Six months in, Hein stays busy as new county auditor

     It’s been six months since Whitney Hein started serving as Jones County Auditor, following long-time auditor, Janine Sulzner’s retirement.

     Hein recently reflected on her time in office, aspects of the job that were new to her, and the great friendly reception she’s experienced from the county employees.

     Hein ran for the position in the November 2020 general election.

     “It never crossed my mind to run for an elected office before I was approached about running for county auditor,” she shared. “I heard they were looking for someone to run, and then that’s when it sparked my interest and I started doing more research.”

     This job was completely new to Hein six months ago and she’s picked up the reins and ran with it. The transition, for Hein and the county staff and department heads, has been smooth.

     Hein said not working for the county prior to her position, it’s been a learning curve trying to catch up in terms of the projects each department is doing.

     “I had to make connections with people so I knew who to reach out to if I had any questions,” she said.

     What many people may not be aware of is the fact that the county auditor serves as the administrator for the county courthouse and county facilities. This part of the job is laid out in the Iowa Code.

     “With old buildings,” like the courthouse, Hein said, “there are a lot of challenges. Sometimes those things add to the job, so it makes this job very diverse. One minute I’ll be looking at carpet samples, and then the next working on somebody’s budget. So it’s just very diverse.”

     While Sulzner stuck around during the transition to assist Hein, especially with the budget, Hein admitted she didn’t feel she had enough time before going it alone.

     “She (Janine) clued me into a lot of things,” she said.

     For instance, when going over the budgets for each department, Sulzner would give Hein a heads up in terms of when major office/courthouse expenses need to take place.

     “She (Sulzner) left me a master calendar list, which has been very helpful,” added Hein. “It’s a yearly overview of the things I need to be thinking about (in terms of elections, purchases, etc.).

     “She’s been diligent the past several years, really documenting a lot of the different things she did in preparation for her retirement,” continued Hein of Sulzner’s guidance. “She was very committed to documenting everything, so that’s been extremely helpful as well.”

     One thing Hein has learned in her first six months in office is that there is definitely not enough time in the day to get everything checked off her list.

     “A day goes by and I’ve been here for nine hours and I think, ‘Where did the day go?’”

     Hein said time management is a big thing she’s working on, despite the fact that her work tempo is slower than most might be used to because she is still learning the ropes.

     “I wish there were more hours in the day so I could get more stuff done because I really do enjoy it.”

     Part of that time management includes recording the weekly Jones County Board of Supervisor meetings every Tuesday morning. During certain times of the year, particularly at budget time, those meetings can be longer than expected.

     “I didn’t think my days would be so unpredictable,” Hein said.

     Some board meetings have lasted several hours and when she returns to her desk, she has multiple emails and voicemails waiting for her replies.

     “Sometimes you just get pulled away for different reasons,” Hein added.

     She said her fellow county co-workers have been nothing but helpful through the transition.

     “I really like the people I work with,” she praised. “The people here have been really good to me, helping me out when they can.”

     Having to work with the public, Hein considers herself a “people person,” someone who works well with others.

     “I’m pretty good at building relationships and communicating,” she said. “That’s helped a lot as I get to know the staff better.

     “Being an over-communicator, asking them lots of questions has helped me a lot, too,” added Hein.

     Just within with Auditor’s Office alone, Hein said it took time to figure out everyone’s niche in terms of their roles with payroll, land use, accounts payable, elections, etc.

     “We’re all cross-trained so if somebody is out, they can fill in the different pieces,” Hein said. “They’ve had to pick up more than what they’ve had to do in the past, but they’ve been really good to work with.”

     It wasn’t too long into Hein’s term when COVID-19 picked up in Jones County. So not only did she have to start a brand-new job, but a new job during a pandemic. On top of that, added stress and anxiety, too.

     Hein said it was an adjustment holding all of her meetings electronically. She said it was hard trying to get to know people, especially other county auditors from across the state.

     “I had my first in-person meeting with other auditors on Friday,” she said. “So that was nice.

     “And I also finally got to meet my mentor auditor from Grundy County. They (the Iowa State Association of County Auditors) pair you up with someone who’s been in the job for a while, who uses the same financial software and election equipment as we do,” explained Hein. “So if I have questions, I have a resource.”

     In the immediate future, Hein is reviewing all of the election law changes in Iowa, and also trying to figure out the federal money coming into the county from the American Rescue Plan Act.

     “There’s a lot more reporting of those dollars and keeping track of certain things. That’s really time consuming because there are large chunks of money that we have to make sure are spent appropriately.”

     Thinking back to when she first started running for county auditor, Hein admitted her initial perception of the job involved elections and the budget.

     “It’s so much more than that,” she said. “My office does most of the HR, administration, payroll. We do some real estate stuff, passports. I knew it was diverse, but it’s way more diverse than I would have ever imagined.”