New treasurer faces learning curve

 

By Michael Howell

It was not too long ago that an elected County Treasurer left office soon after taking the post after being unable to handle the complex duties and tasks of the office. She was replaced by a veteran of the tax office who has now retired for personal reasons. All eyes are now turned on her replacement, Valerie Stamey, who was appointed to fill the position by the County Commissioners about three weeks ago to fulfill the term w

hich ends in 2014. She would then have to win an election to keep the job.

Stamey appeared before the commissioners last week to give them an update. Although policy changes were on the agenda, she said that was a mistake and she is not sure how that got mentioned on the agenda.

“I’ve got no policy changes in mind,” she said. “I’ve still got some learning curves ahead of me. I’m in gathering mode.”

Stamey said she was looking at past ways of doing things in the office and would at some point make a determination as to how they are working and whether they need changing or not.

Stamey’s past experience with government accounting was in public administration of school food service programs. She and her husband Richard moved here in 2007. She said the county’s business was different in many respects.

“It’s kind of like being in a different country,” she said. After three weeks on the job, she says that things are going well.

“I’m a gatherer and a studier,” she said. “We are still in that stage.”

She said at some point she would assess the past practices and policies and determine which are working and which need to change.

Commission Chair Jeff Burrows said that the commissioners had tasked Stamey with compiling a Treasurer’s Manual that would describe the position’s duties, different account priorities and set the timing of the necessary tasks. He said it was a valuable thing to have when department heads are in transition.

“We are doing this in all departments,” he said. He said the manuals are needed to facilitate transition, such as in the recent Road Department transition.