DeWitt clerk-treasurer fired in connection with 'financial irregularities'
DeWITT — Officials on Tuesday confirmed the city's clerk-treasurer has been fired in connection with "irregularities" involving city funds and said the matter would be sent to the Michigan State Police for an investigation.
Lisa Grysen's Aug. 18 termination was confirmed by the DeWitt City Council on Monday night, Mayor Sue Leeming said in a news release.
"Our system of checks and balances did work, not as quickly as anyone would have wanted," Leeming said in the release. "However, our internal controls were effective and we discovered the irregularities. Most importantly, the city continues to conduct all services for our residents and all payments made to the city are accounted for and safe."
Grysen's dismissal was based on financial irregularities identified on Aug. 16, and Grysen was escorted from City Hall that day, she said. The council is "acting with discretion" because it involves a personnel matter, the release said.
Grysen could not immediately be reached for comment.
City Administrator Dan Coss declined to comment beyond what is contained in the news release.
Leeming said she appointed Sarah Stoltzfus as interim clerk/treasurer.
Stoltzfus has been with the city since 2015 and is a certified municipal clerk with training in municipal finance administration, according to the release.
Grysen also was a member of the Clinton County Sheriff's Office Mounted Division, a nonprofit group comprised entirely of volunteers, and served as its treasurer. But she resigned from that post after leaving her city job, sheriff's officials said Thursday in a news release.
The mounted division has a board that oversees its finances, but the division relies primarily on donations and fundraising and does not receive annual funding from the county, officials said. An "investigation into the financials of the Mounted Division" was underway, they said.
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: DeWitt clerk-treasurer Lisa Grysen fired over 'financial irregularities'
