Mary Wilson Loses Clerk's Auditor Job

Mary E. Wilson lost her job Tuesday as director of compliance and internal audits in the Highlands County Clerk of Courts office.

Bob Germaine, sworn in as the new clerk of courts on Tuesday, said he did not reappoint Wilson because he wanted to fill the position with somebody having higher credentials.

Heather Woods, who worked for the clerk's office in the audit department several years ago, was appointed to the position that Wilson held, Germaine announced late Wednesday afternoon.

Germaine said Woods, who now is a senior auditor with Publix supermarkets, is a certified internal auditor, one of the credentials which Germaine said he was looking for and which Wilson didn't hold.

"I did not reappoint her (Wilson) because I'm upgrading that position to a certified internal auditor or a certified public accountant," Germaine said. "I don't know of any counties out there that don't have a CIA or a CPA" as director of the auditing department.

Wilson could not be reached for comment.

With L.E. "Luke" Brooker not running for re-election, Wilson ran as a Democrat for the clerk of court's office and Germaine ran as the Republican. Germaine defeated Wilson for the job by in the November general election by a vote of 24,342 to 17,486.

Germaine said the election race for the clerk's office had nothing to do with his decision to replace Wilson.

"Whether she ran or not, I was not going to keep her in that position," Germaine said. "I felt for a long time that the director of internal audit should be either a certified internal auditor or a certified public accountant."

Germaine said he is announcing other changes in the clerk's office to reduce expenditures by not filling vacancies.

In the past, the director of compliance and internal audit reported directly to the senior director of business services. Bob Jameson retired from that position effective Monday, and was replaced by Jerome Kaszubowski.

As director of auditing, Woods will report directly to Germaine.

"I'm looking to reduce the number of employees so I can save tax dollars," Germaine said. "Our internal audit position is a very important position, they will be reporting directly to me, and I have to have a real good working relationship with all of my directors."

Germaine said he had no complaints about Wilson's performance and that he didn't have a working relationship with her since their positions didn't involve working together.