By a vote of four-to-three, the members of the Cache County County decided on Oct. 24 to create a new elective post in the county government by splitting the duties of the clerk and auditor which have been combined since 2013.
CACHE COUNTY – By a four-to-three vote on Oct. 24, the members of the Cache County Council decided to create a new elective office in the county government.
County residents will now vote to fill the new elective post of county auditor during the next election in November of 2024, with that official taking office in January of 2025.
That decision approving proposed Ordinance 2023-35 will divide the duties of county clerk and auditor that have been combined since 2013.
State law requires that the County Council announce its intention to separate those functions by Nov. 1, a full year prior to the next county election.
That requirement alone seemed to indicate to council member Karl Ward the need for caution when he urged fellow council members not to rush to judgment on such an important decision.
“I think there may be some consequences to separating (those offices) at this time,” Ward argued, “without adequately vetting what’s going to happen and what could happen in that process…
“So I would vote not to separate those offices at this time.”
Ward’s position postponing a decision would have meant missing the state’s deadline of Nov. 1 and delayed the transition until at least January of 2027.
Ward’s primary concerns focused on the expense of creating the additional elective office.
“We’re already in something of a budget crisis,” he added.
Ultimately, council member Nolan Gunnell proved to be the swing vote in the council’s decision. He initially supported Ward’s view, but Gunnell’s mind was eventually changed by discussions during the Oct. 24 meeting.
Council chair David Erickson emphasized that an independent auditor was necessary given that the council had shifted responsibility for financial oversight of the county’s budget to that office.
He also noted the county’s inevitable growth would soon require that change under state law.
Cache County’s population in 2020 was about 133,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Recent growth estimates now suggest that the county’s population is about 140,000 as of 2023.
State codes require that the duties of clerk and auditor be separated when Cache County reaches a population threshold of 175,000 residents.
County vice chair Barbara Tidwell agreed that if that change was inevitable, the county might as well begin to prepare for it now.
She explained that separating the clerk and auditor duties would be another way to ensure that appropriate “checks and balances” are maintained with the county’s government.
In response to a question from Gunnell, County Clerk/Auditor David Benson acknowledged that the recent addition of financial responsibility to his duties placed “a heavy burden” on his office.
Benson said that while he is prepared to handle that burden, he couldn’t speak for any future successors to his role. That’s why he now favors separating the clerk and auditor’s duties, he added.
“If it’s going to happen anyway,” Benson said, echoing Tidwell’s stance, “it might as well happen now.”
Then Gunnell admitted that he had changed his mind in the midst of the discussion, swinging the weight of the council’s opinion in favor of splitting the offices of clerk and auditor.
In the final vote, Erickson, Gunnell, Tidwell and council member Sandi Goodlander voted to split the offices of the clerk and auditor, while Ward, Kathryn Beus and Mark Hurd opposed Ordinance 2023-35.