Commissioner wants transparency on how Clay County spends federal COVID-19 money
Clay County, which already faces questions about how it spends taxpayer dollars, is about to get nearly $30 million from the federal government to cover coronavirus-related expenses.
One of its elected leaders, presiding commissioner Jerry Nolte, is calling for safeguards and transparency on how the county handles that money.
“It is Clay County’s responsibility that the distribution of these funds is in compliance with state and federal regulation, which will be audited by the state,” Nolte said in a statement on Thursday. “Because of the fiduciary responsibility the county bears to repay any money not spent in compliance, a higher degree of accountability and oversight protections are needed for the appropriate use of these funds.”
The three-member Clay County Commission is scheduled to take up on Friday what Nolte is calling the CARES Funds Accountability Act, named after the federal legislation that made funding available to local governments to cover unexpected costs from the coronavirus pandemic.
The other commissioners, Luann Ridgeway and Gene Owen, were not immediately available for comment Thursday. Ridgeway and Owen often do not vote in agreement with Nolte on substantive county issues.
Nolte’s proposal calls for a public vote by the county commission before any CARES Act funds are spent, that the county auditor certify any expenditures and that the CARES Act money be sent to a dedicated account to prevent any commingling of federal funds with other Clay County funds.
Nolte is also calling for the formation of a committee comprised of citizens and elected officials to provide recommendations on the spending of CARES Act money before the Clay County Commission acts on it.
“Without safeguards like these in place, the county is at a greater risk that disbursements may not be made in compliance with the signed Federal Funding Certification agreement and state guidelines, required for spending of those funds,” Nolte said. The county may be required to pay back those noncompliant disbursements out of other county funds.”
Clay County has come under scrutiny in recent years over how it spends money. More than 9,000 residents petitioned Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway to start a performance audit of the county in 2018.
The progress of that audit has largely been tied up in court, as Clay County has attempted to argue against Galloway’s authority to do a performance audit, as well as what county records her office can obtain.
