The current Harlan City Administrator, Gene Gettys, along with the city’s elected officials and all of the employees have penned a letter, apologizing to citizens of the community. They say they are disappointed and embarrassed by the apparent misappropriation of nearly $145,000 that occurred between July 1, 2004 and June 30, 2016. The city requested a special audit for that time period to find concrete answers to questions that were raised about the former city administrator’s reimbursements. This led to Terry Cox’s resignation in 2016. The letter assures residents that the information provided by the auditors in the review process will be used to continue making changes to policies, procedures and processes. The City Council recently adopted a new credit card policy and has already altered employee expense reports to require detailed documentation before reimbursement and added that no alcohol charges will be accepted. The letter goes on to say the Auditor of the State has filed copies of this report with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), the Shelby County Attorney’s Office and the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. A new mission statement for the city was adopted earlier this year, and they have made a commitment to using it to guide them in their present and future endeavors. It states, “The City of Harlan team serves, protects and engages our citizens in a professional, safe and fiscally responsible manner. We are a positive team dedicated to open and honest communication. Our pride and love for our community is the reason we are committed to creating a better future and quality of life for our citizens.” Carroll Broadcasting has reached out to Gettys, but he was unavailable for comment at this time.
