By David Kiehne
Fillmore County Recorder
On the ballot for the November elections, there are two questions for the residents of Fillmore County to act on. The questions posed by the County board are:
• Shall the office of Auditor/Treasurer be appointed rather than elected at the expiration of the current term?
• Shall the office of Recorder be appointed rather than elected at the expiration of the current term?
Elected term expires in 12-31-2018.
The question being asked relates to a concern that there currently is not a job description for these positions, which may lead to a lack of qualified candidates filing for these two offices. There is no way to know whether a person is capable of doing the required duties before they have been in the position, whether they are elected or appointed. There are State rules (Chapter 2 in Administrative roles) in place to define the duties and requirements of the Auditor, Treasurer and Recorder, that could and should be included in the filing packet for candidates to these offices.
It should be noted, that there also is not a job description or specific requirements for experience or training to file for the office of County Commissioners, who will be charged with task of appointing a Recorder or Auditor/Treasurer. Is there the same concern that a candidate for commissioner is qualified? All voters have a vote for Recorder and Auditor Treasurer. Commissioners are elected only by residents of the District they represent.
I do not believe that there is a benefit to the voters for this change. Why would we want to change to a system where five elected people would make the decision instead of all the voters in the county?
As the current elected officer holder of the Fillmore County Recorder office, I do have an interest in this decision. However, it should be noted, regardless of which way this decision goes, I am not guaranteed this position. To file for election, I pay a $50 filing fee to run for office. And subject to another candidate filing, and my ability to present my qualifications to voters, I need to gather more votes (over 8,000 voted in the last election) than another candidate to win the election. As an appointed position, I would have to submit a job application and hopefully get a chance to interview and convince at least three of the five commissioners that I am the best choice for the job.
Questions that need to be addressed for voters to make an informed decision on Elected versus Appointed
Note: the reply to the questions I am asking, are my own opinions.
• What benefit should the residents of Fillmore County expect to receive for voting yes to eliminate their right to vote for these positions in the future?
A. Because these offices are statutorily required to perform certain duties in specific ways, I do not see a significant change in the operation of the offices, regardless of whether elected or appointed. The only budget change would relate to the accumulation of Paid Time Off for an appointed person, with the future cost of a payoff of any accumulated time off, to the employee.
B. The duties of a commissioner are broad and deal more with decisions on the overall budget process, Highway Dept. (roads), Sheriff (public safety) and Social Services/Health (meeting the requirements of state mandates). While the duties of Recorder, Auditor/Treasurer are day to day operations, responding to questions from the public, transferring and recorded deeds and other related land transfer documents, property tax collections, voter registration and voting, and daily accounting and record keeping.
• Are there any changes to the duties of the Auditor/Treasurer or Recorder that can only be made if the office becomes appointed?
A. Not as long as the offices remain as Recorder, Auditor/Treasurer. The County has flexibility in what tasks should be done by which office, whether appointed or elected.
B. As an appointed position, the person chosen to serve is not required to be a resident of Fillmore County, as opposed to the requirement to be a County resident to file for office.