Audit findings fault county's former financial director

The Quay County Commission on Monday accepted and approved its FY2023 audit that contained three findings faulting the county’s retired finance director.

Farley Vener, a principal at the Hinkle & Landers accounting firm in Albuquerque that performed the audit, appeared by videoconference for the exit conference Monday.

Vener said the county had about $30 million in assets and just $10 million in liabilities.

The county had three new findings in the audit, which was an unmodified opinion — the best available.

The audit found a material weakness in internal controls over financial reporting. The report stated “the County has not designed and implemented effective procedures and workpapers to ensure a timely and accurate financial close.”

The report found a significant deficiency in internal control over financial reporting of capital assets, including inconsistent depreciation and several vehicles transferred from other governments not listed as assets.

The audit found fault in money being collected at the county’s satellite locations. Six receipts in March at the DWI Office were dated two to seven days earlier than the deposit date, including one dated in January.

The report stated the finance director, the now-retired Cheryl Simpson, was responsible for the findings.

County manager Daniel Zamora said Simpson was “a pen-and-paper lady,” and he didn’t want to push her into newer recordkeeping technology. Samantha Salas now is the county’s finance director.

Zamora said he would insist the county now use higher-tech methods in its finances.

“You have to keep evolving and improving, or you get stagnant,” he said.

In other business:

— Vickie Gutierrez, administrator at Trigg Memorial Hospital, gave a 2023 report about the facility that showed more admissions and less financial losses than expected.

Gutierrez said inpatient admissions and emergency department visits each rose in 2023 compared to the previous year.

She also reported a net profit margin of minus-1% in 2023, less than the anticipated minus-5.9%.

Gutierrez said the hospital is using no traveling nurses for the first time in three years, but still is employing traveling radiologists and lab specialists. Trigg also hired a nurse practitioner, Lloyd Williams, which has expanded the clinic’s hours.

Commissioners approved to the hospital the usual quarterly payment of $250,000 in mill levy and gross receipts tax to help pay for operations and maintenance.

— Commissioners approved a $170,345.34 purchase from APIC Solutions of Albuquerque for a full-body scanner for the Quay County Detention Center. The machine will be used to detect contraband in inmates.

The county had considered a scanner from another company, but its warranty cost an extra fee. The scanner purchased Monday came with its own warranty.

— Johnny Reid, the detention center’s administrator, said he received a quote of $75,000 to repair plumbing at the jail. Zamora said he would hold off on that until the next fiscal year, which begins in July.

Reid also reported a new air conditioner unit, heating unit and stove were installed at the jail, with a new dishwasher soon to arrive. Zamora said he also was obtaining a quote to fix locks.

Later, during his manager’s report, Zamora said the jail has paused transferring inmates to other jails because the cost was “not sustainable.” He said he seeks to keep half of the county’s inmates at the jail and half in the Roosevelt County facility.

— Commissioners approved a revolving state loan of $292,870 to purchase a brush truck for the Bard-Endee Fire Department. County fire marshal Lucas Bugg recommended the loan because the truck will be delivered sooner than anticipated.

— Commissioners tabled action until its next meeting on a professional services agreement from Wireless Tower Solutions of Albuquerque.

Dean Williamson said his company would help the county draft a wireless tower ordinance. Wireless Tower and the county would be paid through permit fees for the erection of new cell towers.

The county would have more say in towers that would comply with the character of a community. Williamson said his company specializes in serving counties with smaller populations.

— Commissioners tabled action on a resolution supporting Luna County in its opposition to a proposed Mimbres Peak National Monument.

Rush, who proposed the resolution, said the federal government wants to designate over 245,000 acres near Deming. She said ranchers were not consulted on the plan.

Commissioner Brian Fortner advocated delaying action on the resolution until Commission Chairman Robert Lopez, who was absent due to an illness, returns at the next meeting.

— Commissioners approved an application of $115,651 in funding from the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration for the DWI Program in fiscal year 2025.

— Zamora talked about a New Mexico Environment Department’s climate action engagement meeting Thursday at Mesalands Community College about a possible renewable energy hub in Tucumcari. (See other story in this edition.)

— Commissioners approved an invoice of $19,644 for the Quay County Family Health Center in Tucumcari for operations in December and January.

— Zamora said he was obtaining quotes to install additional security cameras at the dispatch center, its future home, public health office and the road department.

Because a new security camera system recently was installed at the courthouse, he said the only additional expense for security surveillance at other sites would be the cameras themselves.

— Zamora said he was obtaining quotes for new server software, as current programs no longer were being supported. He said he also would apply for a cybersecurity grant from the New Mexico Secretary of State.

— Erin Smith, family consumer science agent at the Quay County Extension Office, gave a quarterly report from that office. She said the county 4-H members took indoor projects to the Eastern New Mexico State Fair for the first time in over 15 years.

— Zamora and road superintendent Stephen Salas said the county officially is requesting a 10% local match for state disaster aid, instead of the usual 25%, to repair county roads damaged by May’s flash flooding.

— Rush asked all entities in the county to undergo mass casualty event training. Zamora said he would put the eventual county emergency manager in charge of that.