The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
There was no embezzlement and policies have been updated
By Mark Reaman
A detailed 23-page anonymous letter making serious allegations against the Gunnison Watershed School District was sent to various elected and administrative officials along with media outlets in the county this month and has resulted in some updated policy changes by school district superintendent Leslie Nichols.
The letter alleges embezzlement and improper disposal of vehicles by district transportation and facilities director Paul Morgan. It claimed some vehicles were traded for services such as tree planting or dirt work instead of money, others were sold cheaply to Morgan’s friends or former associates instead of allowing for a public bid process and not all the money was deposited with the school district.
Nichols responded to the letter by informing the school board that given the serious nature of the charges, an investigation was conducted and some policy changes were needed. She reported that the district’s auditor was consulted and there has been no embezzlement. She said a current transportation asset list was verified, confirmed that all previous vehicles sales resulted in cash or trade for the district, and said that the new asset disposal policy will no longer allow for trade. She confirmed that every asset being disposed in the future will include an opportunity for the general public to bid on the asset.
In her letter to the school board responding to the anonymous letter, Nichols said that the regulation that guides the process of asset disposal “was updated to clearly outline the new expected practices for vehicle asset disposal, and language was added delineating that assets cannot be traded for services.”
Nichols in her letter to the school board admitted there were things that should have been done differently when it came to disposing of the district’s old vehicles. She was clear that “all funds from vehicle sales were received and properly accounted for.”
“A letter containing serious allegations such as these demands attention, and my team and I are giving these matters our full energies. That the letter is anonymous is frustrating,” she wrote. “The author does not have accurate or complete information and it appears this letter is a vengeful act directed against Paul Morgan. I am not proud of the inappropriate disposal of vehicles that occurred in our district…I am assured that while the methods of disposal were not according to practices necessary for a public governmental organization, they did result in benefit to the district and only the district, and not Paul Morgan individually. There has been no embezzlement.”
