YORKTOWN, Ind. -- The Indiana Attorney General’s office plans to appeal a judge’s decision that allowed a small town clerk to keep her job.
As Call 6 Investigates reported, a Delaware County judge ruled August 1 Yorktown Clerk-Treasurer Beth Neff can stay in her elected position, despite prosecutor efforts to oust her from the job.
Deputy Attorney General Patricia McMath filed the notice with the Indiana Court of Appeals on August 29.
Delaware County Judge Marianne Vorhees ruled in Neff’s favor saying the clerk “is making mistakes”, but those mistakes are not enough to remove her from office.
The state’s lawsuit alleged Neff has refused, on numerous occasions, to perform her duties as clerk-treasurer including balancing the town’s financial books.
Prosecutors argued Neff also failed to follow the direction of the Indiana State Board of Accounts and, despite being cited in audits, continued to post errors to town financial accounts and records.
PREVIOUS | CALL 6: Yorktown clerk could soon be ousted from office
Monthly water and sewer bond interest transfers have not been recorded in a timely manner, which amounted to $127,472.35 in errors to date that have not been corrected on the town’s records, according to the lawsuit.
The Town of Yorktown has had to hire an independent firm to pay almost $70,000 to do the work Neff was elected to do, prosecutors said.
Neff has been in office since 2007, records show.
Neff's attorney released a statement following the judge’s decision:
“We are pleased to receive this decision from the Court,” said Jeff Heinzmann of Heinzmann Law Office, who represented Neff in the proceedings. “The Court rightly applied Indiana precedents which hold that impeachment is reserved for only the most extreme and extraordinary occasions. It is our hope that
Ms. Neff and the Yorktown Town Council, all chosen by the voters, will now move forward
