CED 7 Board, DA at odds over issues

A state audit of Circuit Engineering District No. 7 in Clinton has not been released, and District Attorney Angela Marsee said Tuesday she cannot file charges against a former employee suspected of embezzling funds until she receives an investigative report. To date, she said she has received nothing on which she could file charges.
Mrs. Marsee was soundly criticized at this month’s meeting of the board of directors for CED 7 and the trust authority that supervises its 7 Oil operation, not only because of her failure to file charges against a suspected embezzler but also because of her advice for representatives from counties in her district not to vote in favor of a proposed change in the trust authority’s bylaws.
She said Tuesday the proposed bylaw change had to do with the removal of trustees from the board.
Asked why she was opposed to it, she said the current bylaws have never had a provision for removing trustees and she was concerned that the proposed amendment contains “vague language,” specifically the definition of “cause.”
“It says you can remove someone for cause, but there’s no definition of what that means,” she said.
Marsee met with some CED 7 representatives prior to their October meeting last week in Clinton but did not stay for the meeting itself, which led to more criticism.
“I had another meeting scheduled,” she told the Clinton Daily News Tuesday. “I have five counties in my district, and I was meeting with OSBI (the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation) on another matter in the course of my duties as district attorney.”
Of the failure to charge a suspected embezzler, she said, “An investigation has not been brought to my office. I have advised them (apparently CED 7 Executive Director Monte Goucher and members of the organization’s board of directors) they should turn that over to the auditor. To my knowledge that has not been turned over to the state auditor.
“We are not an investigative agency. We have to have an investigation by another agency. Until I get a report from one of those (investigative) agencies, I cannot prosecute or look at a case. Nobody’s presented any kind of case to my office.”
A call by the Clinton Daily News to the office of State Auditor Gary Jones indicated information has been presented and is being worked on. But a spokesperson there agreed that the audit results have not yet been released.
A representative of Jones’ office was present at the CED meeting but declined to comment.
Asked by Board Chairman Joe Don Dickey of Frederick and Tillman County what he thought, the man responded, “I’m not going to make any announcement.”
Dickey siad the change in bylaws could be brought up next month.
Goucher reminded him that the board had voted to forego its November meeting.
“Do you want to reconsider?” asked Dickey, adding that he didn’t think the board needed to be persuaded by one district attorney. “I think this is politics,” he said. “I think they’ve overstepped their bounds. We were elected to represent this board.”
After the meeting adjourned, Dickey agreed to talk with a Clinton Daily News reporter covering the meeting.
“I’m curious why the district attorney of Custer County has sought to reach out to our members in her district and sway them to vote a certain way,” he began. “We have business decisions to make for the benefit of our association.
“I believe she is trying to tell these guys how to vote. The item we’re discussing (on changing the bylaws) is something we’ve already done in the CED itself. You have changes in bylaws that take place all the time.”
He said all organizations do and CED 7 is “well within the law” to change its. He said at the next meeting, perhaps there should be “a more broad discussion of why we’re doing what we’re doing.”
Then he added, “We have a legal counsel,” noting it is Stephen McCaleb of Derryberry & Naifeh in Oklahoma City. “We hired him to guide us through some of the legal ramifications.” Then Dickey repeated, as he had said once before during the official meeting, “I’m curious to know why the district attorney of Custer County, why she has not decided to prosecute the offender in the embezzlement of our organization.”
In the meeting Dickey also had said he was curious “why the district attorney of Custer County is getting politically involved in the Circuit Engineering District (which represents 11 counties).”
“I reached out to her,” said McCaleb. “She said let’s see where the audit takes us. Her concerns were the timing of this in conjunction with the audit. The bylaws have nothing to do with the audit.”
Then he added, “She made it clear she didn’t want to pursue it.”
Dickey then pointed out the presence of a Clinton Daily News reporter and said, “I hope that will be conveyed to the public.”
Someone else said, “Almost every meeting there’s a provision to remove a member.”
“This is your board, not her board,” said Goucher.
Jim Barber of Roger Mills County wanted to know if any other DA’s were advising their people.
Someone said Ken Darby (of Hobart and Kiowa County) has five counties and added, “He has not reached out to us about how to vote.”
McCaleb, the Oklahoma City attorney hired by the board as the district’s legal counsel, said his conversation with Ms. Marsee had been very pleasant. He also said he had invited her to this meeting.
“We’ve made that approach to her as well,” said Dickey. “So far she’s declined to come.”
“I’m curious how she got involved in the first place,” said Goucher.
Mrs. Marsee was asked yesterday by the Daily News if she had approached commissioners from her district or if they had approached her.
“That crosses the line into attorney-client privilege, so I don’t think I should answer that question,” she said.
But she also said when asked about amending the bylaws, that she had shared her concern with her commissioners that there was an audit pending.
“I did that in the course of my duties as district attorney and not for political reasons,” she said. “My duty is to advise my county commissioners and all other officers on matters I think may affect the county in the course of my duties as district attorney.”
She said she thinks it’s fine for the Circuit Engineering District to have its own lawyer.
“He is their lawyer, and I represent the county officers,” she said. “That’s why there needs to be two separate attorneys, because sometimes those interests may not coincide with each other.”
Marsee said her involvement is “not anything political or suspicious” and added, “It’s my job to advise my county officers. To try to make it into something it’s not, is trying to manipulate the system. I’m not telling anyone how to vote. I’m sharing the concerns I have, period.”