Stidham will provide documents for questionable payments
NWI Times
July 03, 2019
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/stidham-will-provide-documents-for-questionable-payments/article_881f649e-4061-588a-909b-95afbe05eb93.html
PORTAGE — Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham has promised to provide the Portage Board of Public Works with documents involving allegedly unapproved payments to three companies by his office Friday.
He made that commitment at a special board of works meeting Tuesday morning.
Board member Ron Necco asked for copies of contracts involving Keeping the Books, ERG Advisors and Paramount Technology Solutions as well as 1099 forms, both sides of checks cut to the companies, invoices showing payments and copies of board of works dockets with the invoices listed.
Stidham is alleged to have paid these businesses a combined total of $70,000 and contracted them without the board's approval. A report released Tuesday alleges the companies in question are associated with his wife.
“This isn't a witchhunt or headhunt type of thing. This stuff comes out and us, being responsible for the finance of the city, we're doing our due diligence,” Necco said.
Mayor John Cannon said he asked for the same information back in March, but Stidham never provided the documents. Stidham said he provided the mayor documents when they were requested in March, but Cannon said they were not related to the case.
Stidham said the issue involving the checks can partially be explained by the way the claims docket is handled before and after meetings.
He explained the board gets several versions of a claims docket that has the bulk of the city expenses the board approves. The docket goes through multiple revisions before the board approves it, he said.
It is first sent digitally to board members, followed by an updated hard copy signed at the meeting and a final version with any additions made later.
The docket can be updated after the meeting as the form is signed off without a dollar amount or amount of pages in the docket set in stone. Department heads may even remove or add some claims up to three days after the meeting.
Stidham said he was told by a longtime employee of the clerk-treasurer's office that this process was the way it has been done for years before he took office.
“It flows into this (issue with the checks) and creates a lot of confusion,” he said. “I'm not saying it's right or wrong. It's just been the process and I want everyone to understand it.”
Necco said he was unaware of how the process worked and surprised items could be added later.
“I had no opportunity to review (the additional claims), ask questions or verify their legitimacy,” he said. “That does create a problem.”
Cannon took issue with this practice, saying that most bills coming before the board aren't due immediately when they're sent to the city.
“Bills are normally sent to the city in a 30-day, 45-day, or 90-day time frame. The board of works meets twice a month,” he said. “There would be no need to pay bills between that two week time frame if we have leeway in the bill paying process.”
Stidham said he was open to changing the process and has been willing to discuss concerns.
“I think (the docket process) is the underlying concern,” he said. “I'm not saying it can't be done better.”
Last week, Cannon issued a news release announcing a report had been provided to him about potential wrongdoing in the clerk-treasurer's office, while a redacted version of the report with all of the allegations wasn't released until Tuesday afternoon.
Most of the allegations stem from Stidham employing his wife in his office before they were married. The report alleges some financial motivations for cutting checks to the three companies in question.
This employment issue was also brought up during the trial of former Mayor James Snyder during the cross-examination of Stidham, who testified as a witness. Snyder was later convicted and is awaiting sentencing.
Stidham has repeatedly called any allegations of wrongdoing involving his wife's employment salacious and even slanderous.
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