County employee background checks proposed

COEUR d'ALENE — Steve Matheson wants to add a layer of protection for taxpayer funds.

The Kootenai County treasurer has spearheaded a proposed ordinance allowing county elected officials to perform optional criminal background checks on current and future employees who are entrusted with handling taxpayer dollars.

"My job as treasurer is to make sure taxpayer money is safe and sound," he said. "It makes sense to have criminal background checks on employees who handle in some cases millions of dollars.

"In the Treasurer's Office alone, about $800 million will flow through during my four-year term. This is my attempt to create a little improvement in the environment where we handle taxpayer money."

The proposal was supported and gained momentum during a board of commissioners meeting Wednesday. It is expected to be adopted in the near future.

The county won't have to reinvent the wheel on developing a background check system as the sheriff's office already uses a fingerprinting system on its employees. The prosecutor's office, which also already performs criminal background checks on its employees, also has a system to handle the records in a secure location.

"We want to piggyback on the infrastructure that we have," Matheson said.

Both Sheriff Ben Wolfinger and Prosecutor Barry McHugh agreed to assist other departments with the background check process should those elected officials decide to have the checks performed.

McHugh told commissioners he may be required to request funding for the program if it stretches existing resources in his department.

Commissioner Dan Green said after the program begins with existing employees, the staff time needed should be less for future and new employees.

Commissioners are expected to approve an ordinance after it is reviewed by Idaho State Police and the FBI. The county would submit employee fingerprints to ISP, which would then forward them to the FBI.

Matheson said there are 199 employees countywide who handle taxpayer dollars and are not subject to background check screening. He doesn't have the authority to mandate elected officials of other departments to perform the checks, but at a cost of $25 for each criminal background check the total would be $4,975.

"I have to be cognizant that I can't demand this from the other elected officials to implement what I plan on doing," he said. "All I can do is offer it as a suggestion."

The largest cost of the check program would be up front with existing employees, Matheson said.

Commissioners last year approved funding for the program, but it hasn't gotten off the ground due to the logistics.

Matheson said he has received anonymous criticism for contemplating criminal background checks for employees.

"I'm not sure why; it confuses me," he said.

Matheson said he'll have the six employees of his office be the first to be checked to work out any bugs in the system before other departments follow suit if they choose to do so. He said he's not aware of any other counties that have such a countywide ordinance that Kootenai is proposing.

County employees having access to criminal records information are already required by statute to have a background check. Those departments include: the sheriff's office, prosecutor's office, adult misdemeanor and vuvenile probation offices, Office of Emergency Management and building and grounds.

This area has not been immune to government employees stealing taxpayer funds in recent years.

Former Athol City Clerk Sally Hansen was sentenced last year to four years in prison for embezzling $417,879 from that city.

Sheryl Lynn Carroll, a former city of Coeur d'Alene finance employee, was sentenced in 2013 to more than three years in prison for stealing $365,000. Carroll had also been convicted in 1983 in Oregon for stealing from the real estate company for which she worked.

Former Kootenai County Chief Deputy Clerk Sandra Martinson received 90 days of jail in 2011 for stealing nearly $140,000 in county funds.

While Matheson said he is aware of those cases and they are local examples of public employees who have snatched taxpayer funds, they weren't the main driving force behind his quest for background checks.

"I've worked in finance, so it didn't take those recent examples in Kootenai County to draw my conclusion," he said.

County Clerk Jim Brannon said he supports the proposed background check ordinance. He said he was checked as a former investment broker, and he's handling more money as clerk than he did with an investment firm.

"We need to know that the people who are handling the money are squeaky clean," Brannon said.

Matheson said criminal background checks have been a priority of his since he took office in January 2015. Four months after he took office, he requested commissioner approval for the funding.

Matheson said he has heard other taxing agencies use third-party services for background checks, but he sees a flaw with that system because it is name-based and not fingerprint-based.

"The only way to ensure the identity of people working for me is to do it by fingerprinting," he said.