New policies, spending to prevent fraud at Ascarate

El Paso County is cracking down on waste and corruption.

Monday, county commissioners approved nearly $200,000 in improvements and a lengthy list of policy changes all geared towards standardizing operations and removing the opportunity and temptation for fraud and theft.

Back in February, sheriff’s deputies arrested Rey Chavez, the former park manager at Ascarate Park. He is accused of embezzling more than $20,000 collected from the rental of softball fields at Ascarate.

A month before that, deputies arrested Mayra Navarrete, a former account clerk at the park. She is suspected of stealing parking fees paid by those attending events at Ascarate Park, then allegedly forging and altering documents to cover up the crime.

ABC-7 reported last week how county commissioners voted to get the ball rolling on a hotline county employees and the public can call to report waste and corruption. And in Monday’s meeting, they took more actions to prevent what allegedly happened at Ascarate Park.

Visitors won’t see too many changes right off the bat, but when the new standardized fees and procedures go into place May 1, the county expects things to be more consistent, efficient and safe for residents and employees.

To get there, 14 major procedures are changing, including how employees handle fees and clock in for the day. Standardized toll hours are being enacted Friday through Sunday and for special events, and the county will hire an additional part-time worker to cover the extra.

The policies will be backed up with nearly $200,000 worth of improvements to things like locks, security alarms and cameras. From that, $135,000 will go towards improving the technology infrastructure to put in place systems to strengthen accountability.

The improvements will cover all areas of the park where money is handled, not just the gate.

“The golf course,” said Pat Adauto with public works for the county. “The swimming pool, the pavilion, and at the gate. And so this makes sure that we get computerized, we get I.T. in there, so that everything is automated, and it’s similar to what we’re doing in our other county facilities.”

The tech and policy changes will also work towards changing the way employees work, and how they treat the work they do.

“This is a culture in the organization,” Adauto said. “And people tried to do the right thing, but it applied differently on different situations.”

That was one of the factors that let the problems slip past the county. But the policies, including ID procedures for locks and logbooks, are meant to lock that down.

“Everybody is subject to the same rules,” Adauto said. “Even the staff, the people, the organizers, everybody knows ahead of time what those charges should be.”

The county hopes that changing the culture at county facilities like Ascarate will eliminate the temptation to steal in the future.

“(Employees will know) what is expected of them when it comes to collecting money,” said David Stout, county commissioner for precinct 2. “Counting money, depositing money, so I think that’s important.”

The new policies will also be put into place at other county facilities like the county Sportspark.

“Anywhere that we are accepting cash at both parks,” said County Judge Veronica Escobar. “Sportspark and Ascarate, we’re going to have these safeguards in place.”

To see the full list of policy changes and spending voted in by county commissioners, visit the county’s website here.