Erie County Clerk Michael “Mickey” Kearns and Comptroller Kevin Hardwick agree that the Clerk’s Office needs to hire more people to provide better financial oversight, after an audit uncovered missing money and led to an ongoing criminal fraud investigation, but Democratic county legislators say they want more answers before they greenlight Kearns’ request to hire two new accounting staffers.
The lawmakers on Thursday questioned why the jobs need to be filled so quickly, bypassing the committee process, and whom Kearns has in mind for the positions, given that his resolution calls for the jobs to be created and funded immediately.
County Executive Mark Poloncarz has already incorporated the new accounting positions in his proposed 2024 budget, but First Deputy Clerk Kevin Linder said that the sooner more effective personnel can be hired, the stronger the Clerk’s Office will be financially.
The Comptroller’s Office audit recommended the addition of new financial positions nearly four months ago, but Legislator Howard Johnson, D-Buffalo, pointed out that the Clerk’s Office made no request to add such positions until last week.
“If this matter is urgent now, it should have been urgent back in July,” Johnson said, referring to when the Clerk’s Office audit was originally released. He also criticized Kearns for not appearing before the Legislature to personally address the matter, which he has done in the past.
“Something must have happened to where, now, we need an immediate consideration,” Chairwoman April Baskin said.
Kearns suspended one of his administrators in mid-September and fired the individual early last month.
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