County Disciplines Employees, Restructures Senior Travel Program

Arlington County announced this week that it had restructured a popular senior travel program in the wake of problems caused by lax oversight — including employees maintaining independent bank accounts for the program that were not subject to county auditing or financial controls.

“The Senior Travel Program is a very successful program that unfortunately, cut corners in its operations,” Arlington County Manager Barbara Donnellan said in a statement.

The county found out about the accounts in November 2010 and subsequently coordinated an investigation with the Arlington County Police Department and the local Commonwealth's Attorney's Office. That concluded in May 2012 and no criminal activity or intent was found, according to a news release.

The county "held staff accountable for failing to follow County practices," the release states. That included "a number" of personnel actions that were only recently completed.

Those actions included firing one employee and discipling as many as three others, according to the Washington Post.

“We took this case very seriously," Donnellan said in Monday's statement. "Although the police investigation found no criminal activity, we took a number of actions — including personnel actions — to ensure that this program has oversight, accountability and transparency in its operations.”

Nearly $136,000 was transferred from the independent accounts to the county, according to the Post.

Arlington County Treasurer Frank O'Leary told the Post that along with the employee who had opened the accounts, two volunteers had cards that allowed them make withdrawals.

The news came to light this week when one of the disciplined employees appealed the amount of unpaid leave that was taken from her, according to ARLNow.com, which first reported the story. She was punished for failing to work with the employee who opened the account to get it closed; she didn't have the authority to close it herself, that site reported.

The county's investigation determined that all participants received the trips and services they paid for, according to this week's news release.

The program in question takes 55-and-older residents to a variety of locations.

Upcoming destinations include several locations in and around Washington, from a Nationals Game to shopping in Woodbridge. Other planned trips will take participants to a casino in West Virginia, a bluegrass show in Round Hill and to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa.

The program is now under the auspices of the departments of Parks and Recreation and Management and Finance, the news release states. Previously, it had operated only under Parks and Recreation.