PORT ANGELES — Selinda Barkhuis, a senior planner with the Clallam County Department of Community Development, announced Tuesday she will challenge county Treasurer Judy Scott in this year’s election.
Barkhuis, 48, of Port Angeles — who is also a non-practicing attorney — said she is running in response to the theft of $617,467 from the Treasurer’s Office during Scott’s tenure.
“I think it is just atrocious what’s been going on there,” said Barkhuis.
“I think that Ms. Scott should have picked up on the misappropriation that was going on.”
Scott said she intends to run again for another four-year term in the job, which pays $70,876 a year.
Scott was appointed to the position in January 2005 to finish the term of Ruth Gerdon. She ran unopposed in 2005 and 2006.
None of the announced candidates are officially in the race until the filing period, which will begin Monday and extend until June 11.
Assuming all announced candidates file candidacy papers during the weeklong registration period, the top two vote-getters in the Aug. 17 primary election — regardless of party affiliation or incumbency — will move on to the Nov. 2 general election.
Former Treasurer’s Office cashier Catherine Betts is accused of stealing the funds between Feb. 1, 2004, and May 19, 2009.
Betts is charged with first-degree theft and is scheduled to be tried July 12, although her attorney has indicated that the trial date probably will be postponed.
She allegedly stole the funds by pocketing cash real estate excise tax payments and covered it up by destroying documents and altering a spreadsheet.
A glitch in the office’s software that occasionally skipped a line on a spreadsheet, therefore listing the wrong number of payments made, is believed to have helped the thefts be covered up.
Barkhuis said she believes that the thefts occurred during Scott’s tenure as treasurer because Scott wasn’t scrutinizing the office’s accounting practices closely enough.
“It’s so clear that she’s not competent to do the job,” she said.
While defending her office, Scott said she had no reason to believe any funds were being stolen without redoing the work of her employees.
“To sit down everyday and redo somebody else’s work, you can’t do it,” Scott said.
“In theory, it’s a wonderful thing.”
In addition to the new software, she said the office has made changes to prevent further thefts that include scanning all affidavits, having a second person approve a spreadsheet if an entry is left void due to another glitch, and having people who pay in cash sign a receipt.
Asked why that wasn’t done before, Scott said there was nothing to indicate that the former procedures weren’t working.
In his report on the thefts, released in February, state Auditor’s Office investigator Jim Brittain referred to the procedures in place at the Treasurer’s Office’s when funds were stolen as being lax.
“The county did not monitor this activity, enabling her [Betts] to manipulate transactions and misappropriate funds,” his report said.
Citing her former experience as an attorney and law firm manager, Barkhuis said she has the experience and skills needed to account for all transactions and to ensure that no other thefts occur in the office.
“I’m used to managing people and operations, but as an attorney, I’ve always been involved in handling large amounts of money and having to account to the penny,” she said.
Barkhuis managed her own Port Angeles law office — specializing in family law, dependency law and criminal defense — and a law firm in Phoenix, Ariz.
She said she would restore public confidence in the office and make any “necessary changes” to improve its accounting practices.
Barkhuis said she is used to sifting through “reams” of documents as a lawyer, and ensuring that large amounts of public funds are accounted for wouldn’t be a problem.
Barkhuis is not a certified public accountant.
“I’m not saying that wouldn’t be a good asset,” she said, “but I do think I have the qualifications needed.”
In addition to practicing law in Clallam County from 1995 to 2003, she received a Clallam County Pro Bono Distinguished Service Award in 1996, served as Clallam County Bar Association president in 2001, and authored and published the Family Law Bufwfer’s Manual, according to her news release.
After leaving law, Barkhuis became a part-time Realtor and then the coordinator for the North Olympic Peninsula Lead Entity, which works to restore salmon habitat.
She said her job with the lead entity led to her current job as a county senior planner in 2006.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
