Jasper Circuit Court Judge John Potter on Thursday ordered that Linda Belork be reinstated immediately to her position as Starke County Treasurer. According to the order, Belork was wrongfully removed from office after alleged discrepancies were found in the treasurer’s accounts. The judge found that it was an accounting error of the auditor.
Belork is expected to be in the Starke County Treasurer’s office when the doors open this morning at 8 a.m. in the Starke County Annex Building. The Starke County Commissioners said that Kasey Clark, who was sworn in as the interim treasurer when Belork was removed from office, will fill a temporary county position until Jan. 1. She is the only candidate on the General Election ballot for Starke County Treasurer so she will resume her duties in January.
Any further settlement issues between the commissioners and Belork will need to be done in remediation and if the issues cannot be resolved, the parties will meet again in Jasper Circuit Court to resolve them.
Starke County Commissioner Kathy Norem stated, “We are disappointed that the outcome of this case did not meet our expectations. We hold each office holder accountable for the responsibilities of their office. In this case, we felt that our actions were warranted because these responsibilities were not being effectively met causing an intolerable lack of service for the tax payers of Starke County. We will continue to hold all office holders to this standard of service and move forward in the management of operations for Starke County.”
