O’Donnell named interim county clerk

TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Lorraine O’Donnell, right, has been appointed by the Nodaway County Commission to serve as interim county clerk pending an appointment by Gov. Eric Greitens to fill the seat vacated by former clerk Karen Leader, who resigned April 10. O’Donnell has served as a deputy in the clerk’s office for the past 23 years but says she will not apply for the appointment. Also pictured are Presiding Commissioner Bill Walker, left, and South District Commissioner Robert Stiens.

The Nodaway County Commission on Friday appointed longtime Deputy County Clerk Lorraine O’Donnell to the position of interim county clerk, meaning that O’Donnell will temporarily hold the office left vacant April 10 by the sudden resignation for former clerk Karen Leader.

O’Donnell, who has served as a deputy in the clerk’s office for the past 23 years, repeated on Friday her earlier assertion that she has no interest either in being appointed to office by Gov. Eric Greitens or running for election in her own right.

“The county is in a bind, and it is necessary to move forward,” O’Donnell said of her decision to step behind the clerk’s desk until the governor acts. “As time goes on you get to know yourself, and I’ve found that I am a much better assistant than I am an administrator.”

In addition to confirming O’Donnell as interim clerk, the commission has hired former Andrew County clerk Cyndee Merritt as a consultant.

Besides her experience as both a clerk and a deputy, Merritt is trained to operate Nodaway County’s new Tyler Technologies payroll and billing software.

The only other staff member assigned to the clerk’s office is clerical assistant Julie Farnan, who also told the commission she has no plans to seek a gubernatorial appointment.

O’Donnell, 56, began working for former clerk John Zimmerman as a part-time assistant shortly after graduating from Northeast Nodaway High School. She then spent 13 years in various positions at the New England Business Services plant in Maryville, now a subsidiary of Deluxe Corp.

After leaving NEBS, O’Donnell was hired as a full-time deputy under Zimmerman and went on to serve both his successors, Beth Walker and Leader, in the same capacity.

In September 2015, Beth Walker also resigned suddenly, moving the commission to name Leader as interim.

A short time later, Leader was appointed to the office by former Gov. Jay Nixon. She then briefly served in her own right after running unopposed as a Democrat in the November 2016 general election.

Frequently in rural Missouri counties when an officeholder resigns or retires, someone within the office steps forward by either requesting appointment or running for the vacated positon in the next election. But since both O’Donnell have Farnan have said they don’t want the job, politics is coming into play.

Any citizen who has been a legal resident of Nodaway County for at least six months can apply for the clerk’s position, which pays just over $62,000 a year, but it would be very unusual if Greitens, a Republican, did not appoint a fellow member of the GOP.

It’s not the county’s job to take applications during the appointment process, but Presiding Commissioner Bill Walker, also a Republican, said Friday he’s had at least 10 inquiries about the office since Leader stepped down.

Walker said anyone interested in the appointment should go to the state website boards.mo.gov and fill out an Application for Gubernatorial Appointment.

Depending on their party affiliation, he also recommended that potential applicants apply in person to their Republican or Democratic county central committee chairs.

“Anyone who is really interested should do both,” Walker said.

In Nodaway County, the party chairs are Stan Sportsman for the GOP and Joe Baumli for the Democrats.

Each committee is allowed to submit a nominee, or list of nominees, to Greitens for his consideration, but, again, it would be unusual for the governor not to choose someone from his own party.

The governor’s office has informed the commission that it would like to have both online and committee nominations in hand by May 1. After that, Walker said, no further timeline has been set.

Those interested in the job should note that though Leader was only sworn in a little more than three months ago, her replacement won’t serve the remainder of a full four-year term.

Clerks in Nodaway County are chosen in “off years” — that is non-presidential election years — and Leader, had she remained in office, would have had to run again in Nov. 2018. The same will be true for her successor.