The State Auditor’s Office’s released a letter finding there was no misuse of funds by the Valley Medical Center administration concerning videos clips produced by the staff.
James Griggs, audit manager for the state auditor, sent a letter to Valley Board of Commissioners President Sue Bowman Dec. 14 stating his findings.
In the letter Griggs stated, “On October 21, 2010, our Office was contacted anonymously with concerns regarding the possible misuse of public funds by the Hospital’s Administration related to video clips from District Board of Commissioner meetings. We reviewed your concerns and found no legal basis for questioning these costs.”
The issue over the video clips was raised at the Oct. 18 board meeting by commissioners Anthony Hemstad and Dr. Aaron Heide.
The commissioners noted an anonymous e-mail was sent to board members describing video clips from board meetings saved to CDs and thumb drives.
Hemstad requested the King County Prosecutor’s Office conduct an independent investigation of the issue and made a motion to suspend Valley Superintendent Rich Roodman until the investigation was completed. The motion failed as did the motion for an investigation.
Roodman stated the administration had already contacted the auditor’s office asking for an opinion concerning the production of the video clips.
The superintendent also stated the clips were taken from public meetings and were made to communicate with his management team and medical staff. Roodman said it was within his contractual authority to order the videos clips.
The letter confirmed a statement made by Larry Smith, Valley chief financial officer, at the Nov. 15 board meeting when he told the commissioners Jeannine Grinnell, from Valley’s finance department, had received a call from Griggs stating there was no apparent unauthorized use of funds regarding the video clips.
Kara Klotz, spokeswoman for the auditor’s office, said Nov. 29 she would not confirm Grigg’s statement until the work on the hotline complaint was complete.
The Dec. 14 letter from Griggs confirmed the information provided by Smith at the meeting.
