Official Resigns After Audit

www.EmploymentCrossing.com Minnesota's chief conservation officer has resigned following an audit that found his agency misspent public money and illegally solicited donations for a game warden conference last year, according to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune. Colonel Mike Hamm has submitted a letter of retirement to the state Department of Natural Resources, ending 36 years with the agency. For the past five years he has headed the division that enforces fish, game and other natural resources laws. Hamm's retirement came a day after he was allowed to read an investigative report about himself at a meeting with DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten and personnel director Denise Legato. The investigative report has not been made public. But an earlier Legislative Audit concluded that a conflict-of-interest law was broken and $300,000 in public money had been misspent on a week-long conference that featured a golf outing, fishing on Lake Mille Lacs, a fish fry and other entertainment. Hamm, who is 55 and eligible for retirement, has served in the DNR since 1972, first as a parks worker, and since 1977 as a conservation officer and supervisor. In May, he and his wife, Captain Cathy Hamm, a supervisor in the enforcement division, were placed on paid administrative leave during the investigations, which were prompted by a Star Tribune story about the conference spending. The resignation may be just the beginning of the shakeup at the DNR. Legato said several other DNR employees face investigations as a result of the investigative findings.