UPDATE: Jasper County Treasurer wins partial victory in bank account access battle, what happened?
UPDATE: Clerk of Court Margaret Bostick met with Treasurer Michael Skinner to discuss the recent article, leading to an agreement on access to non-court account statements and reconciliations, Skinner said. Bostick clarified that some accounts, though listed under “Jasper County,” are opened by the Clerk of Court and may not be public. However, Skinner insisted that any county revenue accounts must be accessible to the Treasurer’s office.
The Jasper County treasurer, who sued his own county for access to dozens of bank accounts, secured a partial victory Tuesday afternoon.
The county council called a special meeting where they authorized County Administrator Andrew Fulghum to grant Treasurer Michael Skinner viewing access to the 19 bank accounts controlled by the administration and county council. The council also directed the administration and treasurer to draft a memorandum of agreement over the treasurer’s policies and procedures.
This comes after the state’s Supreme Court dismissed Skinner’s suit and after the county filed a motion in circuit court against the Treasurer’s Office. The motion was dropped after Sheriff Donald Hipp and Probate Judge Albert Kleckley requested to be removed from the suit.
Both Hipp and Kleckley had private meetings with Skinner where they both agreed to let Skinner have viewership of their accounts, Skinner said. As of Wednesday morning, Skinner has not yet been added.
Clerk of Court Margaret Bostick was also listed in the suit. She has signatory access to 60 bank accounts, but the motion noted that the total number accounts can vary from time to time. Bostick informed Skinner that he didn’t need access to any of her accounts beyond the two he was already on, Skinner said.
“It is this picking and choosing what we want the treasurer to see that bothers me,” Skinner said. “Who, how or what do we decide seems arbitrary at best. That is no way to build trust in a system.”
Out of the now-118 accounts, Skinner has access to 29. If the agreements with the council, Hipp and Kleckley stands, he will soon have access to 32 additional bank accounts. This would bring the total number of accounts he has access to up to 61.
At the special meeting, Skinner accepted the following terms for viewing access to 19 administration and county council accounts:
The treasurer will not gain additional signature authority with these access privileges
The treasurer must grant the administration and finance department access to bank account information maintained in his office needed for maintaining the county general ledger and completing audits
Efforts must be made to prevent unauthorized access or distribution of sensitive information, including private, personal, HIPAA-protected and legally restricted data.
The administration and treasurer will collaborate on a detailed memorandum of agreement to be submitted to the county attorney. This agreement will outline the policies and procedures of each office as well as the sharing of financial information between the two offices, with a draft due by November 1.
Skinner and his attorney — Ronnie Richter — accepted the resolution, with Richter adding that he wished to continue the dialogue, preferably outside of a litigation setting.
“I know we put in a lot of work into this and I think it’s a great step forward and I look forward to actually getting some work done and moving on from the county,” Skinner said.
The 19 bank accounts are listed below:
Checking - Jasper Co Business License - Operating Account
Checking - Jasper Co Local Hosp Tax - Local Hospitality Tax
Checking - Jasper Co Register Of Deeds - Checking Account
Checking - Jasper Co Register Of Deeds - Escrow Account
Checking - Jasper County - Inmate Welfair Fund
Checking - Jasper County - Building Department
Checking - Jasper County Building License - Sign Account
Checking - Jasper County Account - Review Fees
Checking - Jasper County - Delinquent Sales Tax
Checking - Jasper County - Delinquent Tax
Checking - Jasper County - Sergeant Jasper Park
Checking - Jasper County - Airport Construction
Checking - Jasper County - DBA Skyblue Aviation
Checking - Jasper County - The Settings Trust Account
Checking - Jasper County - Local Accommodations Tax Acct
Checking - Jasper County - RDA Funds
Checking - Jasper County - Unlisted
Checking - Jasper County - JCFR 1%
Checking - Jasper County - Detention Commissary
One account — Jasper County Crimestoppers — was replaced with the detention commissary account after an attorney discovered that no one in the administration or council had signing authority for the crimestoppers account.
This story was originally published August 28, 2024 at 12:48 PM.
