On Aug. 22, the members of the Cache County Council finalized changes to the county’s Organic Act suggested by state officials. Those changes to the county’s constitution will impact who has the authority to disburse and account for tax funding.
CACHE COUNTY – During their regular meeting on Tuesday night, the members of the Cache County Council passed two resolutions and one ordinance intended to reorganize the county’s finance functions to comply with state guidance.
That initiative – spearheaded by County Policy Analyst Micah Safsten and county attorneys – will limit the powers of the county executive; divide the powers of the county finance director between an elected auditor and the county treasurer; and eliminated the position of county finance director.
Those proposed changes, which involved amending the Cache County Organic Act (the county’s constitution), were all passed unanimously by council members.
Present at the Aug. 22 meeting were council Chair David Erickson, vice chair Barbara Tidwell and members Sandi Goodlander, Nolan Gunnell and Karl Ward, with absent members Kathryn Beus and Mark Hurd participating by phone.
“For almost a decade,” Safsten said, “all accounting services for Cache County have been carried out under the direction of the county executive.
“This was a role delegated to the executive’s office by the council … With Ordinance 2023-29 and Resolution 2023-09, the council is revoking this delegation and designating all accounting duties to the county auditor.”
The council’s decisions also clarified the role of the county treasurer and provided more internal control over county funds.
Those changes just happened to fulfill the council’s longstanding goal of trimming the power of the county executive’s office by splitting the executive’s previous accounting responsibilities between the offices of the county auditor and the county treasurer.
County Executive David Zook’s only remaining role in financial affairs will be to draft a tentative annual budget to be submitted to council members for approval.
Thanks also to the council members’ approval of Resolution 2023-10, the role of County Finance Officer Cameron Jensen, formerly under Zook, was also eliminated in a reduction of force move.
Council chair Erickson acknowledged that approving that reduction in force as a “hard decision.”
At an earlier council meeting on Aug. 8, Zook had opposed changes to the county constitution. No doubt seeing the handwriting on the wall Tuesday night, he still proposed a series of policy changes to Ordinance 2023-29 that he had already discussed with state officials.
“Perfect should not be the enemy of good,” countered council member Ward. “This ordinance may not be perfect yet, but it’s good enough.”
Chair Erickson agreed that Zook’s suggested policy changes didn’t go deep enough to solve the county’s longstanding financial oversight problems.
The proposed changes to county government came as the result of an investigation of the Cache County Attorney’s Office (CCAO) by the Utah State Auditor and subsequent follow-up by the Utah Office for Victims of Crime (UOVC), Safsten explained.
In a letter dated July 26 to Zook, UVOC director Gary Scheller summarized the findings of a probe of the County Attorney’s Office’s use of federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) grant billing to fund double-billing of services to Rich County during fiscal years 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Due to irregularities in grant requests by the county attorneys office during those years, Cache County is now at risk of losing grants (from the federal Violence Against Women Act) amounting to around $500,000 annually that provide crucial funding for local law enforcement and victim services.
The county still faces a 45-day deadline to provide a plan to state UVOC officials to correct deficiencies in its financial procedures.
While acknowledging that pressure from state officials, Safsten said the changes at county level are also a way to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely and ethically.
“The council looks forward to working with other county offices in implementing the details of this change,” he added.