Roy city officials have determined that allegations of a $40,000 deficit and a number of other issues raised during the March 27 City Council meeting were unfounded.
The issues stemmed from councilor Yvonne Starks’ claims on March 27 that the City discovered a $40,000 deficit and that the City’s account hadn’t been balanced since August 2022. These issues were allegedly discovered following the resignation of Mayor Rawlin “Anthony” McDaniel and City Clerk Treasurer Kelli Loudin.
The City released a press release on Oct. 31 citing officials conducted an internal review of the allegations described during the meeting, writing that “the statements cited by the Nisqually Valley News during that meeting did not represent the City’s position on these matters. The statements were premature and provided prior to a detailed internal review.”
Mayor Kimber Ivy also provided a statement to the Nisqually Valley News in which she confirmed that the allegations were unfounded.
“In consultation with legal counsel, staff reviewed all relevant records regarding the premature statements made by one member of the council at the March 27, 2023, council meeting,” Ivy wrote in the statement. “The City has confirmed that the allegations were unfounded, based on the city’s records.”
Starks also said that Loudin collected pay for compensatory time and was being paid over $20,000 more than what was allowed through the city’s budget. Upon discovering the alleged discrepancies, Starks said she first contacted Pierce County, which said they hadn’t faced that type of problem before. She was then referred to the Washington State Auditor’s Office.
The Nisqually Valley News submitted questions to the City regarding if all monies were accounted for, what the internal review was specifically looking for, what materials/resources/records were accessed to conclude that there was no evidence to confirm the allegations, and whether the findings would be made public. These questions were not specifically answered.
