t pursue it, and the only thing they found was that finding [for recovery] which we knew was going to come,” Salyers said.
He does not know whether the state will pursue the other issues further.
