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City Auditor Miranda Meginness resigned abruptly on January 21, 2026, citing mental health concerns and the “games of local politics.” Her resignation letter framed her departure as the result of a hostile environment and a “broken system.”
But a review of Marion Watch Investigates reporting, sworn affidavits filed with the Ohio Auditor of State, state fiscal oversight records, and statements from city employees and the Collins administration reveals a sharply different reality: a tenure defined by technical failures, statutory violations, absentee leadership, and a financial system left in collapse.
1. The GL Override Failure: A System Without Brakes
During Meginness’s administration, the city’s New World system operated with disabled or misconfigured controls likely from its installation that should have prevented spending without appropriation. This aligns with extensive reporting by MarionWatch.com, which has documented systemic configuration failures inside the Auditor’s office.
Examples include:
- Investigative findings describe a system where manual overrides could force payments through even when City Council had not appropriated funds.
- Three sworn affidavits filed by Council members allege that the Auditor’s office disbursed public money without appropriation, a direct violation of Ohio law.
- Independent consultants cited “knowledge gaps” and an inability to correct or even explain the system’s failures dating back to before 2020.
Under this environment, both Meginness and Deputy Auditor Marden Watts are directly responsible for authorizing spending beyond appropriations.
Defiant Meginness insisting on getting rid of ADP.
2. The ADP Payroll Breakdown: A Crisis of Management
Her resignation followed a payroll disaster that disrupted city operations and public trust.
- In late 2025, the transition to ADP payroll collapsed, resulting in partial, inaccurate, or effectively zero net pay for some employees. The admission that the system was not tested came from Miranda herself during a Marion City Countil meeting.
- The payroll clerk position had been vacated by a relative of Meginness, and the next replacement also left. A third person was hired in Audust 2025, who according to the Collins Admninistration had experience, but was not trained or given authority to administer the payroll system. The transition was poorly managed, and inadequately supervised.
- City officials report that offers of assistance and additional resources were repeatedly rejected, leaving the system unstable until the day she walked out.
- Meginness refused to attend meetings and training for the ADP system.
The payroll crisis became a public revelation and symbol of deeper dysfunction inside the Auditor’s office.
3. Absentee Leadership: A Pattern of Non‑Responsiveness
Multiple city employees and members of the Collins administration have stated—repeatedly and consistently on the record—that:
- Meginness rarely returned emails or phone calls, even on urgent financial matters.
- She was frequently absent from the office, often for extended periods.
- According to city employees and City Council members, she had not been in the office since the previous Thursday, nearly a full week before her resignation.
These concerns were not new. Staff and administrators had raised them for months, describing an Auditor who was functionally unavailable during a period of escalating financial crisis.
This pattern of absenteeism directly undermined her claims of working “nights, weekends, and holidays,” and it intensified the operational breakdowns already underway.
Meginness admits to Mayor and Council no testing of ADP System.
4. The “No Clue” Narrative vs. Her Professional Background
In her resignation letter, Meginness portrayed herself as someone who did not fully understand the scope of the problems she inherited in 2021.
But this narrative conflicts with her résumé and the expectations of her role:
- She was selected because of her banking and insurance background.
- She was hired to fix the office’s longstanding issues, not to be surprised by them.
- Her inability to manage the GL configuration or the ADP transition (to name a few) stands in direct contrast to the technical expertise she was brought in to provide.
The gap between her narrative and her performance is now central to the city’s accountability questions.
5. A Resignation Timed to Avoid Removal
The timing of Meginness’s exit is impossible to ignore.
- On January 18, 2026, just three days before her resignation, Council members Shawn Barr, Twila Laing, and Ralph W. Smith filed formal affidavits seeking her removal.
- The affidavits allege:
- Disbursements without appropriation
- Concealed or miscoded financial entries
- Failure to reconcile accounts
- Misleading City Council
- Payroll and tax penalties
- Noncompliance with required training and education
Her immediate resignation effectively removed her from the pending removal process and prevented a public hearing on the allegations.
6. The $9 Million Problem: Fiscal Caution and a Broken Ledger
In November 2025, the State of Ohio placed Marion under “Fiscal Caution.”
State oversight documents and council affidavits cite:
- No reconciled bank statements since December 31, 2019.
- Deep system issues and corrupted data, including problems predating both Meginness and former Auditor Landon, as stated publicly by Veritas.
- Multiple city funds in deficit, totaling approximately $8.8–$9 million.
- A separate $2.4–$2.5 million cross‑fund discrepancy
- Systemic failures in reporting, reconciliation, and financial controls.
These conditions did not emerge overnight. They worsened before and during Meginness’s tenure, culminating in the state’s intervention.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Miranda Meginness leaves office not as the victim of a “broken system,” but as the official who presided over its collapse.
Her resignation letter frames her departure as a personal decision.
The timeline, state oversight, affidavits, and employee accounts suggest something else entirely:
She stepped down at the moment accountability was about to arrive.
The “broken system” she described was one where:
- Financial safeguards were disabled
- Payroll was destabilized
- Communication broke down
- The Auditor was frequently absent
- And the city’s books drifted nearly $9 million out of alignment
—all under her supervision.
Marion now faces the task of rebuilding a financial system left in crisis, while the public finally understands the true legacy of its now former Auditor.
WORKS CITED (Click Here)
Marion Watch Investigates (news.marionwatch.com)
- “The ADP Disaster: Why Marion City Employees Got Zero-Pay Checks”
- Date: January 5, 2026
- Relevancy: A deep dive into the management failures and refusal of IT/HR help during the payroll transition.
- URL: https://news.marionwatch.com/2026/01/05/the-adp-disaster-why-marion-city-employees-got-zero-pay-checks/
- “Absenteeism and the ADP Rollout: Records Show Auditor Skipped Critical Training”
- Date: January 12, 2026
- Relevancy: Documents the lack of oversight and presence during the transition to the new payroll system.
- URL: https://news.marionwatch.com/2026/01/12/absenteeism-and-the-adp-rollout-records-show-auditor-skipped-critical-training/
- “It Wasn’t a ‘Glitch’: Why Marion’s Deficit Requires a Digital Autopsy”
- Date: December 10, 2025
- URL: https://news.marionwatch.com/2025/12/10/it-wasnt-a-glitch-why-marions-deficit-requires-a-digital-autopsy/
- “The Override That Broke Marion? How a Hidden Software Loophole Fueled 16 Years of Fiscal Chaos”
- “Obvious to the Experts: How an IT Observer Saw Marion’s ‘Silent Sabotage’ Years Early”
Official Documents & Multimedia
- Audit Advisory: City of Marion Declared in ‘Fiscal Caution’ (Ohio Auditor of State)
- Date: November 25, 2025
- URL: https://ohioauditor.gov/news/pressreleases/Details/7728
- “Marion City Council Meeting Archive – January 12, 2026” (@marionwatch43302)