Nitro Police To Respond To Audit

{Nitro, West Virginia}...Nitro police are expected to provide answers at a regular City Council meeting January 3rd to a list of questions about the department's special revenue funds after state auditors said about $58,000 had been spent inappropriately. After the audit findings, City Council asked for an examination of several special Police Department accounts dating to 2007. Police Chief Jack Jordan says much of the money in the accounts came from donations and other sources, and he did not consider the accounts to be public money. Jordan and other Police Department officials have said they did nothing wrong in administering the accounts, but didn't have the paper trail state auditors wanted when they looked at the department's records. Some council members have questioned cash payments made to police officers for providing security at local construction projects, why money from the accounts was used to pay cellphone bills for Detective Don Scurlock while most Nitro city employees were told to give up their city-paid cellphones in 2007 because of runaway bills, if the officers filled out federal tax forms reporting the cash income and why individual police officers were paid $50 for each of their children, apparently to buy Christmas presents for them.