T-R FILE PHOTO — Former Tama County Human Resources Director/Insurance Administrator Tammy Wise, right, participates in a vaccination clinic with then-Tama County Public Health Director Shannon Zoffka, left, on Feb. 9, 2021. A report from the State Auditor’s office issued on Tuesday morning identified over $250,000 in questioned, improper and unsupported disbursements processed by Wise, who was terminated in February of 2025 and has a wrongful termination and tortious interference lawsuit pending against the Board of Supervisors and HR Specialist Paul Greufe.

DES MOINES — On Tuesday morning, State Auditor Rob Sand issued a report on his office’s special investigation into the Tama County Human Resources Department — specifically, transactions processed by former HR Director and Insurance Administrator Tamara “Tammy” Wise — and identified a total of $251,629 in questioned costs and improper and unsupported disbursements between 2020 and 2025.

The majority of the questionable spending identified in the Auditor’s report — $168,709.89 — came in the form of unsupported disbursements including “$153,038.60 of disbursements to vendors from the County’s Health Insurance fund, $8,728.26 of purchases made using the Department’s credit card, $4,640.06 of disbursements to vendors from the County’s Substance Abuse fund, $1,192.48 of disbursements to vendors from the County’s Mental Health fund, and $1,110.49 of reimbursements issued to Ms. Wise.”

“Because sufficient records were not available, it was not possible to determine if the purchases were for County operations or were personal in nature,” the report reads.

The 39-page report outlines the basis for the investigation, how it was conducted and Wise’s job duties in her former position. One section focuses on American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, of which Tama County received approximately $3.27 million in total.

“As previously stated, Ms. Wise oversaw all expenses and receipts for the ARPA fund. Although Ms. Wise was responsible for submitting all the expenses flowing through this fund, there was a committee formed to approve how the County was using the ARPA funds. However, County officials and staff we spoke with, could not say who was a part of the committee,” the report reads. “According to County staff we spoke with, they had identified ‘interesting’ invoices when another staff was going through the records maintained in Ms. Wise’s office.”

One of them, which is also mentioned in Wise’s lawsuit, was a generator Wise purchased for her personal residence at a total cost of $8,760.45 with a down payment of $5,000.

“Based on available supporting documentation, County ARPA funds were not used to pay for Ms. Wise’s personal generator; however, her purchase was tax exempt since it was purchased under the County’s tax-exempt status,” the report reads. “As a result, Ms. Wise avoided paying sales tax in the amount of $613.23. While County ARPA funds were not used for this purchase, because Ms. Wise used this fund for a personal gain, we tested all transactions under the ARPA fund.”

As for the $81,376.30 in “questioned cost disbursements,” the transactions included payments totaling over $57,000 to vendors like Visa and Amazon for which supporting documentation was not available, $19,500 to a vendor and rebuilding and developing the county’s website — the work on which was not considered satisfactory, but the company refused to correct the issues unless further charges were incurred — $4,546.75 for payroll incentives for which supporting documentation was not maintained and $94 for the former county economic development director to spend the night at a hotel in Tama, which was considered improper because the stay was in town.

It also detailed improper and unsupported reimbursements to Wise totaling around $1,500, who, the report notes, was able to provide a calendar of her self-prepared work calendar for 2022 through 2024 confirming any job-related travel, and $525.70 in improper purchases on the county credit card for light fixtures, fishing gear, food items, flowers and personal prescriptions along with $8,728.26 in unsupported purchases.

A review of the county’s health insurance fund revealed nine improper disbursements totaling $241.19 and 89 unsupported disbursements totaling $153,038.60. Unsupported disbursements were also identified from the Substance Abuse Fund and the Mental Health Fund, and the auditor’s office said it learned through its investigation that Wise’s daughter had been elected Tama County Treasurer in 2022. Before that, she had been paid $14,690 in 2017 for data processing between May and December 2017 with no formal contract in place.

“According to County officials, the hours were to help Ms. Wise with her duties under the Mental Health fund,” the report reads.” As part of our procedures, we interviewed Ms. Wise’s daughter and inquired about the data processing payments. Ms. Wise’s daughter confirmed that she performed data processing services, specifically digitizing records for the Mental Health fund in 2017 and that there was not a signed contract for the hours worked. She mentioned that she would fill out a timesheet that was turned into Ms. Wise for approval, however the timesheets are no longer available in the County’s records.”

A review of the county’s now defunct “Central Point of Contact” program also identified payments to Wise’s daughter totaling $14,371.65, but “due to the lack of information regarding the duties in this position, information about the program, and supporting documentation for the transactions from this account,” the office did not perform any additional review or testing of the transactions in the account.

The report then outlines several recommendations focused on stricter oversight of county expenditures, independent review and record keeping to ensure that all purchases are made with a public purpose.

Not long after the Auditor’s Office released it, the Tama County Board of Supervisors issued a press release of its own with statements from Chairman Mark Doland and Vice Chair Heather Knebel.

“After the 2024 elections — and with a new Board seated at the beginning of January 2025 that subsequently assumed responsibility — the Tama County Board of Supervisors received numerous concerns and complaints from citizens regarding various county operations and processes. In fulfillment of its responsibility to the public, the Board conducted due diligence, reviewed the information provided, and formally turned over all relevant materials to the appropriate authorities. The Board also initiated a meeting with the State Auditor’s Office to ensure that every concern brought forward by residents was clearly and transparently conveyed,” the release reads. “Consistent with commitments made during the election and with the Board’s ongoing duty to taxpayers, the Tama County Board of Supervisors cooperated fully throughout the State Auditor’s review. The Auditor has now completed their work and has submitted the report to the necessary agencies for additional evaluation in accordance with established procedures. While some findings in the report are troubling and raise significant concern, the citizens of Tama County can rest assured that the Tama County Board of Supervisors has already adopted new policies, safeguards, and oversight practices designed to enhance financial security, promote transparency, and strengthen accountability within county operations.”

Doland commented that the report “speaks for itself.”

“From the moment we took office in January 2025; our commitment was clear: if citizens brought concerns forward, we would take them seriously and act responsibly. We promised transparency, accountability, and cooperation with oversight authorities, and we have delivered on that promise,” he said.

Knebel added that the board’s priorities are “restoring trust and strengthening accountability.” “The findings in the Auditor’s report are concerning, but they highlight why improved safeguards and oversight were so important. We are committed to responsible governance and due process,” she said.

The release concludes by noting that the Supervisors have “full faith” in the oversight agencies reviewing the matter and affirm their belief in the principles of due process. The Board promised to share additional details with the public if there are further developments.

Wise, who was terminated by a 3-2 vote of the Tama County Board of Supervisors in February of 2025, currently has a wrongful termination and tortious interference lawsuit pending against the Board and outside HR specialist Paul Greufe. The trial is scheduled to begin in Tama County District Court on Aug. 17. At presstime, she had not responded to a request for comment.

On Thursday afternoon, Sand held a brief press conference at the Capitol building in Des Moines, during which he summarized the findings of the investigation before taking questions from reporters.

“The most difficult piece of this investigation for us was simply the lack of records. That made it impossible for us to determine if all the funds were misused versus potentially being put to a public use without support for them,” he said.

He mentioned a few of the specific questionable purchases including fishing gear, the generator and health insurance payments without Board of Supervisors approval, underscoring the need for “effective oversight” at the local level.

“We always want to make sure that public funds are going to a public use, and when they don’t, that is always going to undermine trust. And it’s important for our office to be able to step in and tell the public, to the degree that we can determine, what exactly is going on,” Sand said.

He noted that suspicions were aroused when an individual was looking through county invoices and found one for the generator paid on the county’s credit card, saving Wise over $600 in sales tax. Answering the final question of the day, Sand said the Auditor’s Office does not make recommendations on criminal charges in an attempt to avoid setting a precedent, but he did offer a broader statement on the topic.

“In any case, whether it’s a case that comes out of our office or somewhere else, I think it’s important that people who steal from taxpayers have to go to prison. I have said this over and over again. If we saw that that was the law in the state of Iowa, fewer people would take advantage of their access to tax dollars because they would be more concerned about the consequences that they would face after the fact,” he said.

Copies of the report have been distributed to the Tama County Sheriff’s Office, the Tama County Attorney’s Office, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI). Tama County Sheriff Casey Schmidt told the newspaper the matter had been referred to the State Auditor’s Office and Iowa DCI.

“Because those agencies are handling any review or investigation, I am not involved in the investigative process. For that reason, I do not have information on the status of any investigation and cannot comment on whether one is active. The decision to refer the matter outside was intentional and done to ensure transparency and accountability and to remove any question of influence or conflict,” Schmidt said. “Any determination regarding investigations or next steps would come from the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigations (DCI).”

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.