Cass County Auditor Sara Harris submitted her resignation from the position to the Cass County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday.

Harris had been appointed to the position by the Supervisors following the retirement of longtime Auditor Dale Sunderman in February. She was appointed in April and took the Oath of Office to fill the position until the November general election.

The Cass County Republican party held a special nominating convention on August 16th to name a Republican candidate for County Auditor and nominated Kathy Somers of Atlantic. Somers has experience in local government, having served on the Atlantic City Council for 12 years.

The resignation letter that Harris submitted to the Board of Supervisors is listed below.

Dear Cass County Board of Supervisors:

Please accept this letter as official notice of my resignation. My last day will be Monday, September 12.

I would like to thank the board for the opportunity to interview and ultimately obtain the position of auditor over two additional candidates, with Kathy Somers being one of the two. It was an honor to utilize my skills and 24-years of experience in human resources, payroll, accounting and management in the private sector to help transition the county from the decades of service provided by Dale Sunderman seamlessly in terms of service provided to the county. Our office was not closed to the public, other than a mandated audit of election results. Over the past four months I was progressing every day in learning the duties of the Auditor position despite the added pressure of the Treasurer’s office being closed for an extended period due to the exodus of the entire department staff.

It hurts to know that I will not be able to continue to improve and grow within the walls of the courthouse. I had always wanted a position within the courthouse. I remember in grade school I took a tour of the grounds and I thought at that time how it would be such a neat opportunity to represent my family and community in such a role.

Sadly, my fate has been decided for me by the Cass County Republican Central Committee with their organized effort to remove me in a referendum against the board of supervisors when they chose to place party loyalty over process and a full capability of doing the job as an auditor. I do feel that I could have campaigned and won the election but to what end? The toxic environment fueled with unnecessary drama would remain and the party powers that decided to push me out, to no fault of my own, will be more inspired than ever to continue their vendetta against the board and by association, me and my family. I love this town and community, and I would not want to see it further divided by politics. I pray for all involved that peace may come soon.

Sincerely,

Sara Harris