In an Aug. 5 letter to township trustees obtained by the Dayton Daily News, Faber’s office agreed with the township’s assessment, adding that Ohio law says fiscal officers can be removed if they “violated specified express statutory fiscal duties, and acted purposely, knowingly or recklessly doing so.”
Ohio Revised Code empowers the Ohio Auditor of State to investigate alleged misdeeds of township fiscal officers based on complaints from residents, and refer findings of possible violations of Ohio law to the attorney general’s office, which can take action to remove the fiscal officer in county common pleas court.
The auditor’s office found the allegations against Matthews meet the “high liability standard and burden of proof” in the law to merit referral to the attorney general’s office, according to the letter, which bears Faber’s name and is signed by Mary DeGenaro, special counsel to the auditor.
Matthews told this news outlet that he was aware of Faber’s recommendation and is happy that his office “finally made a decision after a 60-day delay.”
“I look forward to talking to (and) having the time with the attorney general to explain or clarify what went on, because the auditor made some assumptions and said some things that were not correct,” Matthews said.
The auditor’s office says they found strong proof Matthews “knowingly committed acts expressly prohibited by law with respect to his fiscal duties” when he liquidated $9.7 million in township investments without permission from trustees or an Investment Oversight Committee, transferred those funds to a different township account and then attempted to transfer those funds to purchase gold coins. Matthews also signed contracts to store the coins and attempted to fire a township employee who flagged the transaction, the letter says.
Matthews was elected Miami Twp. fiscal officer in November 2023 and took office in April 2024. He previously was elected as Miami Twp. trustee in November 2013, but resigned in late March 2017.
The auditor of state’s letter says a fiscal officer’s duties are “largely ministerial,” as evidenced by Ohio law that stipulates the office has “no authority to enter into contracts or expend funds without Trustee approval.”
“There is clear and convincing evidence that FO Matthews knowingly committed acts expressly prohibited by law with respect to his fiscal duties,” the auditor’s office letter says. “There is nothing in the Ohio Revised Code, U.S. Code, or the Township Investment Policy that vested FO Matthews with the authority to act unilaterally or invest in gold coins.”
The letter agrees with the finding by a trial court that despite Matthews continuing to “baldly assert that he has broad authority to unilaterally manage and invest millions of dollars of the Township’s money, without any oversight whatsoever,” Ohio law does not “imbue Matthews with either unilateral control over the Township’s investments or the authority to override the Township’s lawful appropriations in order to make those investments.”
Miami Twp. Trustee President Terry Posey Jr. declined to comment.
Trustee Vice President Don Culp said he deferred to Posey for comment “as he is the president of the board and the board holds a unanimous position on this matter.”
Trustee Doug Barry said that “it’s an unfortunate situation for the township right now.”
“We’re going to work through the process and let that play out, and then see where that ends up, but it’s kind of out of our hands at this point in time,” Barry said.
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