Cass County said good-bye to a public servant of over three decades last night at the monthly Board of Trustees meeting. Chere Kay Garner had her letter of resignation accepted by the board last night effectively immediately.
Garner said she started as an assistant in the office in 1986 and remembers still handwriting many of the records during the early years working in the office. Garner said that she remembers when Cass County switched over to computer usage. She vividly remembered her training in Schuyler County on computers and then bringing that knowledge back to the office. She won her first election to Circuit Clerk in April 2013.
Garner said she had a timeline for her retirement in place.She said that when she reached the age of 70 she would retire. “I turned 70 in May. I was going to finish out my term but this young man, Brad Parlier, had found out I was going to retire and came in and talked ot me and said he would be interested in it. I said I would be willing to step down and have him appointed and he could finish out the term. The experience would be great for him going into next year’s election.”
Parlier is a 1997 graduate of Virginia High School and has been a near-lifetime resident of the county. He said he had initially heard about Garner’s wish to retire through the grapevine before coming in to inquire about the job. He has been working part-time in the office since July trying to learn all of the day-to-day operations of the office so he can carry on what he said was Garner’s great work.
He will step in as an interim circuit clerk until November when the board will make the permanent appointment to the position for the remainder of Garner’s term, which will end next year with the General Election in November 2020.
Garner said that her years of experience have surrounded her with great people to work with and for in public service. “Everyone has been great all the years that I’ve been in office. The predecessors Mr. Collins and Kathy Treanor were ahead and were so beneficial to my training. We’ve always had a great staff to work with. The 8th Circuit has a great group of circuit clerks to work with. The judges in the 8th Circuit are great. It’s been nothing but beneficial on my end to have those people supporting me and helping me out with any questions that I’ve had over the years.”
Garner said the biggest piece of advice she has passed along to Parlier and everyone in the clerk’s office is providing quality service to everyone in the community and taking things day by day because things can change so quickly.