Linn County Auditor: Supervisor Lawsuit Not 'Frivolous'

Last week we published a Q and A with , the Republican challenger for Linn County Auditor.

In it, Fagerbakke claims that the current Linn County Auditor, Joel Miller, has wasted taxpayer dollars due to a "frivolous" lawsuit against the Linn County Supervisors, has created an unhealthy working environment and that Miller’s goal to do internal audits is unnecessary.

I sat down with Miller and he spoke about the issues raised by Fagerbakke and insisted he’s the guy you want running the auditor’s office.

Questions About Role of Internal Auditing

Despite some auditing processes in place, Miller said as things stand right now, there is no one whose job entails checking whether everything that has been purchased by Linn County’s 850-plus employees has been actually received.

While he said he is not accusing anyone of fraud, he said it is important to have a system in place that can act as a check against fraud, discouraging it by randomly checking transactions.

He said this particular issue is vitally important right now. 

Soon after Miller filed this suit, the Linn County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1, with Marion Supervisor Brent Oleson abstaining, and filed a counter-suit, claiming that the Linn County Auditor does not have the authority to do internal audits.

If the supervisors win their countersuit, he said it could create a legal precedence that would prohibit county auditors from performing internal audits.

"My title is county auditor," he said. "I think people might think I am going to do some auditing."

Frivolous Shcmivolous

Miller said the lawsuit between he and the Linn County Supervisors is not frivolous, but an important legal issue he said is spelled out in the Iowa code.
The lawsuit is a story in itself, so I'll try to make it short.

In 2010, Miller fired one deputy auditor and replaced her with another deputy auditor whose job entailed doing internal audits of the county’s financing. He filed the lawsuit after Linn County Supervisors did not approve the payment for the new deputy auditor and asserted that Miller did not have complete authority in hiring and firing deputies.

Supervisors say Iowa law gives them authority over deputies within county government, like the deputy auditor that Miller hired.

Miller disputes this, saying that he is given the authority to hire and fire deputies. 

Taxpayer Dollar Waster

Because the Linn County Attorney’s office is representing the supervisors in the lawsuit, they have hired an outside attorney to help out with auditor duties, to avoid a conflict of interest.

The attorney originally cost $175 per hour, according to a story from the Gazette, something Fagerbakke said costs the taxpayers way too much money.

Miller agrees it is a waste of taxpayer money, but said he publicly fought the supervisors when they voted to hire an outside attorney.

"There's around 20 lawyers in the (Linn County) Attorney's office, someone there could help me," he said.