Cortez City Manager John Dougherty announced Friday that a former city employee might have stolen money from the city.
“It has come to my attention this morning that a former employee has allegedly been embezzling from the City,” Dougherty wrote in an email.
An investigation is ongoing, and many details are still unknown at this point, Dougherty said. However, he said that the city is looking to keep the public apprised of what’s happening and to be transparent.
“This was one bad apple, it is not reflective of any of the employees I have been associated with here,” Dougherty told The Journal in an email. “Overall, it is a hardworking group who genuinely care about their community.”
The Cortez Police Department declined to comment and added that the police force had been instructed to refer all questions to the city manager.
The investigation is in the process of determining exactly how much money was allegedly embezzled. City officials were given a range that wasn’t extensive in the “grand scheme of our budget,” Dougherty said, and will not affect city services. The city plans to seek restitution.
“It doesn’t matter whether it was an ink pen or a billion dollars, the public trust has been violated,” Dougherty said.
He added that it was unknown whether the alleged embezzlement was connected to the delayed financial audits.
The city is waiting for results of the investigation, and City Council plans to discuss it in the coming weeks. The former employee has hired a defense attorney and “allegedly they are looking to cooperate,” Dougherty said.
“Our No. 1 objective will be to recover the money and find out how it happened so we can put controls in place so it doesn’t happen again,” he said.
ealvero@the-journal.com