1/4/08 - County auditor reappointed despite concerns

The county Legislature discussed Thursday holding off on reappointing County Auditor Dennis Whitt, perhaps to redefine his job description, but decided that the matter could be better addressed at a later date.

Legislator Tom Williams (R-Homer) made the motion to table Whitt’s reappointment, which was part of a slew of reappointments that otherwise were passed with little discussion.

“I am a little confused about what this office is,” Williams explained. “I see that the person in this position appears to me at least to be performing many other tasks instead of just auditing the books and dealing with the county finances.”

He pointed to County Administrator Scott Schrader’s performance evaluation of Whitt, naming the auditor a “key staff administrator,” and later identifying Whitt as acting as the chief of staff or assistant to the chairman of the Legislature.

Whitt agreed with this characterization this morning, saying that he acted as such because of authority granted to him by past chairmen. He was hired as auditor in 2004 in response to the county’s financial problems, and Whitt said that from the beginning there was an understanding that he would be involved in addressing and solving problems, rather than just identifying problems via audits.

Williams proposed either limiting Whitt to strictly auditing duties, or expanding the job description to bring it more in line with Whitt’s current duties, perhaps as a deputy county administrator.

“The new chairman will have to decide if the extended role I have is necessary,” Whitt said, not sure if it would be appropriate for the Legislature to limit the decisions of the new chairman, John Daniels (D-Cortlandville).

Legislator John Troy (D-1st Ward) explained that the Democrats had discussed the matter in their caucus and had decided that the issue might be better addressed first within the Personnel Committee.

Schrader pointed out that any county office is based on the job description dictated by the county Legislature, and that Whitt would have to alter his performance if the legislators chose to limit him.

Newly-appointed County Attorney Mark Suben said the Legislature certainly has the authority to define additional duties that the auditor could perform, outside of audits.