If you went to a Cullman County Commission meeting this summer, you had a ring-side seat to one of the most heated debates between county leaders in a long time, one that made it all the way to the court system before being settled.

The battle between county commissioners and Revenue Commissioner Kay Smith is the No. 7 story in Cullman in 2005 as selected by the staff of The Cullman Times.

Feeling hemmed in by the County Commission’s refusal to allow her to hire employees for her department, Smith took matters into her own hands in July and filed suit against the commission. The suit, filed in Cullman County Circuit Court, sought a declaration of Smith’s rights under Alabama law to hire adequate personnel in her office. She accused the commission of ignoring her personnel requests while allowing other departments to hire, interfering with the operation of her office and illegally usurping her hiring authority. All three county commissioners, Chairman Wiley Kitchens and associates Doug Williams and Stanley Yarbrough were named in the suit.

“I have done everything humanly possible to work this out with the County Commission over the past approximately six months,” Smith told The Times in July. “We are not asking for employees. We just want to fill positions vacated since Oct. 1.”

Smith’s complaint indicated she needed to hire eight full-time and two part-time employees to full-staff her department to the standards that state law requires.

Commissioners were “shocked” at the length to which Smith went to settle the issue.

“I was a little bit shocked because we’ve been negotiating and talking,” Kitchens told The Times.

At the time the suit was filed, Kitchens said he had the week before informed County Attorney Dan Willingham that Smith could replace the employees she had lost. Smith she had not been told of the plans to fill the positions.

Both Kitchens and Williams expressed regret that the lawsuit would cost the county money that could be used elsewhere.

“It’s sad because this is taking money out of the county funds that could be used for something better,” Kitchens said.

“You’re spending county money on a lawsuit when it all comes out of the same pot,” Williams said. “Spending tax dollars for a lawsuit … I don’t understand the mentality of it,” he said.

The debate went back and forth for more than two months after the suit was filed, going so far as having Kitchens indicate that the commission could request for the Alabama Department of Revenue’s Property Tax division take over Smith’s Reappraisal Department.

State ADOR Director Bill Bass, however, nipped that thought in the bud when he told The Times that the department’s “good reputation” would keep it from being in danger of a takeover.

Kitchens said he never indicated Smith did not do a good job, just that the lawsuit was unnecessary since he was planning to replace the employees she lost.

“She had lost an employee or two and I told Dan to tell her we’re going to replace them. Then less than a week later, I get a lawsuit,” Kitchens said.

“Dan was trying to erase the line in the sand. The line was erased, but Kay dug a ditch.”

Things heated up in early September when Smith’s lawyer Pam Nail accused the commission of “hardball” tactics and restricting access to public records.

“They’re not wanting to negotiate or do anything,” Nail told The Times. She said the commission offered ultimatums, threats of budget cuts and restricted access to funds in Smith’s budget for legal fees.

“They want to try and play hardball, thinking we’re going to walk off and leave Kay,” Nail said. “That’s not going to run us off.”

Birmingham attorney James Rea, who was hired to represent the commission, said that Nail’s comments were “not entirely accurate.” Kitchens added that neither Nail nor any citizen would be denied records when a request is made following proper procedure, which includes a written request.

Nail said she’d never had to fill out a form before her research uncovered information showing the Commission had allegedly violated its own hiring policies.

The debate came to a head in late September when the Commission allowed Smith to hire two tag clerks and a real property appraiser, just days before the busiest month of the year for the department. The approval came during a budget meeting at which Tag and Title Chief Clerk Sharon Graves described the stressful working conditions due to the fact that the department was understaffed.

“I just don’t think (you) understand the severity of it for those girls,” Graves said. “I don’t know what we’re going to do. We don’t even have the personnel to answer phones.”

A week later, the suit was dismissed as the two sides reached an amicable settlement. Smith was allowed to hire five full-time employees and one part-time employee.

“I am very pleased because it’s exactly what I asked for in the beginning,” Smith said in September. On Thursday, she said her department is at full-staff and back to normal.

Calling it the toughest thing she’d had to do, Smith said, “I am truly sorry it had to come to this, but I did the right thing for my employees and for Cullman County.”

“I’m just glad it’s over,” Kitchens said. “I’ll put it to rest and let it go on from here. It’s one of those situations where really nobody wins. I guess the loser is the people.”

Not surprisingly, Smith disagreed.

“The people of Cullman County are the winners,” she said. “My office staff is the winners, too, because they finally got some help.”