Jasper County Treasurer Wins Partial Victory in Bank Account Access Dispute. What Happened?

The Jasper County treasurer, who sued his own county for access to dozens of bank accounts, won a partial victory Tuesday afternoon.

The County Council called a special meeting where it authorized County Administrator Andrew Fulghum to grant Treasurer Michael Skinner access to the 19 bank accounts controlled by the administration and County Council. The Council also directed the administration and Treasurer to prepare a Memorandum of Agreement on the Treasurer’s policies and procedures.

This came after the State Supreme Court dismissed Skinner’s lawsuit and the county filed a motion against the IRS in district court. The motion was dropped after Sheriff Donald Hipp and Probate Judge Albert Kleckley requested to be disqualified from the lawsuit.

Both Hipp and Kleckley had private meetings with Skinner, where they both agreed to give Skinner viewer rights to their accounts, Skinner said. As of Wednesday morning, Skinner had not been added.

Court clerk Margaret Bostick was also named in the suit. She has signatory authority over 60 bank accounts, but the suit noted that the total number of accounts may vary from time to time. Bostick told Skinner he did not need access to any of her accounts other than the two he already had, Skinner said.

“It’s this picking and choosing of what the treasurer should see that bothers me,” Skinner said. “Who, how or what we decide seems arbitrary at best. That’s no way to build trust in a system.”

Of the 118 accounts currently in place, Skinner has access to 29. If the agreements with the council, Hipp and Kleckley remain in place, he will soon have access to 32 more bank accounts, bringing the total number of accounts he has access to to 61.

At the special meeting, Skinner accepted the following conditions for access to 19 administrative and district council accounts:

• The treasurer does not receive any additional signature authority with these access rights

• The Treasurer shall provide the Administration and Finance Department with access to bank account information maintained in his or her office as necessary to maintain the county general ledger and conduct audits.

• Efforts must be made to prevent unauthorized access to or disclosure of confidential information, including private, personal, HIPAA-protected, and legally restricted information.

• The administration and treasurer will work together to develop a detailed memorandum to be submitted to the District Attorney. This agreement will outline the policies and procedures of the two offices and the sharing of financial information between the two offices. A draft is expected to be submitted by November 1.

Skinner and his lawyer Ronnie Richter accepted the resolution. Richter added that he wanted to continue the dialogue, preferably outside of litigation.

“I know we’ve put a lot of work into this and I think it’s a big step forward. I’m looking forward to actually getting some work done and getting out of the county,” Skinner said.

The 19 bank accounts are listed below:

1. Check – Jasper Co Business License – Operating Account

2. Review – Jasper Co Local Hospital Tax – Local Lodging Tax

3. Current Account – Jasper Co Register of Deeds – Current Account

4. Verification – Jasper Co Register of Deeds – Escrow Account

5. Review – Jasper County – Inmate Welfare Fund

6. Inspection – Jasper County – Building Department

7. Review – Jasper County Building Permit – Login Account

8. Checking Account – Jasper County Account – Check Fees

9. Review – Jasper County – Sales Tax Delinquencies

10. Review – Jasper County – Tax Delinquencies

11. Review – Jasper County – Sergeant Jasper Park

12. Control – Jasper County – Airport Construction

13. Review – Jasper County – DBA Skyblue Aviation

14. Checking Account – Jasper County – The Settings Trust Account

15. Review – Jasper County – Local Accommodation Tax Account

16. Review – Jasper County – RDA Funds

17. Review – Jasper County – Not listed

18. Review – Jasper County – JCFR 1%

19. Review – Jasper County – Detention Center

One account – Jasper County Crimestoppers – was replaced with the prison cafeteria account after an attorney discovered that no one in the administration or council had signatory authority for the Crimestoppers account.