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Grand Coulee Mayor Paul Townsend dismissed Carol Boyce as city clerk late last week.

"Carol has made a longstanding contribution to the community and city, and I regret that this became necessary," Townsend said in a statement Tuesday.

Boyce came to work at city hall 17 years ago, and for the past seven years has served as city clerk.

Townsend didn't go into details on why he is replacing Boyce.

State audit "findings" last summer detailed several deficiencies, and the city has had to hire an outside accountant to help clean up some of the problems outlined in the audit.

The audit stated that "the city's internal controls over accounting and financial statement preparation are inadequate to ensure accurate and timely reporting."

The auditors summarized the cause of the findings: "Before 2014, the city used an outside contractor to prepare the annual report. However, starting in 2014, the contractor was no longer available. And the Clerk/Treasurer was not able to prepare the annual report for 2013, 2014 and 2015."

Townsend said that he has appointed Lorna Pearce as interim city clerk.

Pearce came to Grand Coulee from Coulee City, where she served as city clerk for five years.

She has been deputy clerk in Grand Coulee for the past seven years.

Townsend stated that he plans to fill the position on a permanent basis soon.