On Monday, July 1, the Salt Lake Tribune published an article by Courtney Tanner, revealing the details of an audit conducted at Utah State University Eastern which revealed that Warren Tyler Agner, who while employed by the university, was in charge of the Custom Fit program and Small Business Development Center (SBDC) collected pay despite not showing up and little evidence supporting him doing work.

According to the audit, which was released to the Salt Lake Tribune through public records requests, auditors pointed to specific key problems, writing:

“Custom Fit funds compensated the SBDC specialist when there were periods of not reporting to work and/or no evidence of work product. Based on our observations, $114,302.98 of Custom Fit salary and benefits do not appear to be substantiated. We also identified unallowable payroll expenses totaling $43,167.45 on an SBDC grant.”

This adds up to Agner receiving over $157,000 in salary and benefits over the two years he was employed by the university. In those two years, several faculty and staff members, as well as local business owners reported difficulty reaching Agner, with some questioning whether or not he was even employed by the university still.

The audit also points out a flawed policy regarding nepotism. Utah State University Human Resource Policy 392 reads,” No individual may employ, appoint, or vote for the appointment of his or her relative to any position of paid employment with Utah State University or directly supervise the employee,” with the policy also going on to define what constitutes a relative, a definition which fails to include things such as friendships or other relationships.

This policy comes into play in Agner’s case as he was living with Associate Department Head of Technical Education Jamie Cano, a fact that was not disclosed to the university.

Agner’s direct supervisor was former Emery County Commissioner Ethan Migliori who then reported to Cano. The audit stated that current and former university employees have described it as having a “good old boys culture.”

Castle Country Radio had the opportunity to speak with Tanner regarding the process of investigating this story. We asked what in her opinion was the most interesting part of her investigation into the matter,” I think the most interesting part to me was that they had Warren Tyler Agner in this position overseeing custom fit and the small business development center. So in this business specialist role and then they hired someone else to do that role, Roger Coyle, to do that work.”

Both programs Agner was over were designed to help support and bolster small businesses within eastern Utah. Mike Finnerty, the state director of SBDC, is quoted in the audit saying,” There was nothing entered into the database the entire time he was employed,” which is concerning for the area as small business owners attempted to recover from the lingering effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In a news release from USU published on Tuesday, July 2, the university stated,” Starting this summer, a review of the entire Statewide Enterprise at USU will be conducted. Included in this review are possible improvements to employee oversight, best management practices of the Custom Fit program and other funded programs, and above all how best to serve our students across Utah.“

Tanner shared her thoughts on this release, stating,” I just think it’s a good check and a good transparent action to go through and monitor. Especially when you’re using public taxpayer funds to make sure that those are being spent on the things that should be spent on work that’s getting done.”

USUE has stated that “there is no clear path” to return the salary misappropriated to Agner. Steps have been taken to move the money around into other budget indexes, but as Tanner pointed out the burden will ultimately fall on the taxpayers.

As for those involved, only Migliori remains employed by the university, with Agner being fired from his position and Cano being stripped of his administrative duties but resigning before any further action could take place.

Our full conversation with Tanner can be found below.