Under Arizona law, two county officials (the assessor and the treasurer) can be suspended by the oversight board even though they were elected. And that was the conclusion of Gila County Assessor Joseph Williams at Friday’s Special Oversight Board meeting.

The board, at a meeting convened to address Mr. Williams’ reported dereliction of duty, unanimously voted to suspend Mr. Williams for 120 days without pay. According to Arizona Revised Law 11-664, the officials may face charges.On hold. County Manager James Menlove explained to the board that this is because dereliction of duty can have financial implications. The vote was unanimous, and Williams’ suspension took immediate effect. Board chairman Woody Klein said the two men met to “rectify a fairly difficult situation.”

Gila County Human Resources Director Richard Husk informed regulators that Williams, elected in 2020, had been unable to reach both officials and taxpayers for some time. For example, Husk said Williams had not responded to taxpayer inquiries since February. “He’s heard complaints being made to the county that his ability to do business in the county or to acquire property is being hindered,” he said.

Husk said Williams hadn’t used card access to the courthouse since February 14, and had used the card three times in January 2022, four times in December 2022, and “that It used to be sporadically only three times, he added. According to Husk’s report, records also show that Williams had limited contact with him from his work phone.

Williams’ Absence Affects Operasession in his office – includingare doing I needed his input to fill two open positions. Husk added that there were also payroll and travel authorization issues. “There has always been a concern as to whether anyone has the authority to sign at the Assessor’s Office, and both Payson and Grove have had difficulty getting the Assessor to authorize the right people to sign where necessary. bottom.”

Husk said much of this came to light after Chief Deputy Assessor Ken Burrell, who now holds the same position in Yavapai County, resigned on March 29. Burrell resigned after Williams allegedly rejected appraisers’ approval of a reduced valuation for one resident.

Mr. Williams did not attend Friday’s meeting and did not respond to a call for comment.

Supervisor Tim Humphrey asked why these issues were not reported to the board sooner. Mr. Menlove replied that Mr. Burrell’s presence – he was given administrative powers – enabled the office to survive, but that things had “stalled” since his resignation. He added that despite staff concerns about crossing boundaries with voter-elected officials, the situation needs to be addressed. Menlove added that staff at the assessor’s office were “stuck” on administrative issues such as approving timesheets.

Yvonne House, from Assessor PaysonFiss, Read the letter aloud on behalf of other employees. “We’ve known Joe for a long time. We voted for him, backed him, supported him,” part of it read. “But he disappointed his employees and those who elected him president by not getting the job. During his absence, he took much of the job without any approval or decision-making from his side.” It’s unfair to those who did.As an elected official, he needs to be able to serve the taxpayers.”

Manager Steve Christensen asked if the suspension and substitution proposal could be made at once. On the advice of the Jefferson-Dalton County Acting Attorney, the motion was split into two motions. Another question, whether to suspend Williams without pay, was less clear. ARS11-664 is silent on this. “Apparently there is a statute that allows the board to suspend constables without pay, but I don’t know where that will lead us,” Dalton said. The law also does not specify whether the successor will be of the same political party (Williams is a Republican).

Mr. Klein said he wanted the motion to include the salary issue, which it did. Christensen sought a statutory 120-day suspension without pay against Williams, which was unanimously approved. Had it not been unanimous, the suspension would have taken effect within 10 days or, if requested by Williams and the board upheld the suspension, after the hearing had concluded.

Klein expressed concern that the board may have to impose an additional 120-day suspension before the next election. “If you have members of parliament, when they hear this audio, they’ll probably go back there and fix things like this so they can shut down until the next election.”

Humphrey asked As if anyone was there.Sessor’s The office wanted to replace Williams. Klein replied that according to the information he received, he did not. Humphrey then moved to appoint Menlove to the office, and his motion was also passed unanimously.Menlove told its board that it intends to work with Mr.Sessor’s As well as staff in the office, Williams has been contacted and is “trying to have some kind of dialogue to see if we can bring these things together so that we can operate more efficiently.”