In latest blow to Hubbard County, auditor-treasurer abruptly resigns

The Hubbard County auditor-treasurer suddenly resigned earlier this month.

Kay Rave, 60, submitted her resignation after nearly 10 years on the job. It’s the latest blow to Hubbard County: In the span of two months, County Attorney Jonathan Frieden, 43, died of cancer; a felony case garnering national attention was lodged against an election judge; and now Rave has resigned in the face of potential termination.

A copy of her one-sentence resignation letter was provided to the Minnesota Star Tribune by County Administrator Jeff Cadwell. It was dated Dec. 11 and effective Dec. 27.

The same day Rave submitted her resignation, she was hand-delivered a letter from Cadwell letting her know that her employment would be terminated if she did not resign. In the termination letter — which is confidential and he inadvertently emailed to the Star Tribune — Cadwell wrote that there was a “pattern of mistakes, errors, and failures” regarding the deliverance of tax statements.

In a phone interview Thursday, Rave said it became increasingly difficult to do the job on top of caring for her aging, ill parents. She said she told Cadwell that being auditor-treasurer was “too much for one person and I didn’t feel I got the support I needed.”

There is little to no documentation of Rave’s abrupt exodus in county meeting minutes or agenda items. At a County Board meeting Dec. 17, Cadwell asked commissioners to appoint him as interim auditor-treasurer. The board approved Cadwell’s appointment for 90 days.

A job posting for the auditor-treasurer position is not yet listed on the county’s website.

Cadwell said at the meeting that the county may consider potential organizational changes that could involve separate positions for an auditor and a treasurer.

Commissioner Tom Krueger said that 60 of the 87 counties in Minnesota use an auditor-treasurer model.

“The reason for that [being] for streamlining and more efficiency. So now you’re saying it was better the other way?” Krueger asked Cadwell in the Dec. 17 meeting.

Cadwell clarified that changes to state statute allow more flexibility in organizing staff, such as Cass County, which has a separate finance office and chief financial officer.

Rave oversaw the county’s finances and elections.

“I found the job responsibilities more than I could handle,” Rave said in the recent interview. “When my mom and dad got sick, I found I could not do it satisfactorily, so I resigned because it was too much, and that’s the truth.”

She said she hopes her replacement receives better support.

Hubbard County drew national attention when Rave reported concerns about election judge Timothy Scouton allowing 11 unregistered voters to cast ballots in the November election.

“This is the first time in my 10 years that anything like this has happened,” she said in a Nov. 20 email to the Star Tribune.

Scouton, 64, of Nevis worked as the head election judge at the Badoura Township precinct. He’s accused of directing poll staff, including his son, to not require unregistered voters to fill out the correct form in order to legally vote. He faces two felony charges: neglect of duty and accepting votes of unregistered voters.

Rave said that once she learned of 11 new voters at the precinct on election night, she asked Scouton for the registration forms, but he told her they did not use them, charges say. She then contacted the County Attorney’s Office, which directed the Sheriff’s Office to investigate.

Cadwell said in a phone interview that Rave’s “resignation and the timing has nothing to do with the case.”

“She showed a great deal of diligence in her responsibility managing elections. The fact that that paperwork wasn’t done and that was reported meant that she was doing her job as the auditor.”

Rave joined the county in 2015. She said Scouton served as an election judge since at least 2016 and that he would not be allowed to serve as an election judge again.

The Secretary of State’s Office previously told the Star Tribune that the situation is unprecedented and the allegations against Scouton are “extremely serious.”

Rave said getting the 11 voters registered “created many more hours of work for me and my team,” in a Nov. 21 email to the Star Tribune.

Asked if that may be the reason Rave missed the recent tax deadline, Cadwell said that “the deliverances of tax notices is statutory. It’s non-negotiable.”