$4.87 claim a subject of major discussion at commission meeting

The Hill County Commission spent a half-hour at their weekly business meeting Thursday discussing the procedural propriety of approving a $4.87 claim, which they denied at the recommendation of Hill County Auditor Kathy Olson and against the recommendation of Hill County Treasurer Sandy Brown and Hill County Clerk and Recorder Sue Armstrong.

Before discussion began, Hill County Commissioner Diane McLean, reading from the relevant areas of Montana Code Annotated, said the commission can override Olson’s request with a majority vote, but Olson can appeal that decision if she chooses.

Olson said she recommended the commissioners deny the claim from the Great Northern Fair to Verizon Wireless because the vendor had not been pre-approved to have automatic payments made to it.

Hill County Treasurer Sandy Brown, who submitted the claim to Olson, said she was under the impression that county policy had recently been changed to allow for payments like that and that she thought she was doing it the correct way, an understanding Hill County Clerk and Recorder Sue Armstrong said she shared.

Brown said based on her understanding of numerous conversations and meetings she and other county officials, including those present, had with then-Interim Hill County Attorney Brian Lilletvedt, she was allowed to use automatic payment for bills like that.

Olson, McLean and Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson disagreed with Brown and Armstrong’s assessment of those conversations, with McLean saying no change in policy had taken place despite discussions being had about it, as such a change would conflict with state policy.

“Mr. Lilletvedt is not going to circumvent Montana Code Annotated requirements, and we are also not going to circumvent Montana Code Annotated requirements,” McLean said.

Peterson called the handling of this claim a circumvention of county procedure.

“That disturbs me,” he said.

Peterson also asked why the claim was submitted on the day the bill was due, and Brown said she was admittedly late getting that claim to Olson, but amid the day-to-day of work, mistakes like that happen.

She said her understanding of the procedures and whether or not they had been changed may well have been mistaken as well, but Armstrong questioned why so much time and energy was being spent arguing over a $4.87 claim.

She asked why the commission couldn’t just approve this one small claim and make sure procedure is followed from now on, instead of using so much county time to debate what appears to have been an honest mistake.

“How many hours have we put in over this $4.87?” she asked.

McLean said the money the county uses is taxpayer dollars and it needs to be accounted for carefully.

The $4.87 in question has already been paid to Verizon and while there was some brief discussion of whether the county would be requesting that money back Brown said she’d pay for it herself.

Armstrong criticized the handling of the matter, saying the whole situation has been blown out of proportion.