Bill Hullander took over last week as the new Hamilton County trustee as a monthslong federal investigation into the operations of the office continues.
Hullander said he hasn't heard anything new about the investigation but said he hopes to meet with federal officials sometime this month.
Meanwhile, seven years' worth of audits also contain observations and critiques about the way former Trustee Carl Levi ran the office. Levi said all of the matters discussed in the audits have been cleared up.
"I've slept well every night," he said.
The federal investigation probed whether the office mishandled payments made toward delinquent property taxes by those in Chapter 13 bankruptcy, according to newspaper archives.
The county allegedly failed to give credit for partial payments, meaning the county received more from property owners than it legally was owed. In other cases, property owners in bankruptcy were charged interest penalties for late or unpaid taxes, even though their bankruptcy status should have shielded them from such penalties.
Roger Dickson, the attorney for the trustee's office, said the U.S. bankruptcy trustee still is interviewing county employees about the case.
"I don't think [Hullander taking over] really has any effect on the investigation," Dickson said. "The Hamilton County Trustee's Office has gone to great effort to comply."
Levi disputes that the federal bankruptcy trustee's probe is "an investigation."
"That was a difference of opinion," he said. "We did everything we were asked to do. The staff is still bending over backwards to satisfy the federal trustee."
U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee Bill Sonnenburg did not return calls seeking comment.
Hullander also said he hasn't yet read audit reports covering the last eight years of Levi's tenure. Among some of the findings:
n According to a 2008 audit provided by the county auditor's office, the trustee did not properly distribute the county's 2007 tax collections, which caused a $680,772 overpayment to the county's general purpose school fund. The trustee's office called it a "unique event," caused by a typo. It was reported immediately, according to the audit.
n In 2004, the audit report found the county's delinquent-tax attorney did not use a competitive bidding process when he hired people to serve as process servers.
The audit found the majority of these process servers were "either related to or associated with current employees of the Clerk and Master's office, which may create an appearance of impropriety, nepotism and/or favoritism."
The trustee disputed this claim, and the initial response was to ask the Hamilton County Commission to add process servers to the list of professional services exempt from bid rules.
Terry McGhehey, the county's former back tax attorney, said the county solved the problem by giving these duties to the Sheriff's Office.
Hullander already has replaced several top-level employees in the office with new faces.
He replaced McGhehey with a full-time tax attorney, James Davey. He's also hired Lisa Brown for the finance department and Marlie Jones to work at the counter. Lori Pendley will assist the attorney with bankruptcy cases, Hullander said.
He's also trying to follow through on campaign promises, allowing people to make partial payments and to get their receipts through the mail or through e-mail.
"Everything we've done so far has been very simple," Hullander said. "The staff has adapted real well."
Online: Read previous stories. Follow Dan Whisenhunt on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DWhisenhunt