In mid-September, a Mineral County resident posted a satirical message to social media about Mineral County having a loan program, suggesting that a certain commissioner was abusing her county credit card privileges by buying personal items to be paid back interest-free later (paraphrased).
No such loan program exists, but this got the community talking, and Mineral County Commissioner Curtis Schlepp requested an item to be put on the October 4 agenda stated as: “Consideration and possible action relative to a presentation by Hillary Womack, Comptroller, and Joan Sciarani-Blake, Independent Auditor, Arrighi, Blake & Associates, LLC, regarding Board of Mineral County Commissioner spending during fiscal years 2022, 2023, and the current portion of 2024, to include appropriateness of amounts spent, compliance with County policies, and recommendations for remedial action, if necessary.”
The County Comptroller and independent auditor shared files to those who attended the October 4th board meeting, showing the commissioners’ spending between July 1, 2022 through now. Commissioner Curtis Schlepp spent $545.90, Commissioner Larry Grant spent $936.59 (from January 2023-now), and Commissioner Hall spent $25,938.25.
Anyone can see that Hall has spent quite a bit more money compared to her fellow commissioners, which were mostly associated with travel (flight upgrades, overweight baggage fees, etc.). There is a Walmart receipt for $967.95 dated 10/14/22 in her county card and she confirmed that those charges were paid back.
A Mineral County spokesperson said that the policy was lenient on when those types of mistakes were made. While the Mineral County Purchasing Card Program makes it clear that it is to be used for legitimate business purposes only and that “Misuse of the card will subject Cardholder to disciplinary action in accordance with Mineral County Policies and Procedures relating to disciplinary action and termination for cause”, there is nothing the comptroller’s office sent (as of Oct. 24, 2023) that indicates what constitutes that misuse or what the penalties are.
Commissioner Hall sits on many boards and is generally the main representative for Mineral County. She travels quite a bit for those official work trips, with most of it being reimbursed through the National Association of Counties (NACo). While Mineral County Comptroller Hillary Womack could not be reached for comment, the MC spokesperson said that the comptroller’s office requested around $850 be paid back in flight upgrades and/or extra travel fees.
The policy read at the October 4 meeting, as well as the packet distributed to those in the audience regarding Hall’s expenses, were unavailable to the MCIN at the time of publication.
In the spring of 2023, Commissioners Larry Grant and Curtis Schlepp raised the issue of how money was being spent and tried to implement a policy that anything over $500 had to get county board approval. The motion passed, but it is unclear how or when it was implemented.
This is Commissioner Hall’s response to the allegations:
“Contrary to what has been stated by a former elected official and a fake Facebook profile, the facts are that no policy was violated, and no crime was committed. The travel budget was approved every year and the other board members stated publicly that they didn’t want or need to travel in their board assignments. All instances of erroneous card use were accidental, self-realized, self-reported, and paid back according to policy, all taking place over a year ago–not in an ongoing fraudulent manner. All travel was in the capacity of my duties and increasing levels of responsibility as a commissioner, executive member of Nevada Association of Counties, a Governor-appointed member of three state boards, and several other committee assignments. There were no policies defining or limiting any of those efforts.
The community response has been to vilify me and to negate over a decade’s worth of service. There is plenty of blame to go around and I hope that people will use their newly discovered unity and passion for county government to remain involved and strive to learn more about the bigger picture. A lot of hard work happens behind the scenes of the meetings, and it happens all over the state and the country-not just in the Mineral County offices.”
The Commissioners Special Meeting slated for October 23 was canceled due to a lack of a quorum therefore the next meeting is scheduled for November 1. As of October 24, no agenda for the next Commissioners meeting was available. Full details of what was discussed at the October 4 meeting regarding Commissioner Cassie Hall’s expenditures will be published in the next edition of the MCIN.
