YMCA of Northern Colorado CEO says "no negligent intent" behind financial audit of Johnstown location

The YMCA of Northern Colorado is denying accusations that they mismanaged or misused taxpayer funds from their Johnstown location. YMCA of Northern Colorado CEO Chris Coker told CBS News Colorado his organization did not commit any crimes or misappropriate any funds, as speculated by some in the town of Johnstown.

"We don't steal money, we don't do things in a bad manner. There is no negligent intent," Coker said.

Coker's interview comes after a financial audit was ordered by the town of Johnstown into the YMCA of Northern Colorado.

The town paid cash to build the facility before the COVID-19 pandemic, contracting with the YMCA to staff, operate and oversee the upkeep of the facility. The town agreed to provide the YMCA up to $500,000 a year to offset any costs not covered by memberships.

However, Coker said issues started rising from the town after a swim team was discontinued from the YMCA of Johnstown. He said the swim team raised concerns of financial mismanagement to town council which resulted in a series of events, culminating in a financial audit.

Coker admitted, like most people who are audited, it was intimidating to learn they were being audited. However, he was confident his organization was operating properly.

"They did exactly what they were supposed to do. If someone makes a claim like that, you have to look into it," Coker said of the town council.

A financial audit report, obtained by CBS News Colorado, raised some issues with spending by the YMCA with the town of Johnstown's finances.

Those concerns, reported previously by CBS News Colorado, included Johnstown funds possibly being spent in Boulder for carpet replacement. It also claimed to find hundreds of dollars of Amazon gift cards being purchased without any trace of them being handed off to retain Johnstown employees. The audit claimed there was possible prohibited purchases of alcohol with town funding and that an employee had allegedly been paid more than $30,000 for work in which they never completed.

The financial audit noted that tracking if money from Johnstown was used in other community YMCA locations was difficult, as five locations share one bank account.

Coker said the YMCA of Northern Colorado recently changed CFOs as well as all of their internal software. That resulted in some expenses being miscoded in their system and other traces of receipts not being logged or saved.

"It is all one bank account, but each one of those branches has a unique identifier to it," Coker said. "There was one circumstance where some carpet for the Boulder Y was miscoded to Johnstown, so we corrected that. That is the only thing we found that was spent somewhere else."

Coker said his team needed to improve their record keeping of expenses, noting their new software will help them to do so by allowing staff members to take a photo of a receipt and upload it immediately. He said there is no excuse for their shortage of receipts and expense trails to prove what some funds were used for.

"It is not okay. It should be 100% accurate," Coker said.

Coker said the Johnstown Y is on pace to only spend around $250,000 of the possible $500,000 the town can provide them in 2025.

"I would hope that sends a message in of itself that we are not trying to misuse any tax dollars," Coker said. "The audit did not show any systemic fraud, any systemic negligence. It did not show the criminal intent that they were originally concerned about."

Coker said they were not told who the staffer was who was allegedly overpaid until recently. Coker said they are looking into that situation, but he believes it was a misunderstanding and not of issue.

"We went back in, and I think we have the documentation that that did not occur," Coker said.

"I do think, when we look at the bigger picture, the Y has done a decent job for the community," Coker said.

Many residents attended a town hall meeting on Monday night in which the results of the financial audit were presented. Many were frustrated while other were showing their support for the programs provided by the Y. Many town council members also expressed their concerns over some of the funding issues brought forward by the audit.

A spokesperson for the Town of Johnstown did not respond to a request for comment for this report by the time it was published.

The town council elected to move forward with their relationship with the YMCA as both sides try and fill any holes.

Coker said he is working with his staff, new CFO and their new software system to try and make sure there are no gaps for errors or misunderstandings moving forward.

"I'd love for it to be zero (errors). That is my goal for our new CFO, make these issues become zero. Please. Let us never have a meeting like that again. It is on us to make sure it is zero," Coker said. "Those negative comments, I have to fix and I have to own."