State Auditor’s investigation points to nearly $77K in ‘misspent’ Tama Co. Conservation funds

TOLEDO – Following a 14-month special investigation, the Iowa State Auditor’s office announced this week that former Tama County Conservation Director Stephen Mayne improperly spent nearly $77,000 in public funds.
During a news conference held Wednesday morning, State Auditor Rob Sand discussed his office’s findings — namely, that Mayne, who resigned from his position with the county on Aug. 17, 2023, improperly spent $1,570.93 of county funds while also making $75,293.32 in “unsupported disbursements” during his nearly two and a half year tenure.
“As the director, [Mayne] was allowed to purchase equipment and supplies. He also received credit card statements and charge account invoices, reviewed the statements himself, and provided them to the Conservation Board each month,” Sand said. “On Aug. 1 of last year, the [Conservation] maintenance staff discovered multiple receipts from a Menards account held by Mr. Mayne. The account was separate from the one that was typically used by the county. Department staff notified a county official about that and, ultimately, receipts from the account indicated that Mr. Mayne had used county funds to make personal purchases at multiple vendors.”
The additional Menards account in question was established in Cedar Rapids, according to the full investigative report, and, per Mayne, was “opened prior to him being employed with the Department and that inventory that was purchased for Department projects was either stored in the Nature Center basement or in the Conservation’s shop as needed.”
As first reported by Tama-Grundy Publishing, Mayne was placed on paid administrative leave on Aug. 1, 2023; he subsequently resigned 16 days later. Roughly a month after he was placed on leave, Conservation Board Chairman John Keenan told the newspaper he had spent some “100 hours” managing issues surrounding Mayne’s departure.
Of the more than $1,500 in improper disbursements Mayne allegedly processed, $1,029.16 was for personal purchases made using a Conservation credit card; $86.98 was for personal purchases using a John Deere Financial charge account; $114.89 was for personal purchases at Staples; and $339.90 was for personal purchases at other vendors.
“Unsupported disbursements” found by the investigation identified $55,759.04 in net purchases – including returns and rebates received – from Menards and $19,534.30 of purchases made using the Conservation credit card or charge accounts at various vendors.
During Mayne’s interview with the State Auditor’s Office, Mayne was asked about the rebates. According to Mayne and per the report, rebate checks that were mailed to his home address were “subsequently provided to the former Department Naturalist to maintain and use as needed to purchase supplies and equipment for the Department.”
Due to insufficient record keeping, Sand’s report stated it was impossible to determine if the unsupported purchases were for Conservation use or were personal in nature.
“We learned through our investigation and in October 2021 when the maintenance supervisor [left] employment, Mr. Mayne convinced the Conservation Board that those job duties could be dispersed among the department staff. This removed a layer of oversight and allowed Mr. Mayne to make purchases without the consent or discussion from staff,” Sand said during the press conference.
The maintenance supervisor Sand referred to was Craig Wise who had been with the department for more than 20 years prior to his departure. Wise’s wife is the current Tama County Human Resources Manager, Tammy Wise.
As part of his report, Sand said the maintenance supervisor was “responsible for overseeing the security and maintenance of facilities and premises of the County Conservation Department” and that maintenance staff “received approval from the maintenance supervisor for equipment and supply purchases.” After verbal approval was received, Mayne would then also verbally approve the purchases before they were made.
“Once a month,” the report continues, “Mr. Mayne provided the receipt documentation such as invoices and receipts, to the Conservation Board for approval and payment by the County Auditor.”
Sand noted during the press conference that while Mayne worked as director, the Conservation Board was involved in “multiple projects.” Some of those projects were listed in the full report and include three nature exhibits (a live animal display, an aquaponics exhibit, and a batcave exhibit) and OSHA building inspection upgrades.
“According to the department and county officials, Mr. Mayne was also remodeling his home at the time and at least one other property,” Sand said during the press conference. “They told us they believed the purchases were for personal use, but because proper documentation was not provided and could not be located, we were unable to determine whether or not $62,000 in purchases actually ended up being used for the department operations or for personal use.”
According to online real estate records, Mayne purchased a home in Chelsea in Aug. of 2022. Prior to his move to Tama County, he resided in Poweshiek County.
“These were purchases of materials that could have been used on both public projects at the time and Mr. Mayne’s private projects,” Sand said on Wednesday. “We did identify several improper, unsupported purchases such as a fuel pump, 50 rounds of ammunition, fuel purchases from Casey’s, ink cartridges, and a battery.”
In September of 2023, Tama County Sheriff Dennis Kucera told the newspaper the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI) was involved in Mayne’s resignation due to “conflict for one county office to investigate another county office.” He further said that after being placed on administrative leave, Mayne immediately returned a computer, a radio, and other items “like that” to the county, while also later returning “a pickup load of property that belonged to the park.”
In Sand’s report he notes that, according to county officials, “Mr. Mayne stated the items [he returned] were for Department projects that he was storing at his home.”
Tama-Grundy Publishing reached out to Chairman Keenan as well as Tammy Wise regarding the special investigation’s findings but had not heard back as of press time. The newspaper also reached out to Tama County Attorney Brent Heeren about the Iowa DCI investigation.
In an email to the newspaper Wednesday afternoon, Heeren said, “The audit involves the former Director of the Tama County Conservation Board. The Director is responsible to the Tama County Conservation Board for carrying out the policies of the Board. My understanding is the Tama County Sheriff requested that [Iowa] DCI handle the criminal investigation since various Tama County officials might be involved as witnesses in the case.”
During the Wednesday morning news conference, Sand was asked about the likelihood of charges being filed against Mayne.
“We have never gotten involved in … getting into the prosecution decisions,” Sand said. “I spent seven years at the Attorney General’s Office prosecuting most of the cases that came out of the State Auditor’s Office. It’s a different decision. It’s separation of powers. Our job is to investigate here and we just don’t provide comment on whether or not we think charges are going to happen, or what those charges should be, or anything like that.”
Before the news conference concluded, Sand reiterated statements he’s made countless times before while announcing special investigation findings.
“[W]e are going to beat this dead horse as often as we need to to remind people that they have oversight obligations. I think it’s common for people to forget about those oversight obligations. But seeing examples like this should remind people on a regular basis that they have work to do and need to make sure they are paying attention to where money is going – and that not one person has the keys to the kingdom,” he said. “We need to have our people in positions of power and trust, make sure that not one person is running everything so that there’s someone else they can trust to be looking at them when they are spending the public’s money.”
The newspaper also reached out to Mayne but he declined to comment for this story.
The full report can be viewed here: https://www.auditor.iowa.gov/reports/file/77791.pdf