At a Democratic Party caucus held on Saturday in the Nat U. Hill Room of the historic county courthouse, Brianne (Bri) Gregory was selected to serve as Monroe County’s auditor through the end of this year.
The selection of Gregory to fill the auditor’s vacancy was not a surprise. She was the only person to file the paperwork to stand as a candidate in the caucus. Gregory currently serves as the county’s financial director, which is a position that works out of the auditor’s office.
Monroe County Democratic Party chair David Henry presided over Saturday’s event, which started at 1 p.m. The vote was taken by acclamation of the precinct chairs who had gathered to make the selection, after they suspended various rules in light of the fact that Gregory was the only candidate.
It is only precinct chairs who are eligible to vote in a vacancy caucus.
Henry summed up the proceedings after hearing a roomful of ayes in favor, and after hearing no one respond to a call for those who were opposed: “Hearing none, we have a new auditor.”
In her brief remarks to the group, Gregory said that her goals are to lead with transparency, following best practices, supporting employees and providing the best possible service to other departments.
The mention of “supporting employees” drew a question from Perry 19 precinct chair Sarah Bauerle-Danzman, who hoped Gregory would view it just as a chance to help everyone understand better how the office of the auditor works.
Bauerle-Danzman asked about the delay in processing the county’s payroll the previous day, which was payday.
Gregory said that to the best of her knowledge all of the roughly 700 county government employees had received their regular payroll direct deposits by the end of the day on Friday.
Some employees, who had told The B Square early in the day on Friday that they had not received their paycheck deposits by early morning as they usually did, reported by midday that they had received them.
As a cause for the delay, Gregory pointed to the recent turnover in the auditor’s office and the treasurer’s office.
The turnover is connected to the reason for the vacancy caucus. The vacancy in the auditor’s office was caused by the selection of former auditor Cathy Smith as the new county treasurer at a vacancy caucus three weeks ago.
The vacant treasurer’s position was caused by the resignation of Jessica McClellan, who left at the start of the year to accept an appointment from new Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson as city controller. McClellan then hired Adam Watts into the city controller’s office—someone who had worked for McClellan as the county’s banking manager.
Gregory called the payroll glitch a “minor hiccup,” that stemmed from the fact that the county’s bank didn’t receive the county’s funding at the start of payday—which in turn caused a delay in the bank’s transmission of paychecks to county employees’ bank accounts.
By around 10:30 a.m. on Friday, soon after the situation had apparently been cleared up on the county’s end, The B Square reached now treasurer Cathy Smith by phone. Given the staff turnover, Smith told The B Square, the challenge had been to get new people credentialed to authenticate the financial transactions. That’s something that she and the auditor’s office had started days earlier, Smith said.
Credentialled staff in both the treasurer’s office and the auditor’s office are required to assemble the payroll file for transmission to the bank. Smith said that even though Gregory worked in the auditor’s office, Gregory was herself neither auditor nor chief deputy—which means she was not one of the four people who typically have the authorizing credentials. The other two are the treasurer and the chief deputy treasurer.
After the bank checks the file, Smith said, there are two credentialled staff in the treasurer’s office who have to release the file. The county’s bank is First Financial Bank. Smith told The B Square that on Thursday she and Gregory had visited the bank’s downtown Bloomington office to check with the bank’s staff that the payroll was ready to go.
When the direct deposits did not actually land in the accounts of county employees at the time they usually do, Smith said, she and the other county staff started working to sort it out. She said that the bank wound up handling a step manually that is supposed to happen automatically. By 10 am., she said, the bank had begun sending out the deposits—which are handled in batches.
At Saturday’s caucus Gregory fielded a couple of other questions from the precinct chairs.
Bloomington 20 precinct chair Charlotte Zietlow asked what issues Gregory sees in the near term that will demand her attention. Gregory named annexation as a big issue. She also cited the “once-in-generation money” the county received through the federal ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) and the opioid settlement money as important issues. “I am working with county leadership to do the best we can for our community and make those dollars really count,” Gregory said.
Perry 20 precinct chair Shelli Yoder asked about the role of the Indiana Auditors Association and what impact Gregory thinks she could have in conversations about changes in the state’s tax structure. Yoder is also the state senator representing District 40.
Responding to Yoder, Gregory said she plans to get more involved with the association, and will attend its meetings—she already attends the training sessions that the association offers. Gregory hopes to improve communications between the locals and the state association
Bloomington 04 precinct chair Geoff McKim pointed out that Gregory’s selection at the caucus meant she would be serving as auditor through the end of 2024. But to serve longer than that would mean she would have to win the election this year, McKim said.
McKim wanted to know what Gregory’s thoughts were on making sure she does what she needs to do to win the election. The question drew some laughs from the crowd, because she is the only candidate in the Democratic Party’s primary, and no Republicans filed by the deadline.
Gregory told McKim, “I will be campaigning, trying to meet as many people as possible. I’m currently unopposed.” But about her unopposed status Gregory pointed out: “That could change.”
An independent candidate could still submit enough petition signatures to appear on the ballot. And the GOP could eventually still place a candidate on the ballot, after the primary is over.
