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West Valley City • The quasi-governmental agency rocked by a $1 million embezzlement scandal is scrambling to recover from the fallout.

During a 911 advisory board meeting on Tuesday, Scott Freitag, representing Salt Lake City on the board, said state human resources is working with the Utah Communications Authority (UCA) to replace at least three vacancies left in the wake of discovery of the decadelong credit-card thefts.

The UCA, which oversees the state's 911 system and emergency radio operations, is aiming to replace Steven Proctor, the longtime director of the agency; Patricia Nelson, his executive assistant; and Kathy Trees, the accountant who brought evidence of the embezzlement to the attention of office leaders last January.

Only Nelson and her daughter, Crystal Evans, are accused of wrongdoing. Nelson was placed on leave Jan. 11 and has since signed an admission to the misuse of agency credit cards in a civil case in which a 3rd District judge entered a $2.3 million judgment, including interest and punitive damages.

Trees resigned March 21 for undisclosed reasons and Proctor left April 7, the same day the UCA board held a closed-door meeting to discuss personnel issues.

UCA is currently using an outside accounting firm to handle finances, but according to board chairwoman Tina Mathieu, the agency is looking at "long-term options."

A representative from the outside accounting firm said Tuesday that he was unable to provide a financial report to the advisory board at this time because the staffers have not had time to catch up on the bookkeeping. However, UCA bills are being paid, he told the board.