Former Auditor Jones Responds to His Removal from Wichita County Office

Lina Portman4 weeks ago

5 2 minutes read

Former Auditor Jones Responds to His Removal from Wichita County Office

Former Wichita County Auditor Cheryll Jones responded Monday afternoon to a Times Record News report that she was escorted out of her office by sheriff's office security personnel.

The sheriff's office confirmed she was evicted from the county annex building Friday before her warrant expired Monday.

The sheriff's office said security personnel escorted Jones out after county staff were denied access to the county's financial software. The sheriff's office is investigating the incident.

More: Jones escorted from Wichita County auditor's office after financial software crash

On Monday afternoon, she confirmed via personal email that she had posted comments on the Times Record News Facebook page about problems involving the county's financial software.

In the comments, published early Monday afternoon, she claims TRN did not contact her.

However, TRN attempted to reach her multiple times for comment, starting Monday morning, and received a message from Jones Monday afternoon indicating that she had issued a response.

In the Facebook post, Jones wrote: “These are just rumors and no facts have been presented regarding unprofessional conduct or laws that were broken.

My term started on August 26th, so Friday was not the last day of my term.

Users have been disabled in the system in order to close the fiscal year and generate the year-end reports needed to complete the audit. It is the auditor's responsibility to provide reports to the court, not to provide direct access to the financial software, as per the law. However, the new county auditor can choose to do so and can authorize users as he wishes very easily. The law does not require users to have access to the financial system, it is a privilege. All that is required is that the reports be provided to the commissioners court. Again, it is the new auditor's responsibility to provide that authorization to have access to the financial software.

Prior to the financial software upgrade I implemented in July 2021, offices did not have access to the financial system.

There were no calls or inquiries made about the computer system before members came to my office on Friday afternoon. I would have been happy to explain to them that the system was down in order to close the accounts.

Previous statements regarding election workers and tax payments have already been made and selectively released.

A request for an opinion from the attorney general was filed Friday to determine whether the county's actions were legal. It is ironic that this request came on the heels of other requests from the attorney general aimed at distraction and discrediting.

More: UPDATE: Outgoing auditor asks Texas attorney general to weigh in on Wichita County practices

Unfortunately, for the citizens, I was not selected to run for another term. It is discouraging to see what awaits them. I had only the best intentions for the citizens and I wish them good luck.

Lina Portman

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