Reinhardt Stepping Down As Treasurer

After 24 years of work, no major upcoming plans come to mind except to visit family and grandchildren. Jenny Reinhardt is getting ready to hand over the reigns as Valley County treasurer at the end of this month. Her years of service followed working nearly a decade with the Glasgow City-County Library.

She began working for Valley County in 1990, just before the county fair. She decided to look for a change and a challenge after working at the library and she was ready to take on the position as an administrative assistant for the refuse, airport and fair boards. She had a moment of feeling overwhelmed. Looking at her stacks of work she thought to herself, "Wwhat did I get myself into?"

Reinhardt said help came from the chairman of the airport commission, from members of the fair board, and others who stepped in to help her learn the process. She began the job, just 30 days before the fair took place.

"It was a lot like getting ready for Christmas," she said. "You get everything ready and then you wait for it to happen."

Challenges came as the refuse board was facing several changes in rules and regulations from the state. She said that she would go out to the landfill and help measure the water in the wells with a yardstick. She was given a tour of the airport and learned about how the airport ran and what was involved. She learned all kinds of various skills, including crack sealing, which came in handy when she served on the school board.

When the previous treasurer left the position she was appointed and served for the last 13 years. She said that she's enjoyed her co-workers and working with the customers that have come to her office for paperwork, or for help. She said that the big shift was learning to delegate some of the responsibility to others and working on a less complicated budget. She has missed working with people as much as she did before as an administrative assistant, but she feels like she's made friends with the customers who have visited the treasurer's office.

Some of the challenges she faced over her time as county treasurer was learning the new motor vehicles system, and in 2009 when ag land was re-evaluated and the staff helped with several protests. She said the ag land hadn't been re-evlauated for years, which led to a bit of a shock for several in the county.

"I'm glad that we understood how to help several people protest, which involves a lot of paperwork," Reinhardt said.

Customer service has always been a priority for the office, and she feels like the staff had done a very good job at working with people. She feels her biggest accomplishment has been tax collection, with 100 percent of mobile homes and personal property taxes collected in the last five or six years. Real estate has been close to 99 percent. Part of this accomplishment is from making good use out of a lot of software programs that help produce better reports and cut out time.

Reinhardt's last day on the job will be on July 31. She's enjoyed her career and is now ready to step aside to let fresh blood take the position and enjoy it. She plans on visiting grandchildren, reading, doing yard work and maybe eventually volunteering for something. But she won't miss going out in the cold winter weather.

"When it's 40 below I can stay at home in my pajamas," she said.