Dear Editor,

After the recent public notice that our county treasurer’s property is being sold by the banks, I feel that more needs to be said. Our county treasurer has failed us in many aspects from his job performance to his own personal financial business which has affected this county. [I found] out first-hand of his financial situation when someone showed up at my door to change the locks.

To my understanding, Steve sent out a company to change the locks so a realtor could show the house as needed. Come to find out there was an error in the records at the courthouse. The tax records showed my address with his name as owner. Wow, what a shock! We had to go through quite a few steps to correct this situation. Due to his personal financial situation, I was caught up in a stressful situation and had to verify the ownership of my residence.

When I spoke to Steve about making a monthly payment plan to catch up on my property taxes he said, “no”. I also discovered in all of this, that our own county treasurer has over $100,000 in delinquent property taxes, he has put himself on two payment plans and has not been charged penalties or interest to some of [these] delinquent properties.

I understand that people do come upon hard times, but why has this been allowed to go so far? Has he used his position for self gain? I for one will say yes he has. The residents of Gallia County need to wake up to the facts. He has used his name long enough to ride the gravy train, and it is time to stop and elect him out of office. I feel that if you support an incumbent candidate in an election, you are saying that he has done a good job for our county and our residents. I, for one, will not say that in this election. I, for one, am glad we have a choice in this election, and we have a candidate working hard to win this election and willing to work with the residents of our county to make monthly payment plans on property taxes for those who struggle daily with finances. I, for one, will vote for Pam Riley to be our next county treasurer, and I hope you will join me, because it time for a change.

James and Joann Adkins

Bidwell, Ohio