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Chehalis official terminated following theft from city safe

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The city of Chehalis’s building official was fired on Friday following an investigation into money taken from a city safe last November.

Jeff Shine, a 16-year city employee, admitted to the theft, City Manager Merlin MacReynold said this morning.

Chehalis police were called the morning of Nov. 19 to the community development building on the 1300 block of South Market Boulevard where money was discovered missing. Chehalis detective Sgt. Rick McNamara said yesterday the burglary involved an amount of less than $1,000, but he didn’t have the details readily available.

Some of the money being stored in the safe was raised for the medical needs of the daughter of a pair of police department employees.

MacReynold said the building official is responsible for looking over construction sites and making sure code is followed.

“Not a happy situation,” MacReynold said.

McNamara said yesterday officers did not make an arrest, but referred their case to the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office for a charging decision.

Shine, reached this morning by telephone, said he hadn’t heard he’d been terminated and didn’t want to comment.