The Morgan County Commissioners introduced a new Treasurer to the county yesterday. Kimberly Mitchell of Jacksonville was selected to fulfill the remainder of the late Jenny Geirnaiert’s term, who passed away earlier this summer unexpectedly.
Mitchell says that she has a bit of a learning curve to get acquainted with the new position, but she brings years of office management experience: “Over the last 16 years, I’ve been with a brokerage company called Waypoint. It’s a food service brokerage company. I managed a team of sales people, and I called on some large customers such as Cisco Food Service, and some large food manufacturing services like Tyson Foods and companies like that and I worked with their buyers. We worked with their sales people, so I had to manage a team to make sales goals, manage sales numbers, and things like that. I’m a pretty organized person, which is going to be very vital in this office. I feel like I have good customer service skills as well, so I think those are some of the reasons that I thought this [job] would be a good fit for me.”
Mitchell says her first order of business will be managing the second round of property tax payments coming due next month: “Those [payments] are going to be due on September 10th, and [the county] waived the late fees for the first installment. It’s going to be very important for people to get those payments in before the 10th. We encourage people to pay at their local banks who are participating in the county. There is a drop box outside [the courthouse] if they do not feel comfortable with coming in. They can drop the payments in the box, and that’s picked up every single day. If after the 10th the payment hasn’t been received, there is an accrued late fee from June as well, so we want to make sure that everyone is aware of that late fee if they don’t make the full payment, so people need to get their taxes in.”
Mitchell says she is happy to serve in the Jacksonville community after many years of travel for her other jobs: “I am happy to be back in my hometown. My husband and I have owned some small businesses here for years. We have raised our children here. It’s just really going to be nice to drive down the street three-quarters of a mile and come to work instead of a lot of miles. I like to be involved in the community, and I think this office will give me more of a chance to be involved again instead of having to be so involved outside of the community.”
Mitchell, who was a personal friend of Geirnaeirt’s, says it was bittersweet to accept the position. She also knows that expectations are high as Geirnaeirt has left behind some large shoes to fill: “Jenny was such a loved person in the community and she did a great job in this office. I’m very aware of that, as she was also a personal friend of mine. When I was first approached after her passing, someone said maybe I should apply for this position, I stood back for a minute and thought about it. I knew I had a lot of the skills it would take to run this office. I know I have a lot to learn, but I think that I have a great staff here. I have a good support system. There may be a few mistakes here or there, but I think we will work through them just fine. I’m happy to be here.”
She says that along with the deputies in the Treasurer’s office, the transition into her tenure should be a smooth transition for the county.