Dear Gilliam County,
I am writing to encourage the citizens of Gilliam County to ask some critical questions of your incumbent elected officials, including those who are going to be on your ballot for the May primary election.
I have been the Finance Director at Gilliam County since July 10, 2023. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA), and I am a Certified Management Accountant (CMA). I have over 20 years of experience in Accounting/Finance and spent the last 8 years trying to make my way back to the hometown and County that I love. I was thrilled to accept the Finance Director position with the County.
Within my first few weeks at Gilliam County, I discovered several concerning issues with both the accounting and internal controls. I will identify just a few of those issues below:
• The main bank account had not been reconciled since November 2022 and remains ~ $7,000 out of balance to date.
• Checks are being issued by employees to companies owned by family members
• Procurement policy is not properly followed
• County property is being used for private employee gain
• Interest earnings are not being reported or posted to the accounting system regularly, and appear uncharacteristically low
• Payroll taxes improperly paid to the IRS and they were taking action to lien County property
• Payroll taxes overpaid to the State of Oregon in excess of $30k
• Time-off accruals were not properly accounted for: some employees receiving too many accruals and some employees receiving too little.
• Checks issued to a blank vendor and vendor records modified after check issuance.
I immediately brought these and similar issues to the attention of the Court, and they acted in August 2023 to correct them and mitigate future risk to the County. These decisions have been fiercely opposed and undermined by YOUR elected officials and you need to start asking why.
Why are some of the elected officials opposed to internal controls?
Why haven’t the funds at the County been carefully reviewed, managed, and monitored?
Why have any attempts to correct these issues been publicly demeaned and internally undermined?
Is it appropriate for an elected official to supervise family members or does that present significant risk for fraud?
I have contacted several agencies and will be compelling them to launch investigations into these and other matters discovered at the County. I have also filed for protection with the Department of Justice due to on-going retaliation against me for reporting these issues, which is illegal. I will continue fighting for what is right for Gilliam County, but I urge you to stand up, ask questions, and make sure that people who you elect will properly represent the interests of all citizens of Gilliam County.
I would like to emphasize that I am not leaving Gilliam County because of Judge Farrar-Campbell, Commissioner Shannon, or Commissioner Watkins. They have been extremely supportive and wonderful to work with. I offer them thanks and well wishes.
Signed, Rachel Boyer
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