Auditor Fitzpatrick finds the City of Holland is making some progress in recovering from the actions of the former Acting Mayor that resulted in more than $66,000 in missing city funds

A 2023 report issued by State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick helped uncover more than $66,000 in taxpayer funds missing from the City of Holland, and a follow-up report issued today finds the city is making some progress in its efforts to make sure a similar breach of the public's trust can't happen again. 

"I'm appreciative of the efforts made by city officials to implement some of our most important recommendations, which create additional levels of transparency and accountability that will help prevent misuse of taxpayer funds in the future," said Auditor Fitzpatrick. "At the same time, the city has more work to do in order to address all of the issues uncovered by our audit. I urge city officials to continue their efforts to put our recommendations into place and to give the people of Holland a city government they can trust to operate efficiently and effectively." 

The original report issued by Auditor Fitzpatrick gave the city the lowest possible rating of "poor" and found former Acting Mayor Jessica Roach failed to deposit city funds in the amount of $66,480 while also violating the Missouri Constitution by hiring her daughter to serve as City Clerk. The report also found Roach did not appoint Aldermen to fill vacant Board positions or cause a special election to be called in accordance with City Code, which allowed her and the part-time City Clerks to manage the city without Board oversight. 

The follow-up report finds the current Board of Aldermen has continued to work with law enforcement to pursue the criminal prosecution of Roach, who was charged with 8 counts of felony stealing and is set for trial in November. The follow-up also finds the city has addressed the issue of nepotism as no current city employees are related to any city officials. Additionally, the report finds the city has established a Board to provide oversight and has acted to segregate accounting duties to the extent possible and implemented review and monitoring procedures. The Board has also worked to ensure adequate supporting documentation is maintained for all disbursements, and all records are retained in accordance with state law. 

The follow-up also finds the city has not obtained annual audits of the utility system for the years ended December 31, 2023 or 2024, as required by state law. The Board has also failed to obtain and maintain bond coverage for all city personnel with access to city money and other assets, and has yet to establish the compensation of city officials and employees by ordinance, or worked to ensure city codes and ordinances are maintained in a complete and well-organized manner. Additionally, city personnel are not preparing reconciliations related to utility services or a list of customer utility deposits to periodically reconcile to balances in the city's meter bank account, nor is the city filing or remitting sales taxes collected related to the utility services billed. 

The city has made progress in monitoring the general and water accounts to prevent overdraft charges, but has yet to prepare bank reconciliations or maintain checkbook registers and book balances. The city is also continuing to work to ensure adjustments made to customer utility statements are documented and approved. A review of the one adjustment made between January 1, 2025, and July 1, 2025, found city personnel retained documentation of the adjustment and noted the reason for the adjustment in the utility system, but did not maintain documentation showing the Board approved the adjustment. 

The complete follow-up report is available online here.