Danielsville council moves forward after arrest of city clerk

Dills, who served as city clerk since 1996, was charged Friday with one count of felony theft after allegedly cutting 70 checks for herself during 2006 and stealing $56,000 in city money. According to Cross, Dills was only supposed to receive 27 checks, including 26 paychecks and one bonus.

The long-time clerk was booked into the Madison County Jail Friday and released on a $55,050 property bond posted by her parents.
Auditors discovered the theft while reviewing the city’s 2006 financial records. And investigators suspect that the amount of stolen money will increase as the city’s records for 2007 and 2008 are reviewed.

“We’ve got to list the checks, amounts, dates and have them typed up for the GBI,” said Cross, motioning to a big box of financial records behind the council table during Monday night’s meeting.

Cross said the council will also need to review city court records, adding that fine money may have been stolen.

“We’ll have to go through the city municipal court and see if there is any money missing,” Cross told the council. “We’ll have to list the date, amount paid in cash and amount deposited,” he said.

Council member Junne Temple said she doesn’t feel confident that the thefts started in 2006.

“How do we know she didn’t do it before (2006)?” asked Temple.

Cross said the city could review old records, too.

“We’ve got 2005 records upstairs,” said Cross. “We can pull them out and check them.”

City attorney Victor Johnson said Dills was bonded, or insured, as a city employee, meaning the city may be able to recover lost funds — up to $500,000 — through its bonding agency.

Cross sent Dills a letter Friday, informing her that she had been suspended for 30 days for “misconduct and inefficiency in performing assigned duties.”

On Monday, the council unanimously agreed to fire Dills, effective immediately.

“I really don’t see that we have much choice,” said councilman Roger Watson. “As bad as I hate it, we don’t have much choice.”

The Danielsville council has long complained that its auditing firm, Hawkins and McNair, out of Winder, has dragged its feet on completing city audits.

Cross said Monday that the auditing firm was not entirely to blame for the delinquent audits.

“It wasn’t all Jerry Hawkins’ fault,” said Cross. “She (Dills) wasn’t getting him the information he needed.”

However, Temple and Watson both said the auditors should have approached the council about problems they had with Dills.
“If he wasn’t getting what he needed, he should have let us know,” said Watson.

The council agreed Monday change auditing firms, approving Vance and Associates to perform its 2007 audit. The group also approved former Madison County human resources director Connie Riley as a temporary city clerk at $10 an hour for 40 hours a week through Dec. 31.