COEUR d'ALENE - The Kootenai County auditor's office saw half its employees leave in one year, according to public records released by the county.

Earlier this month, finance director Dave McDowell resigned after 14 years. Then, following a public records request by The Press, it was discovered that six other people left in the past year - County Clerk Jim Brannon's first year in office.

The auditor's office is one of Brannon's areas of oversight. Brannon was not in the office Friday, so Deputy Clerk Pat Raffee responded on his behalf.

She said Friday that people leave county employment for a variety of reasons.

County employment is "at-will," she said, which means an employee can be dismissed for any reason and without warning. The county is limited in what it can say in specific cases of employment.

But speaking generally, she said, some people retire, some move away, some resign to take on new challenges, and occasionally an employee will violate a county policy and be terminated.

In addition to McDowell, the auditor's office lost - for one reason or another - accounting manager Pamela Bogaert, staff accountant Kimberly Stevenson, payroll technician Sandra Strobel, and accounting clerk Jessica Guenther.

A couple of clerks also left during the year, transferring to different jobs within the county. One opted to become an administrative assistant to the county commissioners, and one a senior records clerk in juvenile detention, county human resources director Skye Reynolds said Friday.

The Press compared lists of active employees for the auditor's office for January 2014 and January 2015.