One of Morgan County’s long-time elected officials is resigning at the end of this month. County Clerk Jill Waggener submitted her resignation to the Morgan County Commissioners yesterday.
Waggener has been the County Clerk since first being elected in 2010, when she defeated Democrat Mike Preston. Preston took over as the democrat candidate after Brad Zeller said he decided against a bid for the county clerk’s post, in lieu of Preston’s candidacy. Zeller announced his own retirement as a county commissioner last Monday.
Waggener says that family reasons are the biggest factors in wanting to step away: “I’ve been in the office for 27 years and clerk for 14 years. I’m getting a little bit older and have just seen a lot of changes in my life. One, as a lot of people know, I got married a little over a year ago and he lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan so we do have a little bit of distance between us. I just feel like it’s time. As we all get old, like many of us, I just want to spend time with my family and not coming to work every day even though it’s something that I truly enjoy and will truly miss. There’s just some other things now that I think are more important.”
Waggener says that the Republican Precinct Committeemen of the county will get together and solicit for potential replacements and create a nomination, which will have to be approved by the county board within 60 days of the vacancy.
Waggener says another reason she is stepping away right now this close to the November General Election is timing: “If [the nominee] has worked in this office or worked with elections, I think it will be a very smooth transition. I don’t obviously know what everyone is thinking. I have given my recommendation on who I feel and would like to see take the position. Whomever is appointed, we have so many people at our fingertips. We have other county clerks. As of last night, a lot of them and some of the closer ones know that I’m stepping aside. Nobody thought it would be quite so early. Some of that decision of leaving on August 30th was because of the end of our fiscal year in the county. I just thought it would make a clean break. Our fiscal year starts September 1. There are just others that are here to help out if someone has questions – other county clerks, vendors, there’s just so many people, the State Board of Elections – that whoever will be in the seat next just has a lot of people that they can reach out to and quickly get answers. Even after all my time here, I still reach out and ask questions many times.”
Waggener says she’ll miss all of the people on her staff, the election judges, the elected officials, and the general public who have all been supportive of her during her time in office.
She says her residency will remain in Morgan County and she will come to visit often as most of her family remains in the area.
Waggener’s last official Morgan County Commissioner meeting will be Monday, August 26th.
Morgan County Republican Committee Chair Chris Ginder issued a written statement this afternoon congratulating Waggener on her many years of service to the county saying that the county has been fortunate to have such a strong candidate and effective leader in the office.
Ginder says the committee will work with the Morgan County Commissioners to find a suitable candidate, as the commissioners have historically requested a recommendation from the party’s leaders.
Interested candidates must be a register Republican and citizen of Morgan County. Letters of interest and resumes can be emailed to gop.morgan.il@gmail.com no later than 5PM on Friday, August 30th.