The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors appointed County Manager Jesus Valdez to be the interim County Treasurer at a special board meeting held on Thursday. Former County Treasurer Liz Gutfahr had resigned on April 12, after the County had notified her that she was to be suspended while an investigation into possible “irregular bank transfers” was conducted.
On April 3, the County had been alerted by JP Morgan Chase that there was evidence of suspicious transactions in the county’s accounts. “April 3rd was not a good day for us,” commented Board of Supervisor Chairman Manny Ruiz at the Thursday meeting. The bank was prepared to freeze all the county’s accounts, but agreed to keep them open if the signatories on the accounts were changed. County Manager Valdez and Supervisor Ruiz are now the signatories on the accounts.
The County then reached out to the FBI and the Auditor General’s office, and also hired a forensic auditor to look into the matter.
On April 16, the FBI notified the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department that they would be executing a search warrant on property owned by Gutfahr in Tumacacori. No arrests were made at this time.
Valdez will be acting as interim treasurer for the next two weeks or so until the Board appoints a temporary treasurer to serve until the general election in November.
The Santa Cruz County Treasurer is the fiscal custodian of the county, according to the county website. The duties of the Treasurer’s Office include receipt, management and distribution of public funds, cash flow projections, disbursements of cash, warrants and oversees county bank accounts.
The Board is accepting letters of interest from individuals who would like to be considered as candidates for the treasurer’s job. The applicant must be a Democrat (Gutfahr is a registered Democrat and her replacement must be affiliated with the same political party), over 18 years of age, a resident of Santa Cruz County, must be bonded, and not carrying major debt.
The deadline for letters of interest and resumes, which must be hand delivered to the office of Alma Schulz, Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, at the County building in Nogales, is April 26. After interviewing the candidates, the Supervisors will announce the appointment of the temporary treasurer at their May 7 meeting. “Given what has happened, we’re going to have to be very cautious,” Ruiz said at Thursday’s meeting.
Gutfahr, who has served as County Treasurer for the past 12 years, was running unopposed for re-election this year. Candidates interested in being put on the July 30 primary ballot will have to file paperwork with the Recorder’s office by June 20 to be considered as a write-in candidate. To be added to the ballot for the general elections in November, a candidate filing as a Democrat would have to get approximately 245 write-in votes. To be on the ballot as a Republican, the candidate would have to get approximately 190 write-in votes. If multiple candidates receive enough votes in the primary, the one with the most write-in votes in each party would move on to the general election.