Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Clerk of Court Kirk Reams responded strongly to the allegations of unauthorized overspending by his office raised by a recent forensic audit report. Reams also objected strongly to way that the process was conducted, calling it reprehensible and politically motivated.
Following is Reams’ verbatim response, which he titled “An open letter to the Jefferson County BOCC, State Attorney, FDLE and most importantly, the citizens of Jefferson County:”
For the past 16 years I’ve had the pleasure of serving the taxpayers of Jefferson County and it has been the greatest honor of my life.
Let me begin by stating that the forensic audit finding that I have overspent my budget for several years is UNEQUIVOCALLY FALSE AND NOT POSSIBLE and the forensic auditors have CREATIVELY MISINTERPRETED the Clerk’s office INCORRECTLY.
All Constitutional offices have a system of checks and balances in place, and the Clerk of Court is no exception. The Clerk’s office is audited on an annual basis by an independent county external auditor and also via the State of Florida through the Department of Financial Services. Before our books are presented to these entities to be audited they are reviewed by a CPA that used to be the county’s external auditor. None of these auditors and accountants have come to the conclusion that the Clerk’s office has overspent its budget. The manner in which every audit I’ve participated in 16 years has been conducted where the auditor sits down with the audited entity at the conclusion of the audit, to go through the audit and make sure any findings are accurately being portrayed and that the auditors have a thorough and correct understanding before the audit is published. Also, before publication, the audited entity has an opportunity to respond in writing to any findings, and either agree or disagree with how the findings are presented.
My staff and I were NOT AFFORDED an opportunity to do such until 5:57 p.m. on Nov. 4, 2022 via e-mail. This was almost 24 hours after it had already been presented at the previous night’s JBOCC meeting that I was unable to attend due to attending my quarterly Clerk training. In fact, this item was placed on an amended agenda by the JBOCC staff an hour past the agenda deadline of 5 p.m. on October 28, 2022. There was no back-up information provided in the packet e-mailed on that day and no memo or back-up documentation was provided to the public or me or my staff throughout the next week. The first I saw the presentation was when it was published on the JBOCC website on the Friday morning of November 4, 2022. The fact that this item was allowed to be presented to the public without determining its veracity and accuracy is appalling and is against the JBOCC Rules of Procedure for Meetings. The fact that it was presented without allowing or requesting a chance to respond to the findings presented is a violation of due process. It shows a lack of respect towards not just me, but towards my hardworking staff that have been coming to work and doing their multi-faceted jobs for months while the Clerk’s office has been under a constant barrage of FALSE and MISLEADING POLITICAL ATTACKS from the very Board we assist. It is unfortunate that these actions were done without affording my staff and I an opportunity to respond, which only came after the fact. These reckless and defamatory actions are INCOMPREHENSIBLE, UNCONSCIONABLE, AND REPREHENSIBLE. This report is another example of a $40,000 waste of taxpayer dollars by a firm that was handpicked by a biased County Commissioner with a political and personal vendetta.
NO Commissioner has bothered to come and sit down with me to review their concerns during the last twelve months. Actually, NONE of the present Commissioners HAVE EVER come and spent time with me or my staff in an effort to better understand all of the daily operations and duties we perform on their behalf. My door is always open to any citizen that wants to discuss any issues. It is disheartening that the Board has allowed one uninformed Commissioner that lacks the capability to understand the very operations for which she was elected to serve create such a divisive and combative work environment where one did not exist previously and where the county has suffered. I never thought this brand of dirty politics would infiltrate the place my family has called home for 10 generations, but it is alive and well here.