Marlow Asked Auditor To Discuss District Finances With Campaign Consultant

Just a week after being accused of violating school board policies, Cherokee County School Board Member Kelly Marlow has come under fire once again.

In an email (see attached .PDF) obtained in an open records request under the Open Records Act, Marlow instructed Adam Fraley, an auditor with Mauldin & Jenkins, to discuss the Cherokee County School District's fiscal year 2010-11 audit with Robert Trim, whose campaign consulting services she utilized during last year's election. 

The information was initially revealed late last week during Thursday's school board meeting when Board Chair Janet Read recalled a conversation she sat in on with Candler Howell, assistant superintendent for financial management, and Mike McGowan, supervisor of strategic planning. 

Read said during the conversation, Fraley said over the phone he'd been contacted by Trim via email who had questions about the audit. Fraley said he asked for Trim to provide a phone number, and later called Trim only to realize he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the district since he was not a district employee. 

Fraley said he later received an email (which is attached) from Marlow giving him authorization to speak with Trim, Read noted. 

Read said she'd been disturbed by the allegations of the district's improper bookkeeping, so she asked the auditor if there was anything wrong with the district's audit.

Fraley said "nothing in your audit was indicative of any kind of error or fraud," she added.

In a press release on Friday, Marlow defended her actions by saying Trim was part of a "working group of local citizens and business leaders" she is using to help her understand the school district's finances. 

Trim was invited to join the group, she added, due to his 15 years of "policy experience at the state and local level."  

"This group is necessary due to the fact that the professional staff has been unresponsive, insubordinate and obstructive in answering (my) repeated inquiries regarding system finances, specifically the timing of the Board’s receipt of the final audit and the millions of dollars in adjustments that were required to correct bookkeeping errors," she added. 

She added Trim "knew full well" the conversation would be limited because he understood he was not an employee with the district. Marlow said Trim told Fraley he was a "local citizen working as a policy adviser" to her as a board member.

"It is clear from the e-mail that this was a constituent-generated inquiry and that Mr. Trim was acting as part of an informal working group," she added. "In no way was this portrayed as Mr. Trim representing the school system or the board of education." 

The episode, she added, could have been avoided if Superintendent of Schools Dr. Frank Petruzielo had answered her questions on the audit during the May 16 work session and during last week's board meeting.

However, in a memo written on May 16 to Petruzielo and shared with all seven members of the board, Howell noted the district received an "unqualified" audit report, which means "there were no problems with the school district's accounting records or practices."

The district has received unqualified reports for the last 23 years, Howell writes. 

The memo states the comments from Mauldin & Jenkins were "related to new accounting standards and new accounting practices by the particular auditor."

"We answered each of the auditor's comments appropriately and understand what is required for future audits," he said, adding the state closed the audit without any further request or "corrective actions." 

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