Finance director announces resignation, cites access limits and separation-of-duties concerns

The city's finance director told the Mona City Council on July 28 that she has resigned effective July 31 and outlined procedural concerns she said led to her decision.

Speaking at the council meeting, the director (speaker 4) said she was hired in November to replace Sarah Samuelson and has been learning municipal finance. She said she was later told to remove Sarah from access to city systems and to stop contacting her after raising questions about a newly created position and how it was being set up. The director said that, when she raised the issue, she was told that if she limited others' access her own access would be limited in turn. "I was told to delete Sarah from anything that she had access to, including no longer contacting her for anything that was related to city business," she said. She stressed concern about the upcoming state audit and the need for proper access and documentation.

The director told the council she believes a line between legislative and administrative duties has been crossed and recommended that the council reach out to staff (noting Shay Sands as a resource) to fix separation-of-duties issues. She said she will finish payroll duties prior to leaving and will provide notes, logins, and guidance to ease the transition. The director also asked that the council be informed about the reasons for her resignation and said she would not name individuals during her remarks.

At the meeting the council had previously discussed finance paperwork (July 15'July 28 packet and the fourth-quarter report) that the director said she would complete prior to departure. She also noted that some program accounts are managed by her predecessor and that the city may need technical assistance to reset ownership and logins before the audit.

The council did not take formal disciplinary or investigatory action during the meeting; the resignation stood as announced and the director said she will remain available to respond to auditor questions. The mayor and council were asked by the director to address the separation-of-duties and access issues promptly to avoid similar problems in the future.