City Government
Boise BS On Poop Farm
May 26, 2006 
The GUARDIAN has obtained a draft of Boise’s Poop Farm audit. It has taken nearly a year to be released due to criminal investigations.
It is a damning document which paints a picture of deceit, forgery, preferential treatment, inept and shoddy accounting, outright theft, falsified documents, misuse of public funds and property, unethical practices by vendors, and total lack of management oversight.
The report is rife with statements like, “Indications are that front-line management assigned to (the Poop Farm) has regularly circumvented a number of key aspects of purchasing code…”
Also cited in the audit:
–Apparent violations of the city’s EMPLOYEE CODE of CONDUCT were noted.
–While front line managers willfully violated their responsibilities, the next level of management failed to detect clear indications of irregularities.
–Installment purchases were used to avoid purchase order and bid requirements.
–Vendors routinely falsified invoices to accommodate the illegal practices and there is suspicion of at least one forgery on a multi thousand dollar purchase.
–There were conflicts of interest where vendors were actually employees or family of city employees.
–The lack of oversight was tolerated or ignored for nearly 5 years.
–Management was ignorant of the operation of the farm and did not have the knowledge to challenge purchases.
–The owner of cattle feeding on a lease agreement was under billed, allowed to have nearly double the number of animals he paid for and taxpayers funded improvements above and beyond the lease agreement.
Auditors say the investigation was requested “IN RESPONSE TO PERSISTENT ALLEGATIONS” of improper financial activities. Only after repeated postings on the GUARDIAN did the city council order an audit of the Twenty Mile South Farm.
Read the history from the GUARDIAN standpoint by clicking POOP FARM HISTORY. Scroll to the bottom to get it in chronological order.
THE FOLLOWING IS THE ENTIRE TEXT OF A PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY BOISE MAYOR DAVE BIETER’S OFFICE FRIDAY.
“Treated” version from Team Dave:
“City imposes tougher purchasing, oversight policies after uncovering problems in farm operation”
“The City of Boise today announced new purchasing, accounting and management rules in response to spending irregularities it previously discovered at the city-owned Twenty Mile South Farm Biosolids Application Site.
The new policies, coupled with criminal prosecution of two former farm employees, send a strong message that misuse of public funds will not be tolerated, Mayor David Bieter said.
“These changes help ensure that every taxpayer dollar gets spent wisely and responsibly,” Mayor Bieter said. “Along with our new ethics policy and whistle-blower protections, we now have some of the best accountability measures of any government agency in Idaho.”
Among the management changes detailed in a City of Boise Office of Internal Audit report released today:
• The Public Works department, which oversees the farm operation, has appointed an on-site biosolids manager who is responsible for oversight and management of the farming and biosolids application processes. The manager will provide greater hands-on mid-management review at the farm.
• More detailed processes have been put into place in Public Works’ operations division to approve, track and pay for purchases.
• Operations staff involved in purchasing received additional training in purchasing procedures. A weekly review of all Public Works voucher batches is completed by a senior department specialist, and department budget staff meets quarterly with key staff members to review budget line items.
• Onsite inspection of farm assets was completed and corrections were made to the asset ledgers; items that were not tagged received tags, and some are being considered for engraving. Independent checks will take place at least once a year.
• New leases for the farm supervisor’s house, grazing land and feedlots have been developed to more clearly delineate responsibilities of the city and lessees.
• The Department of Finance and Administration will recommend significantly improved review and control of transactions as part of an upgrade to the citywide purchasing management system, scheduled for summer 2006.
• The city’s Interdepartmental Business Team is proposing formation of a staff-level audit committee of city financial professionals to work with Internal Audit to establish well-defined audit protocols and ensure that every employee involved in procurement, from top to bottom in the organization, receives necessary training.
• The City Council has requested a thorough review of lease-purchase and rent-to-own practices. The review will be conducted under the auspices of the Interdepartmental Business Team this summer.
• The city will work through the state Legislature to strengthen laws regarding prosecution of government employees who misuse public funds.
The city’s Human Resources department received its first report of possible malfeasance at the farm in March 2005 and immediately launched an investigation. A review of farm records and transactions by the city’s Office of Internal Audit revealed dozens of questionable financial transactions and policy violations involving farm operations, including improper expenditures and personal use of city resources.
A former farm employee, David C. Skinner, pleaded guilty earlier this month to misdemeanor theft for illegally diverting taxpayer resources to his own benefit. Skinner was sentenced to six months of jail, which the judge suspended conditioned on Skinner’s completion of two years of probation and payment of $3,380.04 in restitution for his personal use of goods purchased with city funds, plus court costs.
A second former farm employee, Brad Holmes, has been charged with improper splitting of bids, a misdemeanor. His trial is scheduled for August. The city has and will continue to take appropriate disciplinary action in accordance with its policies and regulations to ensure responsible parties are held accountable for their actions.
The 3,965-acre Twenty-Mile South Farm, located near the intersection of Cloverdale and Nicholson roads east of Kuna, utilizes the biosolids from Boise wastewater treatment plants as fertilizer and as a soil amendment. 
The farm produces alfalfa, corn silage and small grain crops such as barley and wheat, primarily used as livestock feed.”
The GUARDIAN is happy to see improvements to the system–which proves the place was a mess in more ways than one.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
May 27, 2006, 9:35 am
Two bad boys! Team Dave is thanking their lucky stars! There were two bad apples to bust for their evil doings and no one else is responsible. Whew!
Once again the blame falls squarely where it belongs; anywhere but Team Dave.
No, I am not excusing bad behavior on the part of any city employee.
These idiots admit they had no oversight, poor record keeping, and basically had no idea what was going on out at the farm.
Why are they limiting the repercussions to two employees? Surely someone up the food chain had to know what was going on. If anyone is excusing poor performance it is Team Dave.
May 27, 2006, 12:11 pm
Until those in management positions are held accountable in the same ways the blue collar folks are, this will continue to happen. Evidently embarrassment, a slap on the hand, and a nod and a wink aren’t effective.
Many of these issues can be more easily ferreted out if tiers of management and supervision are held to a minimum and a span of control is increased. Sounds to me like the solution in this case is to increase the number of levels, while limiting span of control. Someone needs to remember the definition of insanity. Continuing to do what you’ve been doing while expecting a different result.
May 27, 2006, 2:11 pm
So much for the Mayors’ promise to improve ethics. If others had not dug up this stuff it would still be going on.
Amazing how one employee can mis-use money on a trip and get a year in jail and $50,000 fine then another can get a slap on the wrist for clear and pre-meditated fraud!
If the Mayor is the CEO of the city then he and his dept heads need to be accountable. Just like Enron.
The fact that the current internal audit situation is in shambles clearly shows that he and the City Council really don’t care enough to really put a system in place that can identify these types of actions in the future.
May 28, 2006, 12:27 am
Ferris B. said it all. They busted two “bad boys” at the farm and now everything is A-OK. Ya right! Both of these individuals worked for the Operations Division which is responsible for overseeing all purchases, leases, rentals, etc. relating to the Farm. This division would have to know exactly what was going on or be blind and deaf. Incidentally this same division oversees the two city managers involved in the Hidden Springs “goings on”. As Ferris B. stated, “Someone up the food chain had to know…” In my opinion that “someone” is the Operations Division of Public Works. I think it’s time for a change.
May 28, 2006, 11:12 am
For the record–
I know for a fact that the Mayor is telling the truth.
Problem is, what he is reporting to the public is misleading at best. By leaving out other important details his “story” protects many and he looks better.
There has been and continues to be a cover-up going on that has grown to a level beyond even my imagination.
Gone are the days of active “getting to the truth” reporting by the Statesman and what we saw for a short term from Channel 2.
I have to hand it to the Boise Guardian for the great job it has been doing. If it hadn’t been for Dave and those who helped by providing information the public would not of had a clue and the city would of taken little if any action.
What has long been needed is an outside investageation which will obviously not happen unless mainstream media gets involved.
May 28, 2006, 11:37 am
I think that the blame goes a little higher than the operations group. Some of the administration, engineering and environmental people also knew there were problems with the farm operation. None of the concerns voiced by these people over the last few years were given credence because Skinner was being protected.
A good example of this is even when the “immediate investigation” started in March as claimed by team Dave was going on, the city council was being told it was only a personality conflict at the farm. (Makes one wonder about their credibility as well).
In fact the mayor and council did not know there were severe problems until June when the Guardian brought them to light. Makes you wonder why the council was not being told of the financial problems unless the plan was to sweep them under the rug and send the snitch down the road like they had in the past. The light needs to be directed at whoever was misleading the council and protecting Skinner.
May 28, 2006, 7:18 pm
Big – and whoever else…
How many times and in how many ways does this have to be spelled out?
The problem & the cover-up started at one level and grew from there. Yes, many from within and outside Public Works were painfully aware of what was going on.
Once the public got wind of it, this entire matter took on a life of it’s own within the city involving about everyone one who is anyone there and a damage control plan was put in place.
The Boise Guardian with the help of many whistle blowing employees made it difficult for the city to maintain the kind of control they wanted, but they were able to guide the results to some degree.
We’re looking at something that was allowed to go on for over five years, involved management from all levels of the city at different periods of time, a LOT of money and resulted in a series senior management cover-ups.
There really needs to be an outside investigation, but you’re not going to see that happen anytime soon.
May 28, 2006, 7:49 pm
People knew and those same people stood by and did nothing to stop it out of fear. They were afraid their shenanigans would be exposed.
From Within is correct and what he or she talks about here is so very true. Desperation will grow and we’ll start to see some pretty weird activity.
I wouldn’t put it past them to start taking some desperate steps to close ranks.
May 28, 2006, 10:17 pm
You can understand how the farm manager can go astray because his manager didn’t understand farming.
Understand that same manager oversees both wastewater plants where two more managers was able to abuse the system for personal gain.
Understand this has been going on for year’s.
Understand nothing has changed…
May 29, 2006, 10:43 am
What I think -BIG- may be alluding to is a Public Works committee that was put together to help oversee farm activities. Made up of administration, engineers and environment types, many of whom where managers themselves.
While they knew little about farming, they were very much aware of the purchasing problems at hand along with other issues.
As it’s been repeatedly said, the cover-ups started at one level and went from there. Some protecting the farm manager, others protecting their own jobs. By the time this came to a head the list of those involved in this was long and many.
And no, it wasn’t limited to just Public Works, those in the know at one level or another included many throughout the city for different reasons.
It could of, should of been stopped years ago, but you learn not to make waves if you value your job.
May 29, 2006, 2:21 pm
No matter how one feels about it, check out your new property taxes and see just who is paying for it.
If you rent, well, you will pay for it as well as your rent goes up.
May 29, 2006, 10:06 pm
The city doesn’t care!!!
Major media didn’t care enough to find out more than the city was telling them.
The AG’s office didn’t even take notice.
The citizens of Boise was let down in so many different ways, it makes me sick to think about it.
The city lied, they lived a lie that went on for years wasting untold thousands of dollars and then went to great lengths to cover it up. Worse yet, they got away with it…
Who can you trust if not your elected officials and those watching over them?
I question the ethics of the Statesman and others who had to know there was more and chose not to pursue it.
This mess has diminished the trust I had in the city and I can understand city employees not having a lot of faith in their leadership.
We can only go up from here….
May 30, 2006, 9:41 pm
Anyone know how we (citizens) can formally request an investigation by the AG’s office? It needs to be done!
EDITOR NOTE–This one is bad news. Under Idaho law the only way the AG comes in is by invitation of the local county prosecutor. Ada prosecutor took the plea bargain and did indeed investigate. Problem is with the city management, not lack of criminal prosecution.
May 30, 2006, 11:05 pm
So what options does a citizen have in a situation like this? What can be done?
I would think that cover-ups from the senior management level were not part of the plea bargain. If nothing else, the public needs to know names and each of their part in all this.
Those acccepting our tax dollars need to be responsible need to be held accountable for their actions.
At a minimum the Public Works director, Operations Division manager and those that were directly in control of what happened should be held responsible…
If something as major as this can happen without recourse, what kind of message are we sending? This is just wrong if nothing can be done.
EDITOR NOTE– YOU are sending the message here and now! Many good people read the GUARDIAN and this forum has become part of “the system.”
May 30, 2006, 11:19 pm
Shocking! That this sort of criminal activity continues right here in Boise…years after the Mayor Brent and some of his buddies got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Didn’t someone at City Hall promise us they would watch a little more closely how our money is being spent?
Who made those promises and why aren’t there huge crowds of people jamming the city council chambers raising so much ruckus that council members have no choice but to pull their heads of of you-know-where and their hands out of our pockets…and actually DO something? Well, because not very many people really give a damn…thats how liars and crooks get elected and how our money gets mishandled, over and over and over and over again.
Just for grins though, I’d like to mention something that has bothered me since that Coles scandal. Why didn’t the city attorney, who was on some of the fraudulent trips and who was using her little “P” Card (taxpayers money) to buy lunches, etc. etc.etc… why didn’t she go to jail? Always seemed like she should’ve been the first one to go.
Like the local news is funnier than any sitcom…local government is better than any crime show on TV, the difference is that the bad guys hardly ever get prosecuted.
Stay tuned. This show goes on for as long as you can stand to watch.
May 31, 2006, 8:06 am
You mean to say that this guy Dave Skinner was able to get away with literally stealing the city blind with a lot help from his management for over five years. The word gets out to the public and a major cover-up goes into action. The city tosses Skinner to the wolves and says “see what happens to the bad guys at the city, our system works” and then becomes part of a plea bargain that gets the “bad guy” a slap on the hands and them off the hook for any further investigation or action into the matter.
Talk about a legal maneuver on the part of the city. The mayor may not of master minded this plan, but he no doubt had no problem approving it.
This is one of, if not the biggest scam jobs in Boise’s history.
EDITOR NOTE–City and prosecutors did a “fair” job on prosecution. County actually did the prosecution, but they were hamstrung by a recent ruling that one has to SPECIFICALLY be given the responsibility to handle FUNDS (like elected to office or be a treasurer, director etc.) in order to be charged in court with misuse of those funds. You have a right to be upset with the spin and previous lack of response.
May 31, 2006, 9:43 pm
Okay Dave, let me see if I can break this down to something I can understand?
They couldn’t hang Dave Skinner for mishandling funds because of a recent ruling (law change) and because they couldn’t say that Dave was guilty of what they were accusing him of, then the city can’t be held accountable for covering it up… ????
So the city employees and tax payers were pulled through a knot and told some whopper stories by many for months on end. When the dust settled, the only losers on this one are those of us who paid for all this entertainment.
Lets not forget the city employees who poured their hearts out and took risks to get the story (truth) out there…
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry…
EDITOR NOTE– You pretty much got it. On the charges, the acts were obviously illegal, they just didn’t match the FELONY MISUSE of public funds as it got defined in the recent ruling (change). Statute of limitations precluded some charges being filed. Also, you are probably correct about “City Hall” wanting to get it over with.
Jun 4, 2006, 3:34 pm
The mainstream media finally caught up with the reporting in the Guardian regarding the Poop Farm. The Statesman did a write up on it on Sunday (6/4/06) and to sum it up in councilor Bisterfeldt’s terms “It was a screwed-up mess…” this is a far cry from the statements from the councilors were making last year to the Guardian.
I am shocked that Skinner did not get thrown in jail over this and I sincerely hope that the house cleaning is still going on as Bisterfeldt also said.
I read the audit report that was prepared and I am wondering why the people handling the invoices at the farm were not terminated as well. The audit clearly identified the following: “All of the invoices tested bore the initials of the Senior Department Specialist at TMSF who is responsible for preparing them for payment. A number of the invoices as well as some of the general ledger descriptions, bore strong indications of improper purchasing activity.” If nothing else this specialist should have reported this activity.
Finally I suspect that the reason that the Auditor has not been replaced is because the position is not really “open” at this time. The city has a detailed and time consuming grievance procedure for employee job status changes. I bet that the “former” auditor and the city are locked in a disagreement over his job status and that is why the position has not been filled.
EDITOR NOTE–Councilors were being fed “bio solids” and they believed what they were told. The GUARDIAN provided the forum and was able to sort through the BS for the truth…everything we alleged or hinted at a year ago has been confirmed by the audit.
Jun 4, 2006, 3:34 pm
The mainstream media finally caught up with the reporting in the Guardian regarding the Poop Farm. The Statesman did a write up on it on Sunday (6/4/06) and to sum it up in councilor Bisterfeldt’s terms “It was a screwed-up mess…” this is a far cry from the statements from the councilors were making last year to the Guardian.
I am shocked that Skinner did not get thrown in jail over this and I sincerely hope that the house cleaning is still going on as Bisterfeldt also said.
I read the audit report that was prepared and I am wondering why the people handling the invoices at the farm were not terminated as well. The audit clearly identified the following: “All of the invoices tested bore the initials of the Senior Department Specialist at TMSF who is responsible for preparing them for payment. A number of the invoices as well as some of the general ledger descriptions, bore strong indications of improper purchasing activity.” If nothing else this specialist should have reported this activity.
Finally I suspect that the reason that the Auditor has not been replaced is because the position is not really “open” at this time. The city has a detailed and time consuming grievance procedure for employee job status changes. I bet that the “former” auditor and the city are locked in a disagreement over his job status and that is why the position has not been filled.
EDITOR NOTE–Councilors were being fed “bio solids” and they believed what they were told. The GUARDIAN provided the forum and was able to sort through the BS for the truth…everything we alleged or hinted at a year ago has been confirmed by the audit.
Jun 4, 2006, 3:34 pm
The mainstream media finally caught up with the reporting in the Guardian regarding the Poop Farm. The Statesman did a write up on it on Sunday (6/4/06) and to sum it up in councilor Bisterfeldt’s terms “It was a screwed-up mess…” this is a far cry from the statements from the councilors were making last year to the Guardian.
I am shocked that Skinner did not get thrown in jail over this and I sincerely hope that the house cleaning is still going on as Bisterfeldt also said.
I read the audit report that was prepared and I am wondering why the people handling the invoices at the farm were not terminated as well. The audit clearly identified the following: “All of the invoices tested bore the initials of the Senior Department Specialist at TMSF who is responsible for preparing them for payment. A number of the invoices as well as some of the general ledger descriptions, bore strong indications of improper purchasing activity.” If nothing else this specialist should have reported this activity.
Finally I suspect that the reason that the Auditor has not been replaced is because the position is not really “open” at this time. The city has a detailed and time consuming grievance procedure for employee job status changes. I bet that the “former” auditor and the city are locked in a disagreement over his job status and that is why the position has not been filled.
EDITOR NOTE–Councilors were being fed “bio solids” and they believed what they were told. The GUARDIAN provided the forum and was able to sort through the BS for the truth…everything we alleged or hinted at a year ago has been confirmed by the audit.
Jun 4, 2006, 3:34 pm
The mainstream media finally caught up with the reporting in the Guardian regarding the Poop Farm. The Statesman did a write up on it on Sunday (6/4/06) and to sum it up in councilor Bisterfeldt’s terms “It was a screwed-up mess…” this is a far cry from the statements from the councilors were making last year to the Guardian.
I am shocked that Skinner did not get thrown in jail over this and I sincerely hope that the house cleaning is still going on as Bisterfeldt also said.
I read the audit report that was prepared and I am wondering why the people handling the invoices at the farm were not terminated as well. The audit clearly identified the following: “All of the invoices tested bore the initials of the Senior Department Specialist at TMSF who is responsible for preparing them for payment. A number of the invoices as well as some of the general ledger descriptions, bore strong indications of improper purchasing activity.” If nothing else this specialist should have reported this activity.
Finally I suspect that the reason that the Auditor has not been replaced is because the position is not really “open” at this time. The city has a detailed and time consuming grievance procedure for employee job status changes. I bet that the “former” auditor and the city are locked in a disagreement over his job status and that is why the position has not been filled.
EDITOR NOTE–Councilors were being fed “bio solids” and they believed what they were told. The GUARDIAN provided the forum and was able to sort through the BS for the truth…everything we alleged or hinted at a year ago has been confirmed by the audit.
Jun 4, 2006, 9:55 pm
Jaded O’Harry –
The Statesman has this habit of getting only part of the story. I get the feeling they get their leads from others, (i.e., Guardian) and then call the same people at city hall every time to get “the rest of the story”. With the audit out now, some at city hall have changed their tune, but the stories being told are still just as misleading as they ever were.
Several employees at different levels and at different places were caught up in just doing their job without question. Sure, there were some that should have known better about the farm, but just didn’t and others that knew better but did nothing. One thing is for sure, while some employee’s actions may be questionable, there is not one manager that was involved in this (one way or another) that has an excuse that I can think of.
However, I seriously doubt if the city wants to pursue the farm situation anymore unless forced to. Not much has gone as smoothly as they had hoped and they’re now ready to move on, if they can. That said, now that the truth is known (which will most likely never be totally revealed) if the city chooses to do nothing, those involved in that decision will be as guilty of turning a blind eye and covering up as those that caused this mess in the first place.
Once again, I can not express the importance of an independent outside investigation. With gross mismanagement, a major cover-up and thousands of dollars involved in the process you can bet the city won’t be easily accepting anything like that to happen.
As for the former City Auditor, that one I have no knowledge of. Like most everyone I have my doubts about the reasons we were given for his departure and my thoughts as to why he hasn’t been replaced. One thing is for sure, none of what we’re being told is adding up.
– Concerned Employee