County attorney objects to commission voting on credit card policy

Editor’s note: This version corrects the title of Hill County Auditor Kathy Olson.

Hill County Attorney Lacey Lincoln, along with other county officials, expressed concerns about the Hill County Commission attempting to implement, at their business meeting Thursday, a county credit card policy and that had not been shown to Hill County department heads, including Lincoln.

As the commission began to discuss the policy Lincoln said she wanted to see the policy before they voted on it, and that other department heads should be given the opportunity to go over it as well.

She said she’s been sent previous versions of the policy, which Hill County Commissioner Diane McLean said would allow the county to start using the one credit card they approved in April, but she has not seen this one.

“I have never seen the final version of that (policy), which causes me some concern, I don’t know that any department head has,” she said. “Was this shared with anyone besides the commission and the auditor?”

“I’m not sure,” McLean said in response.

After some brief discussion the commission voted unanimously to table the matter until next week’s business meeting.

The issue of county credit cards has been an ongoing conflict at the county for a few years now, with numerous county officials repeatedly asking the commission to implement county credit cards so they can pay for expenses in their departments, particularly when they are traveling to meetings and so on.

Now, the officials have to pay out of their own pocket and seek reimbursement from the county after the fact, which officials like Hill County Clerk and Recorder Sue Armstrong, Hill County Treasurer Sandy Brown and Hill County Public Health Director Kim Berg have said is time-consuming, inconvenient and places a financial burden, albeit a temporary one, on them.

They requested cards so the charges go to the county, which can then make the payments on the cards out of the departments’ budgets, as many comparable counties in Montana already do.

In April of this year the commissioners agreed to get one card for the county under the management of Hill County Auditor Kathy Olson, with the intention to eventually approve more.

Since then the commission has been discussing setting up policies for the credit card.