County must pay fraudulent fuel charges in Florida

Wahkiakum County Commissioners Dan Cothren and Blair Brady acted on a variety of business Tuesday, including agreeing to pay $9,000 in fraudulent fuel charges in Florida.

The charges for diesel purchased last December in the Fort Meyers, FL, area came off a Shell credit card assigned to a sheriff's department patrol car.

In last year's storms, the car stalled when a deputy tried to drive through high water on a roadway, and a tow truck had to come and pull it out. The card or something with the card number was evidently in the car and subsequently fell into the hands of thieves, said Prosecuting Attorney Dan Bigelow, and the card number was passed on to someone in Florida.

The county discovered the theft when the bill came for the card, totalling $9,071.23. Of that, two charges for gasoline totalling $87.91 were made in Washington, and the rest were for diesel fuel in Florida.

Bigelow said the county tried to have the fraudulent charges covered under customer liability limits, but Shell pointed out that under the card contract, when the county took out more than 10 cards to cover vehicles in the sheriff's and county road departments, it was no longer covered by the limited liability protection.

Commissioners agreed to pay the bill but commented that department heads must take steps to prevent a similar event.

In other business Tuesday:

--Health and Human Services Department staff members presented annual reports, and Mary Vik reported the county's homeless shelter program seems to be working.

Several years ago, the state legislature increased funding for housing assistance and related services while requiring that counties develop programs to reduce homelessness 50 percent over a period of years.

Vik said the program served 20 households of 20 adults and 13 children in 2007, down from the previous year.

The program provides short term shelter for people and also support service for employment and chemical dependency assistance, if needed, in order for the people to move into a transitional housing assistance program and eventually their own housing.

Environmental Health Officer David Riggs reported on efforts to educate the public about food services. If food is being served to the public, providers must obtain a food service permit and have a health card. People may have potluck dinners only for closed, "members" only events, he said.

Bright reported that the department's vaccination program is on pace with last year and she will be working with schools and preschools to promote and provide vaccinations children need to be allowed in schools.