Ector County officials didn’t waste any time in naming a new county auditor after Randy Donner resigned Monday from the post.
With budget beginning in a week. Ector County Judge Dustin Fawcett said it was critical to get someone in place quickly and that Ellen Friar will join Ector County Monday on a part-time basis until she retires in several months from Ward County.
Friar is currently the Ward County auditor and has also worked with Reeves and Loving County.
Fawcett on Friday said an outside agency is still investigating possible financial irregularities. Donner had been auditor for four years and with Ector County for 16 years.
Fawcett said he is still unable to discuss what the financial irregularities are and added that it likely goes back a number of years. Fawcett took office as county judge in January of this year.
He said Ector County is lucky to get Friar and that she will help guide them through the budget in coming weeks. He said he and Friar will head to Andrews on Monday for a crash course on how the software Ector County uses for budgeting works.
“Her decades of experience will help us,” Fawcett said.
County auditors are appointed by district judges and Fawcett said district judges appointed her Friday morning. She will be paid hourly the same rate that Donner was making, he said.
