Around 100 employees work for Holley-Navarre Water System and its two subsidiaries, and many of those staffers say they’re eager for the release of results from a forensic audit, hoping it will help put an end to allegations of corruption at their workplace.
A draft report of those results has been provided to board members ahead of their September 15 monthly meeting. That report reportedly includes “no smoking gun” and around 15 recommendations to improve policies and procedures involving procurement and accounting.
HNWS CEO Jeff Crigler says nearly $40,000 was paid to Carr, Riggs & Ingram, CPAs and Advisors to conduct the forensic audit, which was in addition to the utility’s annual audit. He said the firm will make a brief presentation at Tuesday’s meeting.
Joe Campbell, who serves on the board, says he plans to make a motion during that meeting for the board to approve releasing the whole report to members of the privately owned utility.
Crigler expressed hope that moving forward the community will judge the utility on its future performance, not past allegations, and that the conclusion of the audit should enable HNWS to focus on its mission of providing clean, safe water and treating wastewater for its nearly 17,000 members.
HNWS General Manager of Operations Clinton Wells, who has worked nearly 30 years for the utility, also hopes the utility’s reputation will improve and raise staff morale. “We’re always impacted by people on social media making accusations which are completely untrue,” Wells said. “I hope that we can now get back to business.”
Toward that end, HNWS President Mark Miller says on Tuesday the board is set to discuss awarding a construction contract to begin building a Rapid Infiltration Basin System on Eglin Air Force Base property. Miller says that project will be a “game changer,” enabling the permanent end to discharging treated effluent into Santa Rosa Sound.
The meeting will take place at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 19 at the HNWS board, located at 8574 Turkey Bluff Road in Navarre. All HNWS members are welcome to attend, and the meeting will also be streamed online via the HNWS YouTube channel.
READ MORE: SOUTH SANTA ROSA NEWS STORY FROM AUGUST 2022
CORRECTION: This original story stated the meeting would take place at The Club at Hidden Creek. The story has been updated to correctly reflect the meeting will take place at the HNWS board room.
