Penalties still pending for Baxter officials accused of improperly disbursing funds

Editor’s note: The following is one of a series of updates regarding the findings of an investigation into misused fundings by former City of Baxter officials.

Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand said it will be up to other entities — most likely the sheriff’s office and county attorney’s office — to decide whether penalties will be imposed on the three former City of Baxter officials accused of misusing more than $90,000 in public funds, about $75,000 of which was deemed improper.

While there are presently no charges lobbed against former police chief William Daggett, former city clerk Katie Wilson and former EMS coordinator Randi Gliem, Sand said in a press conference earlier this morning that one of the penalties of an investigation like this is related to public trust.

“This is an important thing that you want to do well,” Sand said. “There’s a penalty in terms of reputation. Legally speaking, it’s up to other entities to decide whether or not any other actions are filed. But I’d say it’s mostly trust and reputation that keep people trying to do the best job that they can.”

Newton News previously reported an investigation into Baxter’s finances was requested by city officials as a result of concerns regarding certain financial transactions processed by former employees. The investigation looked into the time periods between July 1, 2021 and Feb. 29, 2024.

The audit identified more than $75,000 of improper disbursements, about $51,000 of which was attributed to improper payroll costs and excess comp time to Daggett. It also found more than $11,000 of unsupported disbursements and more than $3,800 of unbilled, uncollected and over-collected utility billings.

“We also saw purchases on the city’s credit card for personal items and items that were purchased allegedly for city use but that the city no longer possesses,” Sand said during the Nov. 6 press conference, which was live streamed but a number of news stations.

Before his office conducted its audit, Sand said the city carried through its own internal investigation. Sand said just a day before meeting with city officials to review those internal findings, Gliem resigned and then 10 days later Daggett and Wilson resigned from their posts.

Sand’s recommended small towns remember the phrase “trust but verify.”

“We want to be looking at how tax dollars are getting spent,” Sand said. “And when we see people that we trust and that we believe they’re doing the right thing we want them to be led not into temptation. And the way that we do that is making sure that they know that we are looking at what they are doing.”

Reporters asked Sand if there was an attempt to hide the misused funds.

“You don’t necessarily have to make much of an attempt to hide when you don’t have very many people looking,” he said.

Sand would not say directly if the results of the investigation show malicious intent or was simply bad bookkeeping.

But he pointed to an allegation against Daggett in the report.

“He was supposed to be calling in when he was on duty so that dispatch would know that he’s available,” Sand said. “And there was a pretty wide distinction between when his time card said he was actually on duty — or his time sheets I should say — versus when he actually called in to say he was on duty.