The skirmishing between Democratic McLean County Board members and Republican McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael continued as Michael did not appear before the board's Executive Committee Monday afternoon.
Michael told the board last month she would be there in April to explain about $500,000 in budget overages last fiscal year and would supply invoices as requested by the committee. She did neither, according to board members. Last week, she also again told the board's Finance Committee she would have to get back to them when they posed the same questions they had last month.
Over the weekend, Michael took to Facebook apparently to preempt critiques.
“If you hear I was not being 'transparent' by not attending Exec. this Monday, I was not invited to attend to answer any questions, nor have I received any questions in the last month,” wrote Michael.
County Board Chair Elizabeth Johnston said the committee asked Michael to appear at the April meeting a month ago — at the previous committee meeting — to answer for the overspending.
“Our expectation as a board is that if you have an action item, we expect you to be here. That is the expectation to answer questions for the committee. We are not asking questions for our personal knowledge. We are here as representatives of the community. We are here to have answers for the community. When we ask questions publicly, we feel like this is information that is valuable to the public,” said Johnston.
The committee was being asked to approve budget changes as an end-of-year accounting closeout of the books.
“Clerk could have come in with those invoices that we had outlined a month ago, and to see that this is still not happening and we still don't have enough information to really make a fully informed vote here is supremely disappointing,” said board member Corey Beirne.
In her Facebook post, Michael claimed a tradition of openness by her office.
“County Board members and Administrators have always been invited, for years, to visit with us in person, by phone or email and text, especially if there are any county concerns to discuss,” wrote Michael.
Board member Lea Cline also acknowledged Michael sent an email in all-caps to committee members asking that they arrange “private meetings” regarding the spending. Cline declined to do so.
Cline and Johnston said private meetings in Michael’s office are not the appropriate way to conduct public business involving public money.
“I am disappointed for all of the talk about accountability and responsibility and communication, the commitment that she verbally gave us to be here and to communicate that she is not here,” said Johnston.
Johnston pointed out Michael had not followed the county budgeting procedure that requires communication with the administration at the time a change is known to be necessary, not just at the end of the year.
In her social media post, Michael insinuated the committee questions were political in nature.
“We hear and grow increasingly weary every day about negative news be it politics, in the workplace, or about life's challenges in general. It's weighing on people; our friends, our family, our co-workers,” said Michael.
At the committee meeting, board member Lea Cline denied the accusation, which she has also heard from some members of the public. Cline said none of this “ruckus” happens with the elected Republican county sheriff.
“That is because Sheriff Matt Lane calls us and tells us, this is what's happening. This is why I might need to go over my budget. These are the steps I took to try to prevent that,” said Cline.
Cline said Michael’s budget reporting has been an issue for multiple years. Chair Johnston noted last month the county even changed its budgeting procedures to force better reporting from the clerk and that change happened under a Republican board chair.
Board members said they wanted to know more details about spending that included a flat $150,000 in non-contractual services. Johnston said an internal review by county administrators did find some invoices that fall under that category, which raised more questions, because it looked like it was spent on a contracted service.
“It's invoice three of five, and that $25,802 of order total is due upon contract execution,” cited Johnston.
Johnston asked the administration and county attorney to see if there are contracts indicated from departments that had not been reviewed by the legal team.
“An important part of our oversight is to make sure that we have contracts that meet expectations, that follow legal proceedings, that have appropriate exit clauses and protections for the county,” said Johnston.
The Executive Committee voted to apply $108,000 in additional revenue in the clerk’s office last year to some of the line items that resulted in the $517,000 in budget overages. That leaves the remaining $409,000 for external auditors to note in their annual report.
Meanwhile, Michael announced her intention to go on a “Transparency and Information Tour” of every community in the county starting next month.
“To answer any questions in person, about our office, what we do, how does the budget work [or not work], and more. It's important for taxpayers to have public officials available, in person whenever possible, to answer questions directly, one-on-one, in front of others,” she said.
Cline noted some irony in that.
“Offering transparency to individuals who might want to come out and look at invoices ... but that those won't be provided here at a committee level,” said Cline.
Michael is running for re-election. She does not have an opponent.
