LISBON - The board supposed to meet every three months to oversee investment of county tax dollars failed to do so in 2008.

According to the 2008 state audit of Columbiana County government finances, the county investment advisory committee met only once last year despite the state law requiring meetings every quarter.

The committee consists of the three county commissioners, county Clerk of Courts Anthony Dattilio and county Treasurer Nick Barborak, who serves as chairman.

"I take responsibility because as chairman I'm the one who should call the meeting," Barborak said.

The committee is to review investment of county money by the treasurer's office. The existence of the committee rose to prominence during the Strabala scandal of the early 1990s, when former county Treasurer Ardel Strabala was found to be investing county money illegally through his son, Stephen. The county ended up losing $6 million to bad investments, with the younger Strabala spending another $334,000 on himself. Few, if any, investment advisory committee hearings were held during this period.

"Certainly, we're not hiding anything from anyone. Even when we were not meeting, I speak with members individually" about investments, Barborak said, adding all investment transactions are public record.

He described the missed meetings as an oversight.

"I thought we had met more, but apparently that wasn't the case ... We won't let that happen again," Barborak said.

The noncompliance citation was one of several suggestions for improving internal control included in the management letter that accompanied the 2008 state audit, the results of which were released in September.

The audit report also noted Barborak failed to provide the county engineer's office with the interest income it earned from short-term investment of the engineer funds derived from the license plate and gas taxes.

Barborak said determining how much interest the engineer's money earned has been a problem for years because it is invested along with all of the other county funds. He said they have since come up with an acceptable formula to make the determination, but the engineer's office still is owed interest income from this year.

"The problem has been remedied, but we're still playing catch-up," Barborak said.

The new formula allows the engineer's office to receive interest income every two months at most, instead of once a year.

"The engineer hasn't been cheated out of any money. We just needed to come up with a different way to pay him," he said.

The audit also recommended Barborak establish a process to notify the county auditor when a department has not received state funds it is due in a timely manner.

Barborak said the various sources of state money due county agencies come through his office, and when the funds arrive his office advises the agency so it can make the required arrangements with the auditor's office to have them deposited in the appropriate account before they can be spent.

In this particular instance, the agency failed to make the necessary arrangements with the auditor's office, so the money just sat there for several months until the agency contacted the auditor's office. Barborak said he doesn't know what his office could have done differently.

"It is what it is, and I'm always looking for ways to do my job better and improve," Barborak said.

The audit also included some citations and recommendations for other officeholders. The clerk of courts, for instance, was found to have uncashed checks it issued in excess of one year. They were told to post a list of these uncashed checks, and if they go unclaimed after 30 days they should go to the treasurer's office as unclaimed funds.

The auditor's office was told it should have someone in management review any adjustments made by the staff in regard to conveyance fees charged for real estate transfers. Auditor Nancy Milliken said she or Deputy County Auditor John Goempel now review those adjustments as a safeguard against any possibly fraudulent actions.

The state also recommended Milliken come up with a contingency plan should any of the office's operating systems fail or the entire office be rendered inoperable. Milliken said they now have such an emergency plan for being able to continue operating from other locations in order to pay bills and payroll.

The auditor's office also was told to improve employee security as it relates to access to its software operating system, which Milliken said they are working to do.

Finally, the state recommended Milliken install a new computer firewall system because the current one is outdated, increasing the risks of exposure to a virus and malware. Milliken said she will consider the recommendation but the cost of a new firewall system is expensive, and the existing one never has been penetrated.

"We feel it's good enough," she said.

tgiambroni@mojonews.com