WINTERSET, Iowa – A Madison County Board of Supervisors meeting grew contentious on Tuesday morning after supervisors disagreed on an agenda resolution.

“Let’s move on,” said Sheriff Jason Barnes to the board. “Let’s move on right now.”

Sheriff Barnes was standing in the back of a packed meeting room behind dozens of residents who showed up to attend. The room, located on the lower floor of the Madison County Annex, had reached its maximum occupancy of 49 people and had only standing room available.

The meeting started with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance but began to grow contentious during public comments when the work Auditor Teri Kaczinski has been doing was questioned.

“She’s not even there. She leaves every day at 2:30 to pick up her kids,” said Mike Fletcher as he addressed Supervisor Heather Stancil, the board’s Chairman.

His comments drew some pushback.

“Mike, if you have an issue with the auditor, please address it with the auditor,” she responded.

Fletcher is a City Council member for the City of Winterset. However, he stated during his public comments that he was making the remarks as a private citizen, not as an elected official.

“Mike, you are a city councilman. You do not know what goes on in county business,” Supervisor Stancil said. “I suggest if you want to do county business, run for Supervisor.”

The back and forth continued until a resident who had joined the meeting by phone interrupted to complain about the unorthodox nature of the public comment session.

Public speakers are allotted three minutes to address the board. Supervisor Stancil then provided Fletcher an extra minute to speak since she had engaged him.

However, the major source of discord came a short time later after a vote to approve the hiring of a new, part-time Second Deputy for Auditor Kaczinski’s office.

The woman at the center of it, Leslie Beck, is Auditor Kaczinski’s former campaign manager. Beck also recently created a ‘GiveSendGo’ fundraiser for Supervisor Stancil and her husband to help cover his medical bills after a lengthy hospital stay. According to the crowdsourcing fundraiser, Supervisor Stancil’s husband has been battling a life-threatening condition since last year.

In addition, there have been multiple efforts over the past several months to employ Beck, including twice as an employee of Auditor Kaczinski’s office and a third time as an employee of a third-party consulting agency hired by Auditor Kaczinski in late January, called the RMG (Robert Morris Group). RMG charged the county $250 an hour for “consulting services,” according to documents obtained by WHO 13.

Each previous attempt to hire Beck was met with public scrutiny.

Some Madison County residents feel Beck’s potential hiring would be a conflict of interest. Meanwhile, supporters of the move point out that the job opening was posted and opened to public applicants recently. During the meeting, Supervisor Stancil said that Auditor Kaczinski could not disclose how many people were interviewed for the position.

Supervisor Stancil recused herself from the vote on Beck’s employment due to the financial fundraiser. Supervisor Diane Fitch and Supervisor Jessica Hobbs were left without anyone to be the tie-breaker. Supervisor Fitch voted “Nay,” and cited a lack of transparency as one of her reasons. Supervisor Hobbs voted “Yay” and pointed out that Beck cannot be discriminated against due to political affiliation.

Madison County Attorney Stephen Swanson told WHO 13 that a conflict of interest connected to the hiring of Beck at the Auditor’s office was not a concern, and added that he had helped Beck coordinate with the Ethics Board before she created the online fundraiser.

The tie vote meant the resolution did not pass and Beck’s hire was not approved. Supervisor Stancil immediately voiced her agitation.

“I am very disappointed,” she said.

Supervisor Stancil lamented about not being able to vote due to her personal information coming to light regarding the fundraiser. Her angst was directed at Supervisor Fitch. Supervisor Stancil attempted to pressure Supervisor Fitch into discussing the reason behind her vote.

“Diane, the only time I have to talk to you about this stuff is now in a meeting. Are you saying you don’t want to talk to me about it?” said Supervisor Stancil. “My concern is because every other time an election official has come before us, we’ve approved them. Every single one.”

Her comments continued, much to the chagrin of some people in the public gallery.

“For the first time in four years I’ve been here, you vote against someone and you vote against her. I don’t understand that,” she continued. “It seems to me that you are intentionally sabotaging this particular political office because your preferred political candidate did not win.”

That statement prompted an outcry from some in attendance.

“You are so out of order!” yelled one woman.

“I’m done. Just stop!” eventually replied Supervisor Fitch to Heather Stancil.

Members of the public began to stand up in their seats. Several of them yelled toward the board. That is when Supervisor Stancil called on the Sheriff to step in and he directed the board to move on to the next item on their agenda immediately.

The meeting then continued without incident.

The Madison County government has been struggling to find peace after the January arrest of its Treasurer, Amanda DeVos, 37, for fraud and other charges.

That development uncovered months of alleged money mismanagement and began to stir up distrust amongst residents. WHO 13 has been reporting on the county’s public meetings for several months, which have often included scathing public comments aimed at elected leaders.

Supervisor Hobbs spoke to WHO 13’s Katie Kaplan after the meeting. She claims much of the tension is due to public misinformation.

“This meeting was not in order. And I’m hoping that we can make some changes in the future so we can have better decorum and more professional conduct,” she said. “That is my hope. And all that I can do to control that is to continue to try to work hard to serve the citizens as I’ve committed to doing and continue to try to bring the facts to light and reality somewhat to counter some of the lies and misinformation that are being shared.”

Hobbs said the misinformation pertains to several topics.

Supervisor Stancil declined to be interviewed with WHO 13 after the meeting, accusing the station of “misquoting” her in a previous interview following a board meeting in early February when she stated on camera that she did not know about any issues regarding the Treasurer’s office. She claimed on Tuesday that she meant “criminal” issues.

WHO 13 attempted to reach Auditor Kaczinski for comment. She had already left her office for the day when the reporter stopped by at noon on Tuesday, according to County Attorney Swanson. A phone call later in the day was not immediately returned.