Lawsuit seeks to define roles

CEDAR RAPIDS - Linn County Auditor Joel Miller's dispute with county supervisors went down some esoteric legal avenues Tuesday as the case went to court.

In the first day of a civil trial, officials testified about their views on state law governing county operations along with Linn County's hiring and billing procedures. Judge Paul Miller will rule on the supervisors' 2011 refusal to approve Joel Miller's appointment of a deputy auditor to conduct internal audits of accounts maintained by other county departments.

State code doesn't list that role as a duty of county auditors, but Joel Miller testified that he interprets the law as allowing elected officers broader authority.

“I think it means officers have discretion to conduct business beyond that specified in the code,” he said under cross-examination by Assistant County Attorney Bob Hruska.

Even, Hruska asked, to operate a day care from his office?

“If it's in the best interests of the taxpayer, you could,” Joel Miller replied.

Hruska asked Joel Miller whether that broad authority extended to other elected officials means the county attorney could audit the auditor's office.

“I would try, certainly, to accommodate that,” Joel Miller said, adding that the law allows him to devote county resources to conduct such audits.

“If something's not forbidden by the Iowa State Code, you have the power to do that?” Hruska asked.

“I believe that's the essence of home rule,” the model for local governments in Iowa, Joel Miller said.

Supervisor Linda Langston testified that the board placed no restrictions on Joel Miller's appointments of deputy auditors or their duties, limiting only the number of auditors - three.

“I don't believe we have a lot of say over the individuals they may choose to appoint,” Langston said.

The board's rejection of Miller's attempt to name a fourth deputy auditor to conduct internal audits triggered his lawsuit in February 2011.

The supervisors filed a countersuit claiming that state law gives them the authority to determine the number of deputies who serve under the auditor and other elected officials. The two suits have been combined into a single case.

The trial is scheduled to last three days.