SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. -- Some of our county's leaders are reacting after seeing WREG Investigators' report Thursday night. "I would say it's yet another chip away of public trust," Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright said. "Any time something like this pops up, it's adding to that overall feeli ng we can't trust what's happening in our government." Wright is a proponent of a forensic audit into Memphis Shelby County Schools, especially after what's unfolded these past few months and after what WREG Investigators uncovered. Certified Defenders of America has been a registered vendor for MSCS, but the owner, Kim Watkins, tells us she's never been awarded a contract by the district. That's why she was confused when she logged on to re-certify as a minority and woman-owned business in the fall of 2023 and saw the log of her contracts the city keeps. MSCS signed over its bus services to First Student, and it seemed First Student listed Certified Defenders as a subcontractor. Watkins says she hadn't talked to First Student. "How can we be added as a subcontractor without being contacted first? Without signing a contract with First Student?" she asked. She also showed us this screenshot. It seems MSCS paid First Student so they could pay for her services. The total showed more than $34,000. Again, Watkins's company never did any work for First Student. First Student and the district eventually apologized to Watkins and called it an error, but they didn't explain what happened to the payment she saw or if the money was returned. When WREG pushed for answers, we didn't get any either. Last month, the commission unanimously voted to hire an auditing firm to look into the school district's financial records over the past five years despite the school board chair being adamant the district has "consistently demonstrated responsible stewardship of public resources." "What we are looking for here is any signs of wrongful activities," Wright said. "I don't know what we will find, but I do think this process will the very least, restore public trust." Wright also told Your News Leader that this will be different from the annual audits the district already conducts. Shelby County Commission Chairman Michael Whaley echoed that in a statement Friday, after he saw our story. He said the audit passed "would be intended to find discrepancies like this - looking more into individual transactions and approvals versus what you normally see in an annual audit." He added they will select a firm at the end of the month, and the state has indicated they would support a larger forensic audit of MSCS. WREG Investigators reached out to MSCS multiple times before our initial story aired but never heard back. We reached out again Friday and finally got a response just before 3 p.m. In a joint statement with First Student, they stated in part it was an "error," and "First Student never entered into any subcontract with Certified Defenders of America." They added, "The District has not paid First Student for any Certified Defenders of America services, and First Student has never received any compliance credit or payment from the District with respect to Certified Defenders of America." "A total payment to First Student in the amount of $34,779.92 for the month of July 2023 was partially distributed to a number of approved subcontractors, none of which was Certified Defenders of America." ...read more read less