TELLICO PLAINS- Mayor Patrick Hawkins and the Tellico Plains City Board are taking steps to add new policies after a recent audit found several discrepancies within the Police Department.

The audit report, released late last month, revealed discrepancies from July 1, 2009 to April 30, 2011 when former Police Chief Bill Isbell was still in charge.

Among the findings, Isbell had collected at least $3,800 in cash from four Police Department fundraisers, but the money was never deposited into a town bank account and records were insufficient to account for the funds. In addition, the audit's inventory of the police evidence room revealed several items could not be accounted for and some items were not disposed of in a timely matter.

"The audit report is being reviewed by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), who is conducting their own investigation into the findings," said Mayor Hawkins, during the monthly meeting of the board on Thursday night.

See full story in the Sunday, Feb. 5, edition of The Advocate & Democrat.