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Thomas Schweich
By Johnny Kampis | Missouri Watchdog
ST. LOUIS — The state auditor has gotten a whiff of a funky smell coming out of Clarksdale, and it’s not just the sewers.
In a town of about 300 residents, 38 homes were getting water service without paying for it. A handful of others received reduced rates on their water debts, auditor Thomas Schweich’s staff found.
It’s another case of an unchecked small town in Missouri.
By state law, municipalities go unexamined, except when residents sign a petition. Although Missouri law requires such entities to file annual financial reports with Schweich, no penalties exist for failing to comply, and many ignore the statute, Missouri Watchdog reported in July.
Schweich told city leaders he didn’t know when Clarksdale was last audited. Sixty-one residents of the Kansas City suburb signed a request for Schweich to investigate city finances.
Spence Jackson, Schweich’s media director, said Clarksdale last filed a financial report with the state auditor’s office in 1997.
The good news, however, is that Clarksdale is no Lanagan, the town where auditors found massive debt after years of mismanagement.
“In Lanagan they just weren’t very interested in making corrections, but in this case the city of Clarksdale, in light of the poor audit, is seeing this as a roadmap to positive change,” Jackson told Watchdog.
Clarksdale Mayor Shirley Kretzschmar, who took office in April, said sewer commissioner Sam Clary has taken over the duties of water commissioner, and City Clerk Meta Sampsel is helping ensure delinquent accounts are tracked.
Sampsel is the wife of the former mayor, Carl Sampsel, one of the people who petitioned for Schweich’s visit. Carl Sampsel did not return a call from Watchdog on Friday.
Schweich found that more than $10,000 was owed the city in delinquent accounts.
The former water commissioner, Kretzschmar said, worked without checks and balances; the commissioner is now repaying a delinquent water account for his home. She declined to name the commissioner, who was fired in May. Jackson said his name is Daniel Rogers.
“There was no double checking,” she said. “He read the meters, entered the information into the computer, collected the bills and deposited the money.”
Schweich commended town leaders on their efforts to shore up the accounting practices of its water and sewer department.
“Clarksdale was a town that was kind of stuck in the old ways of doing business,” Jackson said. “We feel very good about the direction they want to take to make improvements.”
Schweich’s staff will be back to ensure those ideas are implemented. Any entity that receives a poor rating gets a return visit within 90 days.
Contact Johnny Kampis at johnny@missouriwatchdog.org.
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