State Auditor: former Elyria mayor may have misused $900 in city funds

The state auditor's office said in a June letter that it may issue a finding for recovery against former Elyria Mayor Frank Whitfield for alleged misuse of about $900 in public money. Elyria's insurance provider, Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services of Akron, received a letter from Auditor Keith Faber on June 23, informing the company that it was proposing a finding for recovery against Whitfield. The letter was provided to The Chronicle-Telegram by Elyria Finance Director Ted Pileski, who received it from Gallagher. The proposed finding for recovery said that the office had reason to believe that Whitfield had used a vendor contracted by the city to create content for his personal Facebook and reelection campaign between July 1, 2022, and Dec. 31, 2023, the letter said. In a statement Wednesday evening, Whitfield said that he had been made aware of a complaint made in 2023 regarding the allegation he was using a city contractor to perform videography work for his campaign. "After learning of the complaint that was filed, we communicated with the auditor's office in early 2024 to clarify the matter and remain committed to full transparency," the statement said. According to the auditor, the proposed finding for recovery may be issued against Whitfield, and in favor of the city's general fund, in the amount of $956.67 and that Gallagher, as the city's insurance provider at the time, may be held jointly liable. The letter said that the auditor's office had found that a contractor who had been hired by the city to create promotional materials had been used by Whitfield to create materials for him personally and his campaign for reelection. "The mayor used the city contract with (the contractor) to produce content for his personal social media account, which is outside the parameters of the intended contractual work," the letter said. "During the (audit) period, the city paid a total of $956.67 in improper payments to (the contractor) for content related to posts and events solely appearing on Mr. Whitfield's campaign Facebook page." The proposed finding for recovery does not constitute a final determination that any money was in fact improperly used, and it is not an accusation of any criminal action, the letter said. If true, the allegation would constitute a violation of state law preventing direct or indirect use of public funds to benefit a candidate. Reached Wednesday, Whitfield, an independent, said in a statement that his campaign explicitly kept the videography work done for the city separate from any that was performed by the city contractor. "After a thorough review, we can confirm that the majority of videos shared on the WELYRIA campaign page were either self-recorded or reposts of content from other pages," Whitfield said in the statement. "At no point during the reelection campaign was the city's vendor engaged to produce video content for the campaign. We intentionally kept those lines clear and hired a separate videographer for any campaign-related content." The notice was sent to Gallagher with a request to submit any relevant documentation or questions to the state auditor within five business days. Elyria Law Director Amanda Deery said that city officials had received a copy of the letter from Gallagher, but that she expected officials to receive their own formal copies of the letter directly from the state auditor in the near future. Deery said that if a finding for recovery were to be issued against Whitfield, it would fall on her office to begin legal proceedings to recover the alleged misused finds. If Elyria were to fail to collect the money within 120 days, the Ohio attorney general would then be able to bring its own legal action to recover the money. Whitfield became mayor in 2020 after unseating incumbent Democrat Holly Brinda in 2019. He was defeated in his own reelection bid by current Mayor Kevin Brubaker, a Democrat. Brubaker had served under Whitfield as Elyria safety service director for two years before departing to work for Avon Lake and launching his mayoral campaign. In June last year, Whitfield announced his plans to relocate to the Atlanta area with his family. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.