Republicans call special meeting to interview county treasurer candidates

The Ozark County Republican Committee has called a special meeting to interview persons who want to be considered for the position of Ozark County Treasurer. The meeting, to be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, in the third-floor courtroom of the Ozark County Courthouse, is not open to the public but only to elected committee men and women from the county’s townships and Republicans who are interested in the county treasurer’s job, Republican Committee Chairman Roger Pittaway told the Times last week.
Pittaway said he had been in touch with Kyle Aubuchon in the office of Gov. Mike Parson, who will appoint someone to fill the unexpired term of the late Phyllis Turner, who was serving as county treasurer when she died of cancer on Oct. 10. Pittaway said Aubuchon told him the governor wants the Ozark County Republican Committee’s input into the selection process and hopes an appointment can be made by Thanksgiving.
The special meeting has been called so that the committee can meet with potential Republican candidates interested in the treasurer’s job and then maybe make a recommendation to the governor. “We might make an endorsement – or not,” Pittaway said. “It could go a number of ways. We might endorse one person or we might endorse multiple people and say they’re all equally recommended or, ‘This is our first choice, second choice,’ or whatever.”  
The meeting will “probably be an interview-type, Q-and-A process,” Pittaway said. Those interested are asked to bring a one-page resume to show how they’re qualified for the treasurer’s job, and they need to bring “proof of bondability,” he added, meaning they need a letter from a bonding company saying they are able to be bonded if they take the job.
The committee will notify the governor’s office of its recommendations, and then it’s expected that those who are recommended – as well as anyone who didn’t attend the Oct. 29 meeting and instead contacted the governor’s office directly about seeking the treasurer’s job –  “will be thoroughly interviewed and vetted” by the governor’s staff, Pittaway said, adding that attending the meeting and being recommended by the committee “are not mandatory for being considered for the office.”
Republican candidates who are interested in the treasurer’s job do not have to file any paperwork or contact Pittaway in advance of the Oct. 29 meeting, he said. They are simply expected “to show up on time” and be prepared for the committee’s questions. They may also be given a few minutes to speak about their qualifications for the office, he said.
When Pittaway spoke with the Times last week, he said he was aware of three people who had expressed interest in the job.
Meanwhile, at their weekly meeting Monday, the Ozark County Commissioners appointed Rickie Johnston as Interim Ozark County Treasurer. Johnston will assume the duties and responsibilities of treasurer, and will be paid the corresponding wage, commissioners said. She will serve until Parson appoints the new treasurer.
Johnston has been working in the treasurer’s office for several months and was appointed by Turner as deputy treasurer at the beginning of this year. “It was great foresight on her part” said Turner’s husband, Ozark County Presiding Commissioner John Turner, who said that while most county offices have someone who acts as a deputy, the treasurer’s office only has one person in it 99 percent of the time.
Johnston has indicated that she is not interested in being appointed to the actual treasurer position, sources said.

Ozark County Times

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