Basin briefs for Feb. 5, 2020

MOSES LAKE — Several smaller governments in Grant County, including the town of Wilson Creek and the Wilson Creek School District, have received mostly clean bills of health from the Washington State Auditor’s Office.

“Based on the procedures performed, nothing came to our attention in the areas we reviewed that caused us to believe the Town was not in substantial compliance with applicable state laws, regulations, and its own policies, or had significant weaknesses in controls over the safeguarding of public resources,” the state said in its report on the town of Wilson Creek, language also used in the other reports.

The auditor’s office reviewed the town’s expenditures and procedures for 2018 and the district’s for the 2017-18 school year to ensure compliance with state laws and regulations.

Auditors also evaluated the payroll and procurement systems for Grant County Hospital District No. 1 — Samaritan Healthcare in Moses Lake — for 2018, and found no irregularities.

However, in an audit of the Grant County Cemetery District No. 4, which centers on Warden, for 2014-18, the auditor’s office found the district failed to submit any financial paperwork for 2014-15, and was unable to do the audit for that period.

There were no auditor’s findings for the cemetery district for 2016-18.

While a taxing entity, Cemetery District No. 4 did not certify a county property tax levy for 2019. County levies for 2020 have not been published yet.

State law requires the state to audit each governing entity in the state at least once every three years.

OTHELLO — A false alarm brought fire crews and police officers to McFarland Middle School in Othello Tuesday afternoon.

“At approximately 12:57 p.m., McFarland Middle School’s fire alarm was pulled by a student by mistake,” according to a post on the district’s Facebook page. “The fire and police departments were dispatched and immediately arrived on site.”

McFarland continued to operate as scheduled, district officials said.