Charges have been laid against the former head of the Westlock Child Care Society.
Former daycare executive director Roxanne Gilmar, 54, has been charged with one count of theft over $5,000 and one count of fraud over $5,000.
The charges come as a result of an audit of the society’s books conducted last year, according to a June 13 RCMP press release.
The release does not indicate when Gilmar was arrested.
When reviewing the audit, society members discovered a daycare employee had amassed more than $150,000 in overtime beyond her regular salary over a number of years. RCMP allege the employee wrote cheques for supposedly spurious overtime hours. Gilmar has been released from custody on strict conditions, and is scheduled to appear in Westlock Provincial Court.
Current society president Wyatt Glebe has mixed emotions concerning the arrest.
“The Child Care Society board has been waiting for several months in patient anticipation of something happening with respect to the matter,” he said. “It is most definitely a sad set of circumstances when someone who has provided an organization with many years of valued service and is now facing this kind of situation.”
In light of the charges, Glebe said he wants to reassure the public the society continues to dig itself out from the financial woes it faced last year.
Society staff remain well trained and skilled, he said, and the new board that was put in place over the winter continues to work hard. “The society most assuredly remains viable and committed to providing quality child care,” Glebe said. “We really do want to move forward and we certainly are moving forward. Things are looking up.”
Problems with the finances first came to light late last summer, when the society met with town, county and Village of Clyde councillors to ask for $200,000.
At the time, Gilmar had said the reason for the society’s money woes was delayed collection of outstanding user fees, as well as a loss of $37,000 in provincial funding. While the councils rejected the request, in early October 2013 the town and county opted to provide $20,000 over four months to keep the society afloat.
Gilmar resigned from her post on Jan. 10, 2014. At the time, then-board chair Leta MacGillivray would not comment on the status of an audit, nor whether Gilmar’s resignation was related to the audit. Glebe took over as society president in March after MacGillivray stepped down.
