City shuts down removal effort
BY ALYSSA MEIER
Editor
An effort to file charges against the city auditor was met with frustration Monday as city commissioners voted against the action and urged moving on.
“Quite honestly, we need to let this go,” Washburn City Commissioner Keith Jacobson said Monday evening, motioning to throw out a letter drafted by Commission President Larry Thomas.
The document in question, which was presented to the city office Monday morning, claims to charge City Auditor Joan Zimmerman with misuse of entrusted property, and states a hearing will be scheduled within 10 days. Thomas presented the letter at the start of the commission meeting, an action that seemed to perplex his fellow commissioners.
“I’m confused why your decision would affect the rest of us,” Jacobson said of the letter. “We didn’t approve that.”
Jacobson went on to explain that one of the two charges listed in the claim, an “unauthorized, additional health policy”, had been dealt with.
“Whether it’s insurance or anything else, it’s gone through Human Resources,” Jacobson said. “Where does it say that the president of the commission could do this without commission approval?”
