Tuesday, April 23, 2024
The Commissioners Court this week green-lighted a move that will lead to the county’s audit, IT and district judge departments gaining access to records and financial reports currently under the sole control of the district clerk.
District Clerk Tonna Hitt said she has concerns about sensitive personal information in her files, for which she is liable, being accessed by others. She also said she suspects that a plot may be underway to try to discredit her ahead of the next election.
Hitt said she intends to seek one more four-year term. She has been in office 29 years, and said that during that time she has had no problems with audits.
Hitt was present for a portion of Tuesday’s regular meeting of the Commissioners Court at the Hood County Justice Center but returned to her office down the hall before the county judge and commissioners addressed that particular agenda item.
While the county judge and commissioners were in closed session discussing the appointment of a fire marshal – a discussion that occurred prior to the vote that involved Hitt’s records – she and Auditor Becky Kidd engaged in a terse exchange about Kidd’s efforts to gain access to records.
Hitt’s office sends monthly reports to Kidd, but Kidd said that she needs to be able to independently verify information. She stated that she is able to independently verify information in every county office but the district clerk’s.
Hitt’s is the only county department that uses Tyler Software’s Odyssey program. She said that she pays $1,400 per year for each of her employees who has a license through Tyler.
She stated that one of her chief concerns is protecting the information of juveniles.
Kidd said that she would have no access to that information.
Hitt told Kidd, “I don’t have a problem with read-only in financial reports at all, but as far as (access) to my other case loads, no.”
Kidd assured her that access to financial reports “is all I want.”
Before the pair ended their conversation, as the Commissioners Court was still in closed session, they wrangled over whether Kidd had contacted IT and the district judge’s office about access issues involving the district clerk, or whether staffers there had contacted Kidd.
Hitt said she felt that the process had been “sneaky” and suggested that Kidd had a “motive behind it.”
Kidd insisted that her actions were “nothing personal.”
Later, after court members returned from closed session and the public meeting resumed, the court voted unanimously to allow the county judge to sign a letter to Tyler Software to allow the three county departments access to the district clerk’s Odyssey records and financial reports.
The vote occurred after the court heard remarks from Kidd and IT Director Drew Wiederkehr.
Kidd later insisted to the HCN that there was “no malice” in her intentions.
“There’s nothing here,” she said.
kcruz@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 258
