$10K in bank charges, accounts questioned

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation Department incurred more than $10,000 in bank service charges in Fiscal Year 2007-2008 as a result of receiving bad checks from vendors and sponsors of Fourth of July and Navajo Nation Fair activities.

Budget and Finance Committee Chairman LoRenzo Bates questioned the “bank and other” charges during the presentation of a special review by the Office of the Auditor General before the committee.

Daniel Colello, associate auditor, said the charges stemmed from “insufficient funds for checks that don’t clear and monthly service charges the bank charges. They have two accounts set up for Exceptional Rodeo and Indian Rodeo.”

“Basically what happens is they collect check payments from their clients and some of those checks bounced, so therefore the bank charged their account for those bad charges,” added Elizabeth Begay, acting auditor general.

The charges totaled $6,018 in Fiscal Year 2007 and $4,783 in 2008.

Lynda French of Parks and Rec said that in the planning stages of the special events, Fourth of July and Navajo Nation Fair, “there are assigned coordinators. The coordinator for the Exceptional Rodeo is (Resources) Chairman George Arthur, and he established an account with his committee. When the sponsors made checks out to the Exceptional Rodeo, some checks bounced.

“There was a separate accounting record and a separate committee that the coordinators handled. I believe that the committee worked with the Office of the Controller and set up separate accounts,” she said. “The Indian Rodeo also did the same process. They met with Mr. Russell and made that arrangement.”

That same experience went on with Monument Valley. Some of tour bus companies were in transition and for that reason some of those checks bounced and were later reissued and collected. I think Parks and Recreation just absorbed those expenses,” she said. Russell, Parks and Rec department manager, is on extended medical leave.

French said Parks and Rec no longer accepts personal checks and that companies now have to submit cashier’s checks.

Bates asked Controller Mark Grant whether it is standard policy to have two separate accounts. “Any financial transactions with the Navajo Nation are conducted through the Navajo Nation’s bank account. I’m not aware of any separate bank accounts that have been set up,” Grant said.

Martin Begaye, Parks and Rec senior program specialist, told the committee, “As Ms. French indicated, we do have kind of events within events, like the Exceptional Rodeo.

This was set up through the efforts of Mr. Arthur. He more or less spearheads that and oversees that particular event on his own. We don’t really have any control over how he handles his funds, except those that we provide to that event.

“The same way with the powwow for the fair. That was also another event that was set up as an event within an event.

The coordinators for those events, they go out and solicit sponsors and contributions for those events and we don’t really have any control over those coordinators because they are high-level officials within the Legislative Branch. That’s all I can say.”

Ervin Keeswood Sr. has served as committee director for the Navajo Nation Pow-Wow since 2007.

Begay said a forthcoming audit of the 2008 Navajo Nation Fair will give a total picture. “What happened here is on the Parks enterprise fund, they booked some of the expenses from the fair as well as the Fourth of July activities fund.”

Grant said he was curious about the bank account, whose tax identification number is being used, and who the signers are on the account. “If they’re using the Navajo Nation’s tax ID number, then it needs to have the Cashier’s Department as the signer and no one else. ... There’s a lot of little questions that I need to find out about on this.”

Arthur, who was not at the meeting, said that Martin Ashley of the Controller’s Office approved the enterprise fund for the Exceptional Rodeo, which uses the Parks and Rec tax ID number, and that there are two signers on the account: Marcella King and Ray Russell.