Carroll County Recorder, Marilyn Dopheide, announced her retirement at the beginning of this year with an effective date of Jan. 31. At previous meetings, the Board of Supervisors had discussed a decision that they needed to make regarding the appointment of Deputy Recorder, Kathy Schwaller, or whether they should call for a special election. Another candidate, Ashten Wittrock, who is the current Real Estate Deputy with the Auditor’s Office, said she would like to run for the position. It was decided on a vote of three to two that they would announce their intentions to appoint because of an election already scheduled for this November. Supervisors, Rich Ruggles and Neil Bock, both voiced their opposition to the appointment process. At this morning’s (Monday) meeting, Chair, Marty Danzer, brought forth a resolution to appoint Schwaller to the position effective Feb. 1. Bock was the first to speak after there was a motion by Gene Meiners and a second by Dean Schettler.
Ruggles agreed with Bock, and said he would be abstaining as well. Schettler said that even though he had seconded the motion, he was disappointed about the wording of the appointment.
Ruggles added that there was really only one application for the position and it was not the same person named in the appointment resolution. Meiners agreed that even though the outcome would likely still be the same as where they were at Monday morning, the name field should have been left blank. Schettler says he received a lot of support from around the county after their discussion two weeks ago.
Meiners shared that he received more support from the Republican side on this issue than from the Democratic. Danzer added one comment into the discussion.
The appointment of Kathy Schwaller was approved on a vote of three in favor, Schettler, Meiners and Danzer, and two abstaining, Bock and Ruggles. Wittrock can still call for a special election by obtaining and filing the required number of signatures, estimated at about 1,055.
