A controversial Lethbridge safe drug consumption site shuttered its doors Monday after the Alberta government cut its funding after an independent audit discovered a litany of problems including “financial irregularities.”.But supporters of the site haven’t given up hope yet the facility can be saved..ARCHES has received more than $14.4 million in taxpayer dollars over the past two years..The government announced in July the accounting firm Deloitte found:.$1,617,094 unaccounted for due to missing documentation for expenditures from 2017 to 2018.$13,000 of interest off ARCHES bank accounts was used to fund parties, staff retreats, entertainment and gift cards.A senior executive’s compensation totalled $342,943 for calendar year 2019. This includes $70,672 in overtime for fiscal year 2019-20. The grant agreement allows for a salary of $80,000. The Everyone Comes Together (ECT) program staff salaries and benefits also exceeded the amount allocated by the grant agreement by $16,000.The number of ARCHES employees is greater than allowed by the grant agreement. ARCHES maintained up to 126 employees. However, the exact number could not be verified.$4,301 spent on European travel for management to attend a conference in Portugal.Thousands of dollars in unverifiable travel expenses, including trips charged to company credit cards but not recorded in the ledger.A senior executive’s family member was hired, earning $9,900. The auditors could not locate a resume or personnel file to verify any qualifications.$7,557 for management retreats, including meals and mileage where documentation for spending was unclear.The grant agreement requires the organization to maintain the funding received from Alberta Health within a separate bank account; however, the audit revealed that it was comingled with other funding sources. As a result of ARCHES comingling their accounts, the auditors could not verify thousands of dollars of expenses.Proper personal conflict of interest declarations were not recorded when related individuals or vendors were hired or utilized.Vendors were repeatedly secured in secrecy with a lack of transparency and accountability.No petty cash reconciliations have been completed.$1,129 was used to buy gift cards for board members for The Keg, iTunes, Boston Pizza, Earls, Gap, Shell, Chapters, Cineplex, Amazon, Starbuck’s, Tim Hortons, MasterCard, and Bath and Bodyworks. The expense was recorded as “Gift cards – Board Members.”$2,100 was spent on gift cards to The Oil Changer – a business owned by a senior executive’s spouse.$2,205 was spent on a television with no receipt documentation to support the purchase..The report has been passed on to police..A huge group of supporters sent a letter to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Health Minister Tyler Shandro on Monday urging them to restore funding.. POLL: Many Albertans say they will ignore Christmas COVID lockdown .“The closure of Lethbridge’s supervised consumption service (SCS) on this day (International Overdose Awareness Day) is abhorrent and will undoubtedly result in more overdose incidents and deaths — the legacy of your decision to curb harm reduction services during an overdose crisis,” the letter read..“Defunding SCS in Lethbridge is your government’s reaction to an alleged misuse of public funding by an organization. If a hospital CEO was found to have misused funds; it is nonsensical to respond by cutting off all funding and closing the entire hospital.”.The letter noted the site received up to 800 visits a day – one of the busiest supervised consumption sites in the world..The letter was signed by dozens of organizations across Canada and hundreds of individuals..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.TWITTER: Twitter.com/nobby7694
