County finance officer: Bill not unusual The security sweep invoice seemed like usual business, he says By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle Sup. Pat Collins said Thursday he was "satisfied" by answers from the county's finance officer about the financial billing of a security sweep of County Executive Carol Kelso's office. Collins told members of the County Board's Administration Committee of his concerns over the way the billing of $3,000 to API Services Inc. was handled. It was listed as an expenditure by the county corporation counsel's office. "At first, (Kelso) said she authorized the search; later, (corporation counsel John) Jacques said he ordered the search. Either way, it was put through his account," Collins said. "It was in a litigation account. This had nothing to do with litigation; it involved the executive." County finance manager Terry Haut noted the billing raised no red flags because the counsel's office and the Brown County Sheriff's Dept. had worked with API Services in the past. He noted the corporation counsel's office is one of the smaller ones in the county government, and Jacques himself usually signed vouchers for his own requests. In larger offices, department heads generally approve requests by other staff. "It met all the criteria," Haut said. Collins said he was satisfied with the answers, but added the Administration Committee had to serve as a check on the system. "It has the responsibility when okaying the bills to know what's in them," he said. Collins told the committee he felt the committee and the sheriff ought to see any written report from API on the security study. But Sup. Robert Milller asked, "Should we report this to a broad area of the population so we have more security breaches?" Collins sent requests to three different committees to look into the matter. Wednesday, the Public Safety Committee discussed whether the sheriff's office could have handled the sweep, with Sheriff Dennis Kocken saying it could have done the job. Collins also is bringing the matter before the Executive Committee. Kelso had cited a breach of security in a personnel matter in asking for the security sweep. Collins had filed an open-records request for information on the matter when the story broke in the news media. - Jane Hansen was elected the Administration Committee's new chairman after Sup. Mary Marquardt resigned the post, citing conflicts with the chairman's role as part of the Executive Committee. Marquardt will stay on the committee.