Board rejects stiffer treasurer qualifications

It appears Calaveras County Treasurer-Tax Collector Lynette Norfolk won’t even get half a birthday present.   

After three appearances before the Board of Supervisors, during which members both invoked the founding fathers and called each other “immature,” the effort she launched on her birthday to impose eligibility and continuing education requirements for the office she’s held since 1998 ended Tuesday in stalemate.
 

Despite her hopes, future aspirants to her office will need only a California Driver’s License, after the board voted 2-2 on half her wish — establishing continuing education requirements — resulting in no action. Supervisor Russ Thomas was absent due to a board-approved trip to Washington, D.C.

The issue first came before the board more than a month ago.

On Sept. 22, Norfolk’s birthday, the 62-year-old came to the Board of Supervisors to ask for the requirements to be imposed as a “birthday present to myself.”

The requirements are laid out in a little over a page of text in the state Government Code, but adopting them is optional, according to a County Counsel opinion.

Under them, candidates are required to have either a degree in a finance-related field, served three or more years in a similar position with a public agency, or be certified as an accountant, financial analyst or cash manager.

“It is something I have always wanted to do for the office,” Norfolk, who was elected more than a decade ago, told the board, almost innocently, in her presentation.

Then came the reactions.

“I’m very leery of putting conditions on what the voters can vote on,” said Supervisor Tom Tryon.

“We’re more interested in whether the person is honest, not how many degrees they have,” added Al Segalla, president of the Calaveras County Taxpayers Association.

“I can’t believe this is even in front of the board. I’m appalled at it,” said Valley Springs resident and frequent board attendee Clyde Clapp.

It was a harsh reception for a set of requirements that, according to Norfolk, most counties in the state have adopted.

Not to mention sensible requirements, in her view, for a county that has a $150 million portfolio and handles over 44,000 tax bills each year.

But Norfolk, who has worked for the county since 1973, was realistic about her poor birthday reception.

“Whenever you go to the board you’re never sure what will come up,” she said after the first discussion.

Tuesday’s final hearing was no exception.  

“I will not be voting for this. I think it’s immature,” Supervisor Merita Callaway told her fellow board members. “I think it is ludicrous that we are doing this.”

Then County Counsel Jim Jones informed the board that the requirements, even if instituted, did not define any penalty for noncompliance.

Norfolk, who at a previous meeting had expressed her opposition to separating the eligibility and continuing education requirements, again was circumspect.

“I’ve kept up my education requirements during the past 11 years I’ve been in office even though it’s not a requirement,” she said. “And I would expect anyone else in this office to do the same — because it’s prudent.”