In the annals of Deschutes County governmental missteps, there are far worse things than the Deschutes County Clerk’s Office not using competition to select some vendors and not having contracts in place with some vendors.

But we regret to report that though this problem was revealed in June 2024 by the county’s internal auditor, the problem persists.

“The Office planned to have the recommendation in place by December 2024 but had not completed it at the time of the March 2025 update,” an audit followup says.

Let’s get a few things straight. We are not saying money has gone missing. We are not saying there is necessarily anything wrong with the contractors chosen. And we should say that expenditures do go through the county’s finance department, so it’s not like there are no checks on the spending.

The problem is competitive procurement is required to ensure the county gets a good deal. And contracts are required to help ensure the county is protected from risk.

In fiscal year 2023, the Clerk’s Office paid more than $300,000 to its largest vendors. There was $171,468 for ballot printing, $49,715 for mailing, $40,734 for ballot counting software, $40,244 for envelope printing and $36,398 for the ballot sorter.

“The Clerk’s Office inconsistently complied with the code regarding payments to vendors,” the original audit said. “In some cases, either there was no contract, there was no signature when the amount was above the threshold of $50,000, there was no competitive procurement process, or a combination of the factors applied.”

Deschutes County Steven Dennison told us Wednesday that he would make progress on this matter and takes it seriously. He is managing multiple priorities, such as the May special district election. Deals were in place before he came into office.

“I understand the value and the need of having the contracts in place and believe me I want to have these done and put this to rest,” Dennison said.

We believe Dennison wants to fix this issue. He needs to get it done.