Clallam County to establish separate impressed account for Community Development electronic payments

Clallam County staff told the Board of Commissioners on March 17 they will establish a separate impressed bank account for the Department of Community Development (DCD) to receive credit-card and eCheck transactions from a new Tyler payments merchant ID.

County staff said the change is intended to separate DCD's electronic receipts from other departments' deposits so reconciliations are clearer and errors tied to mixed deposits are easier to diagnose.

Why it matters: Commissioners and the county auditor's office said clearer segregation of electronic receipts will improve internal controls and make it easier to confirm that the county's new payment portal is producing correct accounting outputs before the Tyler configuration is fully complete.

Donella Clark, who identified herself as a DCD supervisor, told commissioners the new impressed account will receive only electronic payments routed through a dedicated Tyler merchant ID and that cash and in-person payments will continue to be handled under current treasurer procedures. "In Tyler ... each individual staff member has their own name and account. So when cash is accepted, it goes — they put it in the computer as themselves, and then it goes to our fiscal specialist at the end of the day to be reconciled," Clark said.

County staff described the practical problem that prompted the change: a single lump-sum deposit can contain card receipts for multiple departments and card types (different card processors, eChecks), and the deposit slips arrive as an undivided batch. The separate merchant ID and dedicated impressed account would allow DCD payments to be deposited, reconciled and tracked independently.

Mark, representing the State Auditor's Office, and other staff pressed for explicit internal-control steps before the account goes live. Mark said he wants the new account's operating procedures and departmental cash-handling policies to be developed and implemented at the same time as the account to avoid sequencing risks: "I would like to see those both move forward at the same time and not sequentially." County staff said they are drafting DCD-specific policies to mirror the county's generic cash-handling rules and will coordinate with the auditor's office and the treasurer.

Commissioners and staff identified operational details that must be clarified before full implementation: who will reconcile the new DCD impressed account (staff said Laurie Kennedy, fiscal specialist, will perform reconciliation guidance with Bruce); whether the account will receive only electronic merchant deposits (staff said yes); and how and when funds will be transferred to the treasurer's main operating account (staff said transfers will be performed through the county's online banking system, mirroring the Parks account practice). Staff said the impressed account will use electronic transfers; physical cash accepted at DCD will continue to be placed in a locked box, reconciled by fiscal staff and remitted to the treasurer.

County staff cautioned that Tyler vendor work (creating separate merchant IDs) may take longer than internal policy drafting. Commissioners asked staff to run a follow-up review of the DCD cash-till procedures and dual-control arrangements for physical cash that is currently collected at DCD counters.

Outcome and next steps: The board agreed to move forward with a resolution to establish the DCD impressed bank account and to return with finalized policy and operational procedures. County staff said they will place the resolution on the agenda for formal action one week from the meeting.