See follow-up: Auditor Gary Jones Responds.Ada - District Attorney Paul Smith (Pontotoc County), says his investigation estimates that the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) is unable to identify where nearly a quarter of a billion dollars has gone. Those funds were allocated for the counties of the state and held by ODOT. Smith said he consulted with 8 counties in and around his district... "They were concerned that certain monies that are supposed to be safeguarded and held by the ODOT were showing negative balances," Smith said. "This may be totally innocent... we don't know, there may be a very good explanation," Smith said. "But I felt it incumbent on my office as the district attorney to request the audit." This latest matter is the 4th instance in less than a year, of a state agency having a serious problem accounting for missing funds. But this is by far the largest amount. |  |
 “Dear Auditor and Inspector Jones: I write today to call on the talent of the Oklahoma State Auditors & Inspector’s Office to resolve a referral that I have received from all three of my County Boards of County Commissioners who each voted unanimously to refer the matter to the undersigned to take appropriate action to determine the cause and effect of certain diverted monies from the County Improvements for Roads and Bridges Program, also known as CIRB funds. This matter was brought to the attention of the BOCC’s by the oversight of the Circuit Engineering District 4 (CED4) which assists counties with their many road projects in numerous ways. You will find attached a wealth of materials generated by the CED4 General Manager calling the commissioner’s attention to these depleted funds and related concerns. The CIRB funds presently have a negative fund balance contrary to statutes which require ODOT to safeguard and hold these funds for the CIRB allocation plans. The thrust of the complaint is well outlined in the CED4 GM’s letter to the Commissioners of each affected counties which is attached hereto.” - Paul Smith DA, 22nd District |  ODOT has created 8 engineering districts. The reports of funds discrepancy came from the 4th district. The massive discrepancy dwarfs the total appropriated budget of ODOT. The transportation department budget is $165.85 million for fiscal year 2019. There is not yet any word from the state Office of Management & Enterprise Services(OMES). That department also missed multiple years of mismanagement and fraud in the state Health Department and other scandals. The governor's office is also silent on the matter. ODOT released a statement, committing to bring full transparency to the matter, but they offered no clues on this massive disappearance of important funds for county road repairs & improvements. State Auditor Gary Jones has not issued a statement to the press. News outlets in the Ada area were the first to report this matter. |
ODOT Contacts
County Improvements for Roads & Bridges (CIRB) is governed by an ODOT board. Here are the contacts of the CIRB board which the public and county officials can contact for information on each county's funding status.
| Mr. Tim Gatz, Asst. Director Administration 200 N.E. 21st Street Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105 (405) 522-6000 Mr. Shannon J. Sheffert, P.E., Local Government Division Engineer (405) 521-2553 Local Govt Division - ( ODOT Division Map ) Other contacts | Division 1 ( CED 2 ) Garry Harrison, PE (405) 521-4682 Division 2 ( CED 3 ) Roger Chambers (405) 521-2329 Division 3 ( CED 4 & 5 ) Mitch Richardson (405) 522-0407 Division 4 & 6 ( CED 8 ) Wilford Levings (405) 522-0243 | Division 5 ( CED 7 ) Loyd Ratke (405) 522-0405 Division 6 & 4 ( CED 8 ) Wilford Levings (405) 522-0243 Division 7 ( CED 6 ) Joe Khatib (405) 522-0404 Division 8 ( CED 1 ) James Pruett (405) 521-2738 |
