TALLADEGA — Personnel records of a fired Water and Sewer Board employee show that the 2002 theft she lost her job over was not the first time she had taken money from the board.Pat Borden, the only one of three fired employees to be charged with the theft in 2002, was reprimanded in 1999 for taking $575 two years before that.
The missing money was not discovered until an audit in 1999, and board general manager George Montgomery reprimanded her and former board secretary/bookkeeper Cookie Adair in connection with the missing money.
A memo to Montgomery from accountant Wayne Washam explained the earlier incident. "After reviewing our working papers for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 1998, I found the following information regarding a $470 deposit in transit on the bank reconciliation. The $470 was on the reconciliation with no explanation."
According to Washam's report, Adair told him Borden took the money but was paying it back. Adair said she would not cover it up and put a $510 deposit in transit with no explanation.
Adair said Borden paid back $40 between June 1997 and September 1998, which made the amount of the deposit in transit $470.
A deposit in transit refers to money deposited at the end of the month that has not cleared the bank at the time the statement is printed.
In his report, Washam wrote that as of Dec. 29, 1998, Montgomery had not been told of the incident. He advised Borden and Adair to do so, and they did. "My understanding is that all the money was paid back in January 1999," Washam said.
Adair gives a different account of the incident. "Pat came to me and told me that the books would be out of balance by about $500. I told her at that time that she needed to tell Montgomery, and she said she would. I did tell her I was not going to cover anything up, and I put it on the statement as an outstanding deposit."
Although she agreed there was no detailed explanation for the deposits in transit, she said she did write in Borden's name next to them on the statement she sent to the auditors.
Adair said during the period in question, her father, who lived in Mississippi, was dying, and she spent a great deal of time shuttling back and forth over the next several months. "I would ask her from time to time if she was still paying down the money, and she said she was," she said.
"When Washam was asking about that figure and if Montgomery knew about it, I told him I thought so, but I didn't know for sure. We went upstairs right then and asked Borden if she had told Montgomery about taking the money, and she said no, she hadn't."
The three of them went into Montgomery's office, and Adair told Montgomery that Borden has "something to tell you about."
Montgomery reprimanded Borden and Adair almost two months later, in February 1999.
The reprimands
Borden's letter of reprimand, dated Feb. 17, charged that she took $575 in June 1997 to use for car repairs. "You took ... cash from your drawer for personal use. Of course, this was done without the knowledge or permission of anyone in authority,” the reprimand states.
“Later you discussed the matter with Adair and signed an IOU, promising to repay the money," Montgomery wrote. "The action was known only by Adair and not approved by anyone. You later repaid less than $100, and as of today you have repaid the entire sum. Your actions clearly violate common sense as well as the board's personnel rules."
Adair's letter of reprimand, dated five days later, was similar. Montgomery wrote that she became aware of the money being taken and set up an accounting method to hide it and allow repayment without being discovered. "Your actions were highly improper. You assisted in the cover-up of an employee's misconduct. You failed to properly perform your job by not reporting the incident."
Borden was suspended for 10 days without pay, and Adair was suspended for five days without pay. Both employees were docked 75 cents per hour for the next six months.
Documentation attached to Adair's reprimand shows that she was actually docked, and that her pay was restored to its previous level in September 1999.
No such documentation was attached to Borden's reprimand, but Adair pointed out that the handwriting on the document showing the restoration of her pay was Borden's.
Only one of the documents directly relating to the 2002 theft makes any reference to the 1997 incident. In a memo from Montgomery to the members of the board dated June 27, 2002, informing them of his intention to fire Adair, Montgomery recounted a "similar situation, only on a much smaller scale," in 1999.
"The only reason both parties were not terminated was because of their tenure and that they placed the matter on the books," Montgomery told the board.
In the actual letters of reprimand, Montgomery said Borden and Adair were not terminated because they had "admitted their actions."
Although the Washam and Montgomery memos are dated within the period The Daily Home requested records in a 2002 case against the board, neither was turned over to former Circuit Judge Jerry Fielding to be kept under seal until the newspaper's case demanding those records was resolved.
The records are being released now because of a unanimous ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court that personnel records of the water board are public.
Board attorney Charlie Gaines, who at the time of the newspaper's request was Montgomery's personal attorney, said he did not turn over these documents because he did not think he had seen them at the time. "I know they were not included in the personnel files yet, but when we were disclosing board documents, I figured you would probably want to see them."
More responsibility
In spite of her admission of having taken board funds in 1997 and her suspension in 1999, Borden continued to accrue new responsibilities over the next two to three years.
According to a letter Adair wrote to Montgomery answering her 2002 termination notice, Adair pointed out that "there were several occasions when I would request reports, or the computer clerk (Borden) would comment on how busy she was, that I (said) let the new, extra teller work the drive-thru window when needed.
"I was informed that 'Montgomery did not want that employee working the window as she has other duties. I had no reason to doubt this statement, as (Borden) and Montgomery worked closely together. She was apparently over the clerical/teller staff, the only one in the office with complete computer security clearance, had a key to Montgomery's office, the only one authorized to talk to the computer systems company, the one who kept up with all the tellers’ time worked and the one, more often than not, delegating the various teller jobs."
In October 2001, "each teller was assigned locking money bags, and should be responsible for their own deposits, making them in a timely manner." Each bag had two keys, instead of the manager having the spare key, they were all given to Borden, Adair said. Borden also was the same person who, by the board manager's authority, carried these bags, unescorted, to the bank each day, she said.
Borden, speaking through attorney Clarence Dorch III, declined to comment.
Even though Borden did not get caught taking money from the till again until the spring of 2002, a special audit conducted by Camp and Associates turned up instances of unaccounted for deposits in transit from Borden's drawer in 1999 and 2000. The theft of the $91,000 occurred between August 2001 and May 2002.
Borden was subsequently indicted for theft of property in the first degree, and eventually entered a guilty plea. She made restitution by emptying her state retirement account, and was sentenced to five years probation by Fielding.
Since Borden was bonded for up to $100,000, the board was reimbursed only for the additional costs associated with the special audit.
According to Talladega County District Attorney Steve Giddens, any further restitution would have to be sought by the bonding company, since it had already reimbursed the board for the amount stolen.
