FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

An unfortunate situation within the Warren County governmental
structure appears to have been resolved. During the last couple of
weeks a feud between the Collector and the Assessor regarding which
office had responsibility for issuing Statements of no Tax Due
surfaced. The victims of this feud were the citizens of Warren County
and the employees of the local DMV office. Some questioned why the
County Commissioners did not do more to end this dispute. County
Counselor, Mark Vincent, explained to the Commissioners that the
Assessor and Collector, as elected officials, are responsible for
running their respective offices. Quoting the holding in the case of
Floyd v. Philpot, Mr. Vincent stated: “outside of the management of
the fiscal affairs of the county, such (commissions) possess no powers
except those conferred by statute” . Mr. Vincent continued by
explaining that there are no statutes which give the Commissioners
authority to tell other elected officials how to manage their offices.
The last resort would be for the Commission to bring an action in the
Circuit Court for a Writ of Mandamus against the Assessor and/or
Collector if either or both failed to perform their statutory duty.
The County Commission elected to try to mediate the situation to see
if a resolution short of litigation could be achieved. With the help
of Jan Olearnick of the DMV and the County Counselor working directly
with Wendy Nordwald, the Assessor and Julie Schaumberg, the Collector,
a solution was achieved. Joe Gildehaus, Presiding Commissioner, on
behalf of the County Commission, stated that he was very thankful that
the dispute has been resolved and publicly wanted to thank Jan
Olearnick for her assistance. Commissioner Gildehaus stated that the
biggest lesson to learn from this situation is regardless of the issue
it is incumbent on all elected officials to always do what is in the
best interest of our citizens and to accomplish that goal we must work
together regardless of our personal feelings.