Commission Attempts to Stall State Audit

On Thursday, October 29, Clay County officials responded to the Clay County Circuit Court’s judgement that the county must turn over documents and individual performance appraisals as specified the November 2019 subpoena.

The Circuit Court of Clay County mandated that the audit of Clay County must continue

As reported by KPGZ on October 26, the Circuit Court of Clay County ruled in favor of State Auditor Nicole Galloway, and mandated that the audit of Clay County must be allowed to continue. The court gave the county 10 days cooperate with Galloway and submit the requested documents. The county has asked the court for an extension to the deadline in order to come up with a plan to appeal the court’s decision.

The county issued an unsigned press release saying, “Clay County has the right to appeal the recent Circuit Court decision related to the Missouri State Auditor’s authority to access highly confidential records about Clay County’s employees. However, the court’s deadline to turn over the documents in question does not allow for that opportunity, so as allowed by Missouri law, Clay County has simply asked the Court to extend that deadline while Clay County considers an appeal.”

Last year, County Commission officials failed to fulfill records requests, and Galloway issued subpoenas to require documents and testimony. On December 4, 2019, the State Auditor’s Office filed in Clay County Court to demand compliance with the subpoenas.

The audit of Clay County has been going on for almost two years. It began in December 2018 after a citizen petition was submitted to the Auditor’s Office and then verified to have more than the minimum 5,590 signatures of county residents who are registered voters.

In January 2019, the Clay County Commission sued to prevent the auditor from conducting the citizen-mandated audit. An October 24, 2019, court ruling confirmed the auditor’s legal authority to conduct performance audits and dismissed the County Commission’s lawsuit against the auditor. That case is currently on appeal in the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District.

Clay County has filed a motion to amend the Judge’s order. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday where legal counsel will seek appropriate time to consider an appeal of the court’s judgement.

KPGZ News – Brian Watts contributed to this story