Bourbon County Commission looking into allegations

A week after some 30 concerned citizens packed the commission room, the Bourbon County commissioners are making moves toward getting to the bottom of issues surrounding the Treasurer's Office.

Bourbon County Commission Chairman J.W. "Jingles" Endicott told citizens attending Friday's meeting about the Bourbon County Attorney's request that the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and Kansas Attorney General's Office conduct an independent investigation of allegations raised against Bourbon County Treasurer Susan Quick and the commission's ordering of a surprise cash count of the accounts under Quick's control as of the end of business on Aug. 26, 2011.

Endicott said once the commission gets results from the requests they have made, they will have more answers to give the public.

"At this point that's all we can do," he said. "As soon as we know anything it will be made public."

Terry Sercer, of Diehl Banwart Bolten CPAs, completed the county's 2010 audit and was present Friday to discuss an additional investigation into the Bourbon County Treasurer's Office. Sercer said when he was doing his audit there was nothing that raised any red flags because his audit looked at tax collections by district, based on historic collection percentages. However, he did not investigate details relating to individuals on the payment plan.

"We did not look at the individuals on the plan," Sercer said. "Obviously, we need to look at those people."

Sercer's investigation will begin Wednesday. He will be looking to verify that everyone left off the delinquent tax list was on the payment plan and whether all individuals on the payment plan were left off the list. Additionally, he will be looking into the allegation that interest was not being charged to some accounts, as well as properties with partial payments being left off the tax sale.

"It's obvious something needs to be done," Sercer said.

Commissioner Allen Warren also requested that Sercer find out how much in delinquent taxes there really are from each year so that the county has a better idea of how much money is not being collected.

Sercer also recommended that the commission request an annual report from the treasurer's office. He said Linn County's commission receives one.

Bourbon County Attorney Terri Johnson said she was notified by the Kansas Attorney General's Office that they would review the investigation. She said she has not heard back from KBI; but they are not likely to announce when they are coming. She said anyone wishing to contact the Attorney General's Office can get the public relations phone number from her office.

Several concerns regarding the payment plan were raised during Friday's meeting, such as a lack of documentation as to the guidelines for getting on the plan and administration of the plan. Endicott said he asked Quick about the guidelines for getting on the plan and she replied if someone asks to be on it, she will put them on the plan.

Johnson said the statute that allows for the payment plan does not state that written guidelines are required, but she advised the commission to request copies of the contract between the treasurer's office and the property owner.

Resident Mel Antrim asked what it would take to remove Quick from office if she is a "road block" to getting the issues taken care of, specifically asking about a recall election. Commissioners said a recall election would be costly.

Johnson said the commission does not have the authority to remove Quick from office. There are three ways to remove Quick, she said: a recall election, an ouster (the removal of a person from a position or office against their will), or if a federal crime is found to have been committed. Despite questions on the options for removing Quick, Johnson said actions could be premature.

"What we have now are allegations and issues," Johnson said. "I believe there needs to be an independent investigation."

Bourbon County Economic Development Council Inc. President Steve Buerge said that while this issue puts a "black eye" on the community making business recruitment difficult, he is not going to judge Quick until wrongful actions have been proven.

"I would give Susan the benefit of the doubt until we know the law has been broken," Buerge said. "I don't want to go through the grand jury thing like we did several years ago."

He said he was cautious about the use of the payment plan saying the he thinks there could be a lot more people coming forward requesting to be on the payment plan. He said that if that happens, the county's tax collection numbers would likely decline.

"If everybody starts using this payment plan, the county is going to go broke," he said.

Warren also dispelled myths about the county shutting down the tax search on the county's Web site. He said the software is managed by a Colorado company and it was originally supposed to be a fee-based system. After telling the company that didn't want to charge for access to the search, they went in to make system updates which caused the search to be temporarily unavailable.