Chapter 2.10
CLERK-TREASURER Revised 1/22

Sections:

2.10.010    Residency requirement.

2.10.020    Election – Term of office.

2.10.030    Powers and duties.

2.10.040    Deputies and employees of the clerk-treasurer.

2.10.050    Office space for the clerk-treasurer. Revised 1/22

2.10.060    Clerk-treasurer petty cash fund.

2.10.070    Clerk-treasurer cash change fund.

2.10.010 Residency requirement.

The clerk-treasurer must reside within the town as provided in Indiana Constitution Article 6, Section 6. The clerk-treasurer forfeits office if the clerk-treasurer ceases to be a resident of the town. (IC 36-5-6-3(a)) [Code 2000 § 33.15].

2.10.020 Election – Term of office.

(A) Election. The clerk-treasurer shall be elected under IC 3-10-6 or 3-10-7 by the voters of the whole town. (IC 36-5-6-4)

(B) Term of Office. Except as provided in IC 36-5-6-3(c) or (d), the term of office of the clerk-treasurer is four years, beginning at noon on January 1st after election and continuing until a successor is elected and qualified. (IC 36-5-6-3(b)) [Code 2000 § 33.16].

2.10.030 Powers and duties.

(A) The clerk-treasurer is both the town clerk and the town fiscal officer. (IC 36-5-6-2)

(B) The clerk-treasurer may administer oaths, take depositions, and take acknowledgments of instruments required by statute to be acknowledged. (IC 36-5-6-5)

(C) The clerk-treasurer shall do the following:

(1) Receive and care for all town money and pay the money out only on order of the town council.

(2) Keep accounts showing when and from what sources the clerk-treasurer has received town money and when and to whom the clerk-treasurer has paid out town money.

(3) Prescribe payroll and account forms for all town offices.

(4) Prescribe the manner in which creditors, officers, and employees shall be paid.

(5) Manage the finances and accounts of the town and make investments of town money.

(6) Prepare for the town council the budget estimates of miscellaneous revenue, financial statements, and the proposed tax rate.

(7) Maintain custody of the town seal and the records of the town council.

(8) Issue all licenses authorized by statute and collect the fees fixed by ordinance.

(9) Serve as clerk of the town council by attending its meetings and recording its proceedings.

(10) Administer oaths, take depositions, and take acknowledgment of instruments that are required by statute to be acknowledged, without charging a fee.

(11) Serve as clerk of the town court under IC 33-10.1-6-2, if the judge of the court does not serve as clerk of the court or appoint a clerk of the court under IC 33-10.1-6-1.1.

(12) Perform all other duties prescribed by statute. (IC 36-5-6-6) [Code 2000 § 33.17].

2.10.040 Deputies and employees of the clerk-treasurer.

(A) The clerk-treasurer shall appoint the number of deputies and employees needed for the effective operation of the office, with the approval of the town council. The clerk-treasurer’s deputies and employees serve at the clerk-treasurer’s pleasure.

(B) If the town owns a utility and the clerk-treasurer is directly responsible for the billing and collection of that utility’s rates and charges, the clerk-treasurer shall appoint those employees who are also responsible for that billing and collection. These employees serve at the clerk-treasurer’s pleasure. (IC 36-5-6-7)

(C)(1) The clerk-treasurer may hire or contract with competent attorneys or legal research assistants on terms the clerk-treasurer considers appropriate.

(2) Appropriations for the salaries of attorneys and legal research assistants employed under this section shall be approved in the annual budget and must be allocated to the clerk-treasurer for the payment of attorneys’ and legal research assistants’ salaries. (IC 36-5-6-8) [Amended during 2012 recodification. Code 2000 § 33.18].

2.10.050 Office space for the clerk-treasurer. Revised 1/22

(A) If office space exists in a building owned or leased by the town, the town council shall provide suitable office space for the clerk-treasurer and staff and records of the clerk-treasurer, all pursuant to IC 36-5-6-5.1.

(B) The clerk-treasurer shall be authorized to close public access to the building leased or owned by the town that hosts the office of the clerk-treasurer and staff in the following circumstances:

(1) The last working business day of the fiscal year public access for up to half a day may be closed in order to support the ease of year-end tasks;

(2) In the event of exigent circumstances caused by insufficient staffing, public access may be curtailed to cover a reasonable lunch period.

(C) In all cases, the clerk-treasurer shall cause reasonable notice to be provided to the public of the closure. The clerk-treasurer shall also inform the town council president. [Ord. 1763 § 1, 2022].

2.10.060 Clerk-treasurer petty cash fund.

(A) There is hereby authorized, created and established a petty cash fund for use by the office of the clerk-treasurer to be known as clerk-treasurer petty cash fund, pursuant to the provisions of IC 36-1-8 et seq.;

(B) The clerk-treasurer and such employees as the clerk-treasurer may designate are permitted to use it to pay small, emergency or exigent items of operating expense, according to guidelines that the municipal fiscal officer may establish, in order to support the duties outlined in and to carry out the purposes of this chapter:

(1) The clerk-treasurer is permitted to establish a petty change fund in support of this section;

(2) Such a fund must be established by a warrant drawn upon the appropriate fund in favor of the clerk-treasurer, who is the custodian of the fund;

(3) Each expenditure from the petty cash change fund shall be supported by a receipt;

(4) The clerk-treasurer, as custodian of the fund, or his designee, shall periodically file a voucher, with all original receipts totaling the cash claimed expended being attached to it, in support of the reimbursement of expenditures from the fund;

(5) Reimbursement must be approved and allowed at any regular or special meeting of the town council or board of jurisdiction and made in the same manner as is required for other expenditures of the municipality or the office of the clerk-treasurer;

(C) The fund shall be established by a warrant drawn from the proper appropriated or nonappropriated balance of the corporation general fund, as the town council may direct, in the amount of $50.00, in support of the establishment of such a petty change fund:

(1) The establishing warrant, and such successive warrants as shall be necessary to resupply the fund, shall be drawn in favor of the clerk-treasurer who shall convert the warrant to cash;

(2) The clerk-treasurer shall account for it in the same manner as is required of other funds of the town;

(D) The entire petty cash fund authorized and established pursuant to this section shall be returned to the corporation general fund whenever there is a change in the custodian of the fund or whenever the purposes of the fund have substantially changed or the fund is no longer needed. [Ord. 1214 § 5, 2003. Code 2000 § 33.25].

2.10.070 Clerk-treasurer cash change fund.

(A) There is hereby authorized, created and established a cash change fund for use in the office of the clerk-treasurer to be known as the clerk-treasurer cash change fund, pursuant to the provisions of IC 36-1-8 et seq.;

(B) The clerk-treasurer and such employees as the clerk-treasurer may designate are permitted to collect cash revenues at the office of the clerk-treasurer, in order to support the duties outlined in and to carry out the purposes of the various relevant laws of Indiana and ordinances of the town that pertain to the cash change and collection duties of the clerk-treasurer and the office of the clerk-treasurer, including but not limited to the cash change transactions related to building and inspections and the utilities collections:

(1) The clerk-treasurer is permitted to establish a cash change fund in support of this section;

(2) Such a fund must be established by a warrant drawn upon the appropriate fund in favor of the clerk-treasurer, who is the custodian of the fund;

(C) The fund shall be established by a warrant drawn from the proper appropriated or nonappropriated balance of the corporation general fund or such other proper fund, as the town council and/or board of jurisdiction may direct, in the amount of $300.00, in support of the establishment of such a cash change fund:

(1) The establishing warrant, and such successive warrants as shall be necessary to resupply the fund, shall be drawn in favor of the clerk-treasurer who shall convert the warrant to cash;

(2) The clerk-treasurer, and such employees as he may designate, shall use it to make change in the course of performing the duties outlined in and to carry out the purposes of the various relevant laws of Indiana and ordinances of the town that pertain to the cash change and collection duties of the clerk-treasurer and the office of the clerk-treasurer, including but not limited to the cash change transactions related to building and inspections and the utilities collections; and

(3) The clerk-treasurer shall account for it in the same manner as is required of other funds of the town;

(D) The entire cash change fund authorized and established pursuant to this section shall be returned to the corporation general fund or such other proper fund of origin whenever there is a change in the custodian of the fund;

(E) The entire cash change fund authorized and established pursuant to this section shall be returned to the corporation general fund or such other proper fund of the municipality whenever the purposes of the fund have substantially changed or the fund is no longer needed. [Ord. 1214 § 6, 2003. Code 2000 § 33.26].