Before the Hennessey Board of Trustees could act to approve monthly claims, Trustee Bert Gritz asked fellow Trustee David Jones, “Why have you voted against it every time?”

“I don’t know what I’m approving,” Jones said. “I want more detailed information... I’m not seeing what I think I should be seeing.”

The Tuesday night, Feb. 11, town meeting wasn’t the first meeting for Gritz to ask that question, or for Jones to answer it, in the past couple of years.

Town Attorney Jared Harrison told Jones he would only be approving the claims that are listed. Jones said he understood that.

Credit Card Payments?

“Why aren’t credit card and debit card claims included?” Jones asked.

“There are no debit cards,” said Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman.

Credit card purchases are listed by the vendors, she said, and mentioned “Amazon, Staples and Sam’s.”

“Will that show a description of items purchased and by whom?” asked Jones.

“It will give you a description, but not who signed for it,” Tillman said, “but if you come to the offi ce, we can show you that.”

Gritz said he wanted to make sure he wasn’t doing something wrong. “What are you seeing that I’m not seeing? he asked.

“I may be wrong,” said Jones, “but I need more detail and Tiffany just said I can come in Monday or Tuesday.”

All Trustees See Claims Trustee Randy Bohnstedt said he comes to the offi ce and signs claims every month.

“You all see them,” Town Treasurer Shelley Burch said.

“Each of us (four members) have only been seeing one-fourth of them,” Jones said.

“As mayor, I see almost all claims,” said Harold Shaw.

“You can all come in and see all claims that everyone else has signed,” said Burch.

Town is Under State Audit

“I hesitate to bring up the topic,” Jones said, “but we do have an ongoing state forensic audit.”

Each trustee was interviewed individually by a state examiner, Jones said.

“Mr. Morley (one of the examiners) talked about this very topic. He gave me advice about what I should be seeing in this consent agenda.

“I want to see more information. I want her to put stuff in here that we don’t even need to discuss, but that I want to see.

“Tonight, there isn’t enough information in there for me to vote for it.”

The vote was 3-1 to approve the claims.

Jones also mentioned he’d sent emails to Tillman on the subject of more information, then apologized to her and the town attorney.

He said they’d asked him to talk with them about what he wants included in the claims, but he hadn’t met with them yet.

Audit Started in 2023

The forensic audit by the State Auditor and Inspector’s office started at Hennessey’s Town Hall in January 2023.

That audit request was made in mid-October 2022 by then-District Attorney Mike Fields of Enid.

Fields told the KT&FP he got a preliminary inquiry from the State Bureau of Investigation that showed “possible financial concerns.”

A forensic audit is an examination of financial records to uncover potential fraud or misconduct.

Board Member Conflicts Continue

It’s no secret that 2-2 and 3-1 votes stalemated the board’s attempt to appoint someone to the five person board after then-Mayor Clif Vogt’s unexpected June 30 resignation.

Gritz was quick to nominate Tim Riddle, a former board member and bank manager for that seat.

Gritz and Bohnstedt voted yes. Shaw and Jones voted no.

Shaw nominated Frank Patton, an oilfield company office manager who had attended board meetings, and that vote was 1-3 with Shaw voting yes.

Jones nominated Mark Smith, a compressor mechanic for a gas company and a good family man, and that vote was 1-3 with Jones voting yes.

However, the board had been able to appoint Shaw as an interim mayor in a 3-2 vote before Vogt left office in their June meeting.

Voting yes were Vogt, Jones and Shaw. Gritz and Bohnstedt voted no.

Then, as Shaw pointed out in last month’s meeting, the town’s website still showed Vogt as mayor and he’d left seven months ago.

Board Took Applications for Board Seat

The board decided to ask for volunteers to take Vogt’s seat until the April 1 election for the two years left on his term.

Six applied and all attended an August board meeting expecting that one of them would be appointed.

That didn’t happen.

There were split votes on three of those candidates: Gritz nominated Tim Riddle (2-2 with Bohnstedt and Gritz in favor); Shaw nominated Frank Patton( 1-3 with Shaw voting yes), and Jones nominated Mark Smith(1-3 with Jones the lone yes).

“We’re going to have a lot more split votes for the next seven months,” one of those candidates was overheard saying.

Jones continues to vote no on claims and voted no to accepting a first quarter financial report in November by Crawford and Associates.

Upcoming Election

Both Shaw, 58, and Jones, 68, have filed for re-election to four-year terms in the April 1 election.

Also filing for those seats were Miguel Hernandez, 31; Evelyn Ramirez, 22, and Tim Riddle, 63.

Voters will mark their ballots for their top two candidates since there are two four-year seats up this year.

Filing for a two-year term were Frank Patton, 65, and John Peach, 73.

Riddle and Patton are the only two of the six who’d applied to the board in August for Vogt’s remaining two years on the board and Riddle opted to run for a four-year term.