Monroe County auditors today are expected to seize Stand Up For Animals' financial records to review in their investigation of the Marathon and Big Pine Key shelters, the assistant county attorney said.

Auditors got the runaround all day Wednesday before reaching that conclusion. Shelter employees initially denied them access to the shelter to obtain the records. They later did get in, but the records were not there, and shelter employees would not disclose their location. They later revealed the records were at their accountant's office.

"I think there was some confusion there," nonprofit Executive Director Linda Gottwald said of Wednesday morning's confrontations. "They wanted to give us a list of more things they wanted."

Gottwald said shelter attorney Richard Malafy told her to deny auditors access to the property or records unless they sent a formal request for interviews and such records before coming to the shelter. Employee Phil Marsh adhered to that advice Wednesday, telling auditors there was a restraining order and warning them they would be arrested if they entered the property, said Clerk of the Circuit Court Danny Kolhage, whose office is conducting the audit.

Kolhage and Gottwald squared off at Wednesday's County Commission meeting, with him giving her a stern warning about turning over the records.

"No appointment was needed. This is all part of the audit," Kolhage said, adding that all of the shelter's paperwork is public record under its county contract. "We don't have to give 24 hours' notice for anything. We showed up and should have been given the documents."

County Attorney Suzanne Hutton reminded Gottwald and commissioners that the shelter's contract with the county allows auditors to review records and visit the shelter at any time.

"We were just following what our attorney told us to do," Gottwald said. "We were told three weeks ago that the audit was over."

Kolhage contends no one in his office told Gottwald the audit was complete.

The county, which started auditing the shelter earlier this year after Gottwald asked that her contract be renewed with a price increase, obtained a court injunction to freeze the shelter's bank accounts last week.

Preliminary findings show county money may have been misspent.

"Once we have a chance to do our side of the audit, I look forward to getting an apology from Monroe County," Gottwald told The Citizen Wednesday.

Since seeking the injunction, the county has offered to let the shelter access funds to pay basic operating bills, including payroll checks, Assistant County Attorney Bob Shillinger said. Malafy said he was working on a modification to the injunction, which he expected to have complete by today, that would allow the shelter to operate.

"We're trying to resolve it," Malafy said of the shelter's issues with the county. "We're trying to work with them. The clerk is going to approve certain expenses."

The preliminary audit found that Gottwald spent:

• $628 to pay her personal water bills, which she said she thought she had repaid;

• $3,747 to pay three months' rent, at the residence she leases, for Shari Blessing, who took over for her after she moved to Michigan;

• $2,900 for a fence at the Second Chance Ranch, a shelter she is building in Michigan;

• $1,154 for a legal bill for the Michigan shelter; and

• $715 for airline tickets to Fort Myers and Fort Lauderdale, for purposes Gottwald said she did not know.

The county also said the shelter owes it $160,000 in excess fees it overcharged for animal adoptions. Shelter officials said the county was aware of the fees all along.

The County Commission on Wednesday called for tighter controls on how contractors spend taxpayers' money, saying they should be reimbursed after spending their own money.

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