Manderson town officials to be subpoenaed

Town clerk resigns

The Town of Manderson made headlines this week as the Wyoming state legislature moved to subpoena their mayor and clerk/treasurer to speak on recent audit findings.

Manderson officials will join Bear River and Riverton Recreation District representatives in October to testify before the legislature, an atypical move by Wyoming lawmakers who ultimately hand down funding to small towns and districts. Many Manderson council members shared that they had received notice of this through an article by Clair McFarland of Cowboy State Daily. 

Manderson has been accused by the Department of Audit of violating 16 state and federal regulations in their FY 2022 audit, which has been turned over to the Division of Criminal Investigation. 

At Manderson’s July 10 town meeting, council member Tim Patrick shared frustration with the subpoenas, which will bring present town representatives to testify on issues that took place outside of their appointed terms. Patrick stated that legislators have accused the town of dragging its feet, despite the hiring of S&A Bookkeeping to remedy their accounting errors soon after receiving notice of the audit report. 

“We’ve talked to the auditors and the auditors are tickled to death with what we’ve done. We just got this letter on the final audit on May 28. That’s less than two months ago, and they think we’re slow-walking it?” Patrick said. 

“I look forward to testifying in front of the legislature, and in fact I’m putting a letter together for the Cowboy State Daily; [Wyoming Association of Municipalities] recommended we do this because nobody ever fights back, and it’s time we started fighting back and telling the facts like they are.”

While present Mayor Rod Patrick is expected to testify, council member Thea Saunders expressed concern over who would represent the town for the clerk/treasurer position. Michelle Freitas, who has served as clerk/treasurer for about one year, recently resigned from her position. Since the timeframe of the audit, four people have held the role. 

Until Freitas’s position can be filled, the council approved Saunders to run the office through Aug. 21. As a result, hours have been changed to Wednesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mayor Patrick suggested paying Sandy Richardson with S&A Bookkeeping to give an expenses report at each council meeting. 

The council approved changing the clerk/treasurer role to clerk only, reducing the position’s hours from full-time to part-time. Changes to the employee handbook, which will be administered to present employees before they are implemented, will include the removal of drug and alcohol testing requirements prior to employment.