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County revenue commissioner Williams-Smith resigns
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Judge Greg Nicholas swears in Barry Willingham as Cullman County revenue commissioner Friday morning in the Cullman County Courthouse. Gov. Bob Riley appointed Willingham to the position Thursday after former revenue commissioner Kay D. Williams-Smith resigned due to health problems. Willingham defeated Williams-Smith in the general election last year and was scheduled to take over the position on Oct. 1. Patrick McCreless
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Add a comment on this storyBy Patrick McCreless
STAFF WRITER
The Cullman County revenue commissioner officially resigned from office Thursday due to health problems.
Gov. Bob Riley approved Revenue Commissioner Kay D. Williams-Smith’s resignation and her request for placement on the county’s medical disability plan while in Montgomery Thursday. He also appointed Barry Willingham to take over her unexpired term.
Willingham (Rep.) soundly defeated Williams-Smith (Dem.) in the election for revenue commissioner last year with 56 percent of the vote and was scheduled to officially take over the position on Oct. 1.
“I feel pretty comfortable with it,” Willingham said of taking the position over early.
Cullman County Commission Chairman James Graves would not comment on the nature of Williams-Smith’s medical problems, but said she started the process of resigning and getting on disability in January.
“She had to have three doctors’ certifications to confirm she had a medical disability,” Graves said. “Our county attorney, Dan Willingham, reviewed it and said it was satisfactory.”
With Williams-Smith now on official disability, Graves said the county is required to pay her $49,600 a year for the rest of her life.
“You had to have a minimum of 18 years of service to get that,” Graves said.
Williams-Smith worked in the revenue commission office for 31 years, 24 of which were as revenue commissioner.
“I wish her well,” Willingham said. “She did a good job while she was there.”
Repeated attempts to reach Williams-Smith for this article were unsuccessful.
During her time in service, there were many changes made to the revenue commission office, Graves said.
“They went from an antiquated system to a sophisticated system,” he said.
In addition to pursuing many technological upgrades for her office, Williams-Smith opened two satellite offices in Baileyton and Dodge City as a convenience for residents.
Williams-Smith’s administration was struck by controversy last year when she decided, without notification, to close both satellite offices just hours after she was voted out of office. In a previous article, Williams-Smith said the satellite office closings were for restructuring purposes and had nothing to do with the election.
During that time, she also ordered revenue commission employees not to accept checks for payment, under the false belief that the state would hold her personally responsible for all bad checks.
The changes were reversed a few days later.
Willingham said residents could expect the revenue commission office as well as the two satellite offices to open late on Friday due to the switch.
“We have to empty the tills and start fresh,” Willingham said. “The state auditors said it’s best to have all the money counted.”
He added that Internet payments to the revenue commission office would likely be unavailable for a few days.
“It’ll be a little bit of a bump in the road,” Willingham said. “But these are the same hiccups we would have had we taken over on Oct. 1.”
‰ Patrick McCreless can be reached by e-mail at patrickm@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 270.
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