GALION—Brian Satterfield, newly elected Galion City Auditor, has only been officially on the job a few days but has been working for weeks before he took office to learn the position and clean up the books that were left unreconciled since July.

The city employs two clerks. One handles accounts payable, and one handles accounts receivable. The accounts receivable clerk took another job, and a new clerk was transferred into the position in July. However, that clerk needed training, and as a result, the city is working to reconcile those months from July-September 2021.

According to Satterfield, the biggest issue was that no one knew how to do the reconciliations. He, along with both clerks, took somewhat of a crash course with the help of the State Auditor and the Crawford County Offices. More training is coming from the State Auditor. Satterfield also reached out to the city’s software providers for assistance.

When the clerk resigned, according to Satterfield, everything came to a screeching halt. At that time, the former auditor Gail Baldinger was responsible.

Satterfield was quick to note that no payments were missed, bills were paid, tax payments were received, and appropriate taxes withheld. It is basically a paperwork backlog. The city is in no danger of sanctions and is working with the State to train and cross-train both Satterfield and the clerks, so that city functions are not in danger of interruption again.

Going into 2022, the books will be reconciled, and as the office progresses through the year, the I reconciled books will be corrected.

Crawford County Now will continue to follow developments.