Topeka ? Shawnee County is suing former Treasurer Rita Cline and a company that insured her when she was in office, seeking to recover $24,456 in what the county considers misspent public funds.

The lawsuit arises from a $34,456 claim the county filed in March with Employers Mutual Casualty Corp., the company insuring Cline. The company rejected the claim.

The claim covered $20,456 that Cline paid to a former treasurer’s office employee in buying out that employee’s contract, $4,000 in bonuses to that employee and $10,000 covering Cline’s legal expenses while those matters were under investigation.

Cline resigned in March, while facing an attempt by Dist. Atty. Robert Hecht to remove her from office.

Hecht contended that Cline’s hiring of the treasurer’s office employee was an attempt to funnel county funds into a home health care business the two had started. Though Cline denied wrongdoing, she apologized for creating “a perception of risk to the financial integrity” of the Treasurer’s Office.