By JOHN THOMPSON
Coweta Editor

After two weeks of hearing complains about her office, Coweta County Clerk of Superior Court Joan Griffies is fighting back.

Griffies has asked her attorney, Mike Kam, to file a writ of mandamus in Superior Court to ask the county to pay for the bottled water she has been providing her employees.

Griffies' legal action is the latest in a series of skirmishes between the county and Griffies and the clerk is tired of the county's interfering in running her office.

"This will not become a department. They approved a budget and I have a miscellaneous item. This is called micro-management," Griffies said.

Griffies' legal maneuver comes after the county threatened her with a writ of mandamus for not turning over funds to the county. In a recent audit, the county determined the clerk's office owed nearly $600,000 to the county. Griffies remitted the funds, but said she had talked to the auditor and has done nothing wrong.

"I've proved this audit was incorrect," she said.

Earlier this year, Griffies asked the county to provide bottled water at the courthouse after discovering high levels of copper in the water. The clerk had already contracted with a water company and was upset when the county refused to pay the $369 bill.

Kam said Griffies is a constitutional officer and the county is interfering in running her office. He said the county can only set her budget and not approve or deny every line item.

"If she wants to buy purple erasers, she can," Kam said.

Kam expects the case to be heard by Judge William Lee in September and said this situation could have been settled a lot easier.

"I told the county I'd withdraw my legal fees if they paid the water bill, but they refused," he said.

Griffies says she is tired of the county's usurping the authority of her office and sees the whole situation as ludicrous.

"I'm tired of listening to the rantings of five gentlemen. They owe me an apology," she said.

She said she has the department running fairly smoothly and has been busy cleaning up the mess left by the previous clerk. The constant confrontations with the county are taking up valuable time that she could be using to further improve her department, she adds.

"I just wish they'd let me run my business."