Plumas County Treasurer/Tax Collector Julie White has been investing county funds since 2022 without the official authorization to do so. On June 3 she won that authority.
The Plumas County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved White to invest or reinvest the funds of the county and funds of other depositors in the county treasury. Resolution 25- 9021 delegates authority to her for the remainder of 2025.
The treasurer’s office is responsible for the cash management, investment and safekeeping of all funds in the county treasury. It invests county funds and the funds of other agencies through a county investment pool.
White has been requesting investment authority for years. “I think this is the fifth time in three years,” she said. Even so, she has managed the county’s investments for the last three years “for the betterment of the county,” she said.
“Today I am again requesting — slightly begging,” White told the supervisors.
Past controversy
That delay traces back to a long-running controversy over the handling of county investments. In 2023, White hired an attorney to defend herself against a disciplinary letter from the human resources department, then headed by Nancy Selvage. The supervisors repeatedly denied White’s subsequent requests for reimbursement of attorney fees.
Matters came to a head in January 2024. White requested investment authority and reimbursement for legal fees; organizations included in the county investment pool pushed back, citing concerns about White’s handling of the funds.
Criticism focused on White’s system of reporting and returning interest to various entities participating in the county’s investment pool. One of them, Plumas County Tourism, then called Feather River Tourism Association, complained in early 2024 that the treasurer’s office delayed payments, resulting in $30,000-plus in overdue payments.
Feather River College, also a county investment pool participant, experienced delays in receiving an estimated $691,587.54 in interest payments, President Kevin Trutna told the supervisors in January 2024. Eight months later, that resulted in a $34,504 payment to FRC reimbursing the college for fees incurred as a result of White’s management of the investment pool.
White has frequently admitted to mistakes that include delayed interest payments on investments. She has cited inadequate software that does not allow her office to communicate with the auditor and assessor’s offices. At the board’s June 3 meeting, she said several county departments had been struggling in the past over software and inter-department communication.
Today, she said, “there is a much more positive attitude for all of us to move forward.”
Auditor/Controller Martee Nieman urged the supervisors to grant White investment authority. “It’s been several years,” she said. “If you do not <give her that authority>, who are we going to give it to?”
Without granting investment authority to the treasurer, that responsibility falls on the supervisors, said White.
Supervisor Mimi Hall said she appreciated White’s patience. She cited “circular arguments” in the past that delayed giving White investment authority. “It’s time for us to look forward. It doesn’t matter how we got here,” Hall said.
Investment oversight committee
The supervisors’ on-going discussions about investment authority include developing an investment policy and appointing an oversight committee. Trutna urged the supervisors to move forward with both safeguards as recently as February.
Early in the June 3 meeting, White said she hesitated to create an investment policy or work with a committee when she did not have authority to make investments.
The two need to go hand in hand, said Hall. “We’re in a precarious position,” she said. Without giving White the authority to invest the county’s funds, “we are the people — the five us here. We are the default,” said Hall. After the board’s vote on investment authority, White said she was happy to move on.
The supervisors did not take action on directing White to develop a county investment policy, and they left creation of an oversight committee on the table.
In February 2024, White was authorized to purchase treasury management software in a three-year contract with Sympro.
White’s request for $97,000 in attorney fees is still unresolved. The county has hired an outside attorney to work with the county counsel’s office to negotiate a resolution.
