Okaloosa County Administrator Ernie Padgett said his level of confidence in Clerk of Court Don Howard and his office remains high.
Padgett told county commissioners last week that he’s committed to moving Okaloosa forward from the Mark Bellinger fraud scandal.
“There have been a lot of positive things done,” he said. “We still have a ways to go.”
Howard’s office was sharply criticized in a risk assessment released last week by Carr, Riggs & Ingram that examined the county’s vulnerability to future fraud and theft.
Stephen C. Riggs IV, a partner with the firm, authored the report. He asserted that not enough is being done to prevent the next theft of public funds.
Padgett disagrees. He says the county has addressed 15 of the 25 findings issued in the state auditor general’s audit of the County Commission and the Tourist Development Council last December. The auditor general has given the county 18 months to correct the deficiencies.
Padgett plans to meet with Howard, Riggs, county Finance Director Gary Stanford and Angela Balent of Warren Averett, the county’s outside auditing firm, to clarify the roles of the clerk and the board when it comes to financial reporting.
“I’m going to get everybody in a room and we’re going to see where to go from here,” Padgett said.
Howard said he sees the meeting as a vital next step in the process.
“I think it’s necessary that we try to determine what office is going to be responsible for what function,” he said.
Howard said his office continues to follow the financial reporting procedures county commissioners have put in place.
“Nothing is going through that office that is not scrutinized to the highest level,” he said.
Riggs said he is looking forward to the meeting and wants to help the clerk and the board become “more proactive in discussing what the expectations are.”
He said his firm wants to “bridge the gap between the services the clerk is currently providing and the commissioners’ expectations as to what the clerk should provide.”
“I am extremely hopeful that we can all work together for the betterment of the county,” Riggs said. “I think everyone is learning something in this process, and that is inherently healthy.”