Clerk of Courts blasts plan to strip his role

Seminole County Clerk of Courts and Comptroller Grant Maloy is blasting a proposal by county commissioners to strip him of his role in deciding how to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in surplus county funds.

Instead, county commissioners plan to make investment decisions based on the recommendations of a newly created financial adviser position, according to a resolution scheduled to be presented at today’s commission meeting.

“It’s a very bad idea, and it’s a dangerous idea,” said Maloy, who took office Jan. 3 after he was elected last year. “It’s taking away an independent oversight of how the county invests its money. It’s like the fox guarding the hen house.”

But Seminole officials maintain that commissioners have the authority to designate how surplus county funds are invested.

“The board [of county commissioners] makes the decisions on taxes and expenditures,” Deputy County Manager Bruce McMenemy said. “They’re the governing body. So it makes sense that they would make the decisions on financial investments.”

McMenemy added that under the proposed resolution Maloy would continue serving as the county’s comptroller — or the manager of the county’s money — and auditor. But the Clerk of Courts office would no longer direct the “day-to-day” investment decisions of the county’s surplus funds.

“He would still be in full control,” McMenemy said. “But when you’re dealing with this much money, there are all kinds of risks involved. And you need a professional.”

In a Jan. 4 memo to Seminole commissioners, County Attorney Bryant Applegate pointed out that commissioners have “the statutory authority to amend or adopt a new investment policy directing how investments are to be determined and executed by the Clerk as the custodian of all county funds.”

Under state law, counties are required to set up a basic investment policy for their surplus funds. In 1995, Seminole delegated the responsibility of investing those funds per the county’s investment policy to the Clerk of Courts office.

Maryanne Morse was Seminole’s clerk of courts at that time. But last May, county commissioners said they would move toward taking away that financial investment responsibility from the Clerk of Courts after Morse retired after 27