Photo: Carroll County Deputy Assessor, Cindy Heuton, listens in at Conference Board meeting as they discuss her appointment to Carroll County Assessor position.
The Carroll County Conference Board met this morning (Monday) and received a report from Mike Curtis of the Examining Board on the results of interviews held for the Carroll County Assessor position. Carroll County Deputy Assessor, Cindy Heuton, and Union County Assessor, Theresa Pudenz, were interviewed. Curtis said the examining board’s recommendation was unanimous.
The conference board members were asked to consider Heuton for the position with only one area of negotiation. Heuton had requested three weeks of vacation instead of two that was part of the board’s compensation offer. The policy for county employees is that two weeks of vacation are earned after the second year and employees are not granted three weeks until completion of their ninth-year of service, but Heuton is an employee of the Conference Board.
Heuton added she would not turn down an offer solely on that basis, but discussion was held by board members on whether or not there would be another employee hired to work in the assessors’ office. The board of supervisors said they were not considering that at this time and pointed out that a large investment had been made in software and technology in this department, meant to assist with the workload. Those expenses, they said, could be considered a trade-off for the savings. The board also went over their options for reviewing compensation after Heuton had completed the training necessary to be moved from a provisional assessor status to full certification within the next 18 months. Supervisor Neil Bock presented the proposal that resulted from discussions.
He added that the Conference Board would use Heuton’s original hire date with Carroll County in calculation of time served for earned vacation hours instead of the anniversary date of her appointment as County Assessor. All other benefits will mirror those of county employees. The formal, written offer will be drafted from the motion that was unanimously approved by the board at this meeting and presented to Heuton. Upon her acceptance, she will begin serving on May 1, 2016 to complete the unexpired term of previous assessor, Brian Tiesman, which is set to expire January of 2020.
