Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1914-03-05
AUDITOR FAILS TO
PUBLISH PROCEEDINGS

PUBLISH PROCEEDINGS
County Auditor, ]. n. Starkey, ap.
pears to have deliberately omitted to
publish part of the official proceed
irgs of the October, 1913 meeting of
the Board of Commissioners. The
record of the official proceedings of
October 9th, 1918, contains the fol-
lowing:
"The following resolution was pre-
sented and on motion was adopted:
WHEREAS, Hughes County has GER
tain claims against the City of Pierre
in said County, which said claims are
now due and matured: and
WHEREAS, The said City of Pierre
has a claim against said Hughes
County for interest and penalties
collected by said County upon the
taxes of said City, but not paid over
to the said City by its treasurer, and
whereas, settlement of said mutual
accounts is desired by said parties:
Be 1t Resolved by the Board of
County Commissioners of Hughes
County, South Dakota, that all ma
tured claims of said Hughes County
against the City of Pierre, South Da
kota, and all matured claims of the
said City of Pierre against said
Hughes County, be compromised and
settled between, the said parties by
each mutually setting off its claim
against the other, this being intended
as complete settlement of the mu-
tual claims of the parties one against
the other, but not to affect any claim
which shall subsequently accrue; this
settlement to become effective upon
it's acceptance by the City of Pierre. )"
The duty of the County Auditor
with respect to the publica-
tion of the proceedings of the County
Board is provided for by Section 800
of the 1908 Political Code.
"Section $780, 1t is hereby made
the duty of the County Auditor to
make out full and complete report
of the proceedings of each regular
and special meeting of the Board, and
to transmit the same to the publish
ers of the newspapers selected by
such Board to publish such proceed
ings. Said report to be made out and
transmitted by such auditor within
ho
ceedings are held"
A most careful search of the pro-
ceedings of the County Board as pub
lished under the name of County
Auditor Starkey in each of the three
official papers, Pierre Free Press,
Blunt Advocate aid Harold Jour-
nal, fails to disclose not only the
above resolution but any reference
to it, or that the matter was ever
considered by the County Board. One
member of the County Board was
heard to remark, that the omission
to publish this resolution was at his
request.
The county officials for years past
have been accustomed to collect and
retain for the county general fund
the interest and penalties upon the
taxes of the city, school and other
taxing districts, paying over only the
principal. The City Attorney dis
covering the practice informed the
city commissioners and a demand
was made that it stop and for set
tlement Of the moneys retained. The
above resolution is an attempt to
settle with the city. With the wis,
doin of that settlement, we are not
concerned at this time. We are con.
cerned that the people of the county
should know of the manner or ad-
ministration of affairs by the County
Board and County Auditor. We
should like to know how Auditor
Starkey justifies this apparently clear
violation of his official duties, and at
tempt to keep the people in ignorance
of the acts of its officials?
1t is disgusting to read the con-
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