problem
As the “Lancaster Watchdog” column reported on Sunday, a public records request filed by the watchdog reveals that Lancaster County Sheriff Chris Lepler has announced the new reception area of the county courthouse and the sheriff's brands sold there. This raises questions about how he paid for the items.
Why does the Sheriff's Office reception area need two 50-foot “commercial grade” garden hoses that cost $69.98 each and two wall mounts that cost $10?
Lepler spent $2,924.80 over seven months at a hardware store in 2023 to build a reception area for the sheriff's office, LNP | Tom Rishi of LancasterOnline.
The garden hose was among the materials and supplies for which Mr. Lepler submitted a receipt, but it was nowhere to be found in the reception area when Mr. Rishi visited it last week.
Are the sheriff and his deputies planning to set up some sort of indoor garden that will need watering?
As Rishi reported, Lepler also purchased 40 feet worth of commercial vinyl flooring about 14 months ago, but the new lobby area still has stained and frayed carpeting.
And where are the two “4-Tier Industrial Freestanding Garage Storage Shelving” units that Lepler purchased from Home Depot in March 2023 for $498? When Rishi visited, there was no such shelf in the reception area.
There is yet another mystery here. The sheriff also purchased a fiberglass door like the one on the exterior of the house for $294. However, there is a wooden door in the sheriff's reception area.
One would think Mr. Lepler would be eager to answer these questions. However, he declined to comment on Rishi.
The items were purchased with purchase cards, or “P-cards,” which are audited by Lancaster County Commissioner Lisa Colon's office, which answered Rishi's questions but could not fully answer them. Ta.
Colon said he doesn't know who did the work on the sheriff's reception area or what the final price tag was. This is cause for concern.
But there is also this fact reported by Mr. Rishi. “An audit released last year by the County's Office of Management, which oversees county spending, specifically found that there are no consequences for elected officials not following fiscal policies set by the county's purchasing department.” ”
A February 2023 audit concluded that “Purchasing does not enforce or discipline non-compliance with P-Card program policies.”
So the policy exists, but it's not enforced, and there are no consequences for violating it? That's ridiculous.
“We're fighting everything on the backend, so[the purchases]are already happening,” Colon told Rishi. “If time passes and the itemized receipt is gone, you know, they don't have it anymore, it's stuck to paper, the tape came off, things like that. ”
“The tape fell off, something like that”? From a bureaucratic point of view, this is the equivalent of a pet dog eating a student's homework. If someone in the private sector tries to explain that they don't have a receipt for a large expense on their corporate card, they will at best be handed a bill, and at worst a pink slip.
Sheriff Lepler provided an itemized receipt. But apparently he didn't have to justify the purchase of a garden hose, garage shelving, or fiberglass door for the courthouse office.
He also used the purchase card to pay $1,020 to an apparel company. He purchases 30 24-ounce Yeti mugs from Dick's Sporting Goods for $1,123.50 (a gift for a departing department employee or a department employee who performs well at a training or event). . 100 T-shirts with the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office logo will cost him $2,120.
The guard dog also found a bandana for sale in the sheriff's office reception area with a picture of a German shepherd's head with its mouth open and two semi-automatic rifles crossed. I don't know the price of this bandana, but it was too expensive anyway.
Patricia Patrick, an accounting professor at Penn State University who teaches auditing and fraud prevention, told LNP | LancasterOnline said it was “unreasonable” for the county government not to implement a policy regarding card purchases.
He said not establishing a written policy for card purchases and requiring cardholders to “periodically approve such a policy in writing is simply a lack of internal controls and poor business practice.” ” he said.
And it is a flaw that leads to abuse of taxpayers' money.
Mr. Colon worked with County Purchasing Director Linda Schreiner (who wisely asked the Administrator to conduct an audit in 2023) and Chief Clerk Larry George to implement a new purchasing card policy for the county. He said he will submit it to the committee for review and approval.
“We're trying to work on policies that actually have an effect. So if this is happening a lot, maybe that person's limit could be lowered or their use could be stopped.” Colon said.
It's hard to praise it because it seems like such an obvious necessity. Such a policy should have been in place from the beginning.
As Rishi pointed out, a 2019 audit under Colon's predecessor, Brian Harter, found little evidence of checks on the system.
5 years ago, The Controller's Office warned that card purchases “present a significant risk of fraudulent purchases and abuse.”
As a result of the 2019 audit, the county purchasing director at the time created a set of reporting standards for cardholders, but Colon said the standards were not officially approved because the county commissioner's office did not approve them. He said that the policy was not followed.
So the lack of oversight isn't exactly an oversight. This is a failure of management and the county commissioners are ultimately responsible.
Through a spokesperson, the commissioner's office did not respond to Rishi's questions about the card purchase policy or Lepler's past purchases.
So I don't know why purchasing issues are allowed to persist within county government.
Perhaps the answer lies behind the fiberglass door Lepler purchased for $294. No matter where that door is.
