TOLEDO, Ohio - Just days after being sworn into the position, Lindsay Webb is stepping down as Lucas County Treasurer.
WTOL 11 reports Lucas County Commissioners were unable to have Webb bonded because of her credit score. In a statement on Facebook, Webb said that an issue with a private student loan company had lowered her score.
Her full statement is below:
"Shortly after taking the oath of office to be the next Lucas County Treasurer, one of the County Commissioners called me to inform me that the County could not bond me. This came as a huge surprise to me. I was shocked. The reason for this is my personal credit score. I, like many people who struggle to make ends meet, knew I didn’t have stellar credit, but I never thought this would result in being denied a bonding necessary to be the Treasurer of the County.
We live like most people in Northwest Ohio, pay check to pay check, month to month, doing the very best that we can to provide for our family. As the old song goes, life happens when you are making other plans; for us, “life” was things like unemployment, bad furnaces, and broken cars. We always played the hand we were dealt. We paid our bills. But, elected officials are held to a higher standard.
After I received that phone call, I rushed home and pulled up my credit report and found an error that was dragging my already stretched credit, even lower. I immediately filed a dispute with the credit reporting agency and with the private student loan company that was improperly reporting my very last payment as 120 days late, when it in fact, was paid in full. However, it is too late. The damage is done.
I cannot take the office of Lucas County Treasurer because I cannot get a surety bond. For that, I apologize to the citizens of this County, the employees in the Treasurer’s office and at the Lucas County Land bank. Having already resigned from Toledo City Council, I feel it is best that I spend some time focusing on my family by returning to private life. It has been the greatest honor of my life to represent the neighborhoods I love on Toledo City Council, and I have done my level best to try to make the community around me a better place.
My family appreciates your kindness and compassion during a time that has turned from great joy and excitement to disappointment and sadness. We ask you for your decency, consideration, and continued prayer."