In recent years, Walla Walla County has experienced the departure of several long-tenured employees and managers who possessed valuable institutional knowledge, strong relationships with employees and years of experience serving the public. When experienced managers and employees leave, the county loses knowledge continuity and expertise. The cost is ultimately borne by taxpayers through turnover, recruitment expenses, training costs, reduced productivity and potential impacts to public services. How would you assess the role leadership plays in employee morale, retention and organizational effectiveness?

Leadership is THE decisive factor in employee morale, retention and organizational effectiveness. A leader’s goal is to inspire, empower and guide their colleagues. My leadership style is to be supportive of my team and peers, and to provide the resources they need to reduce friction in their ability to be successful. I build trust by making and keeping promises, communicating a vision that unifies the team, setting expectations, and providing constructive feedback.

Two of my longstanding priorities are to develop a career path for those who want it, and set a succession plan in place for the next leader. I lead by example. This means showing up every day with a leader’s mindset. Organizational effectiveness is the result of vision – everyone on the same page, combined with motivation to reach the goal, inspired by a leader who enables success.

A final thought on this: employees join an organization because they like the work, align with the mission and culture, and see personal opportunities for growth. Exit interviews with employees who leave overwhelmingly cite their boss as a major factor in their decision. The boss did not embrace the culture, provide motivation, or growth opportunities.

People, no matter where they work, have positive intent. They want acknowledgement for their effort and work. They want to learn and grow. I work with them to build trust and create their best work.

Many elected officials come into office with expertise in their profession, but may have little formal training in personnel management, leadership, organizational culture conflict resolution, or employee engagement. Would you support requiring newly elected county officials to complete leadership, management and workplace culture training as part of their transition into office?

I enthusiastically support newly elected officials completing leadership, management and workplace culture training as part of their transition into office. The Revised Code of Washington (RCW) already requires mandatory training in core areas of the Public Records Act, such as records retention, and compliance. Officials must complete this training no later than 90 days after taking the oath of office or assuming their duties. Washington state offers several management, leadership, and workplace culture training programs for those newly elected to office. These programs are designed to help new officials navigate the administrative and interpersonal realities of public office.

Examples of available programs include:

• Collaboration for elected leaders

• Targeted training videos covering supervisory fundamentals.

A significant portion of my career was as a corporate facilitator, designing and teaching management and leadership skills. Those courses included workshops on understanding leadership styles, situational leadership, conflict management, giving and receiving feedback, change management, and coaching. I have also worked as a content developer for an online coaching platform.

I am a big believer in continuous learning. Skills can get rusty with lack of practice, new approaches come into favor, leadership styles evolve, and workplace culture is dynamic. I would avail myself of any and all training supported by the County, as an example for others to follow and learn from.

What skills and experience do you have that makes you the best person for this job?

A successful Auditor will rely on two fundamental skills: finance and leadership. I have deep experience in both aspects. After completing graduate degrees in economics and an MBA with specialization in finance, I worked in a consulting role, training managers and leaders of all types in the fundamentals of finance. I understand Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), the work of the Government Accounting Standards Board. (GASB) and I’m familiar with Workday software. I have been responsible for analyzing corporate financial statements to measure performance against key metrics of success. I used financial tools to build computer based simulations, combining my holistic and strategic thinking as an economist with forecasting budgets and the use of technology as a productivity tool.

On the leadership side, I have managed several teams of direct reports with deep technical knowledge and customer service backgrounds. In every case I was able to earn their trust and accomplish set goals. As a consultant I worked to grow teams and leaders at companies in over 20 industries, including Boeing and Microsoft. These teams and organizations participated in workshops such as first-time manager, giving and receiving feedback, vision and strategy, and team building, all critical leadership skills. In preparing the content for those workshops, I drew on the latest research in the field, the experience of proven leaders, and innovative, change management experts.

My experience in both fields provides me with a broad and deep toolkit for the Auditor’s role. People, no matter where they work, have positive intent. They want acknowledgement for their effort and work. They want to learn and grow. I work with them to build trust and create their best work. That’s why I am the best person for the job.

Do you intend to work full-time?

Absolutely. The responsibilities of the Auditor are multi-faceted, and will require my full attention. In fact, I imagine that in the transition into the role it will be more than a full time position. I will have much to learn from staff and peers. There will be required courses and training offered by the State to newly elected officials on topics such as record management, security and the culture of county government.

I have a list of outcomes that I intend to deliver to the residents of the county. They include:

• Building trust with the County Commissioners, elected peers, department heads and county staff

• Ensure timely and detailed reporting of data

• Promote customer service

• Leverage the new Workday software technology

• Set a succession plan to minimize the loss of institutional knowledgeProtect the integrity of our elections while developing a contingency plan for mail-in voting disruption

My vision for the Office of the Auditor is a transformation from transactional record keeping and reporting to one of strategic advisor – an office that takes a multi-year view of the possibilities and challenges facing the county, collaborates with peers and department heads to prioritize spending, and reaches out to cities and the Port, to work together for the benefit of all residents.

This is a serious job and will require serious effort.

As Auditor, how would you ensure that taxpayers have a clear understanding of how county funds are being spent and the impact those spending decisions have on both county services and county employees?

As I meet with voters, I’m frequently asked “what does the Auditor do?”, so my answer begins there. The Office is organized into three areas of responsibility:

• Recording documents and records like marriage certificates and license tags

• Overseeing the County’s expense and budget reporting

• Conducting elections

We should all be concerned over how these vital functions are being managed. For example,

• The most recent Annual Report on the County Auditor’s website is dated 2020

• The most recent County Expenditure Status Report is from November of 2025

• Delays in the transition to Workday have resulted in a risk that the old license will expire before the new system is fully tested – which would be a $4 million failure – according to the former head of Information Technology

My first step would be to get current with all reporting. The Auditor’s website should be the repository of all budget and performance-against-budget data. The budgeting process starts the second week of July, and runs through the end of the year. Budgeting is a grassroots effort, initiated by the Auditor and implemented by each county department and office.

In August, budgets are due. The Auditor consolidates the individual budgets for the Commissioners to review. It’s in early September that we see the gap between revenue and expense that needs to be resolved. There are open hearings before the Commissioners where each department and office explains and defends their budget requests. The last quarter of the year is the time for residents to engage in the process to understand how the budget will impact them. I have the skills to provide additional information on the actual-to-budget performance as the year unfolds, by creating a dashboard of Key Performance, and offering quarterly “State of the County” session updates.

Communication is the key.

The Auditor is responsible for conducting fair and accurate vote counting for elections in Walla Walla County. Going into the 2028 election year, the Secretary of State anticipates increased scrutiny with vote counts and elections. The candidate that wins the Auditor position for Walla Walla County will also be under increased scrutiny during the next presidential election. As auditor operating in this environment, how will you ensure fair and accurate reporting of vote counts and reassure the public?

The good news is that the process of fair and accurate reporting of the vote is described in detail in Title 29A of the Revised Code Of Washington. The less good news is that there are multiple points where the rules could be forgotten, ignored, challenged or broken. There are several ways to ensure fair and accurate reporting. The Auditor has special responsibility in the process and must be beyond reproach. The

Auditor conducts the election, and chairs the Canvassing Board which certifies the election, once all ballots have been counted. I have studied the rules and identified points of potential challenge to the process. Should a challenge occur, I will be confident in relying on the WA code.

Timelines are in place for each step in the process. Communicating progress against the timelines is a way to reassure voters. Transparency improves public trust. This can begin before the election, by offering videos of the life-cycle of a ballot, and publicly testing equipment. Then on election day, by allowing voters to observe processing and counting over livestream, and communicating the progress toward official results.

Clarity, timeliness, transparency and communication – this is the formula I will use.

The Federal Government is threatening to eliminate mail-in ballots, requesting voter information from states which Washington refuses to do, and is attempting to force voters to re-register in some situations. The latter will have a negative effect on rural voters. As Auditor, how will you protect local elections and better educate voters? What would be your response to requests for voter information that is not authorized or approved by the Washington Secretary of State’s office?

Protection of our local elections, and better education of voters, have both a proactive and a reactive component.

We are facing threats to the election process in our country, in our state and in our county. The New York Times recently reported that the Postal Service has proposed a new rule that would allow it not to deliver ballots in states that refuse to turn over voter rolls to the federal government. Our county has no contingency plan in place in the event of mail-in ballot disruption.

The county auditor needs to be THE unchallenged expert and ethically unassailable person in the room. One moment of doubt could open a Pandora’s box of second guessing. In order to prepare, I have studied the Code and the process to identify points of potential challenge.

A request for voter information that is not authorized by the Secretary of State’s office must be refused and reported. In some parts of the country, local officials have succumbed to pressure to share data or interfere with the voting process. We cannot let that happen here. Uncertainty and doubt reduce voter turnout. Democracy depends on participation. The Auditor must provide evidence that our election system is secure and accurate.

The next census is in 2030; the county will redistrict probably the next year based on that count. Although the term in question concludes 12/31/2030, the next Auditor still plays a role in preparing county-level redistricting. County districts must be equally proportioned based on population. Right now, each district includes a portion of College Place and Walla Walla, diluting the vote of these cities where half the county’s population lives. Do you have a philosophy about the role of public input in the design of these districts?

In Washington state, the Redistricting Commission establishes Congressional and state legislative boundaries, and each of the states 39 counties is legally required to adjust its internal precincts. Individual precinct maps and boundary changes are managed and maintained by the ⁠County Auditor.

The Washington Revised Code specifies the requirements for drawing up local government electoral districts. Counties are required to be divided into three Commissioner districts of equal population that preserve existing communities of related and mutual interest. The role of the County Auditor is to act as the primary administrative executor of redistricting at the ground level. While state commissions or local committees decide where major district lines are drawn, the County Auditor is responsible for physically updating election maps, altering voter precincts, assigning citizens to their correct voting districts, and informing voters of these changes.

As the county’s chief elections officer, the Auditor ensures:

• New districts function properly in practice

• Newly updated maps are used to program ballot tabulation software

• Candidate filing for the newly shaped seats

• Every voter receives a ballot

I support having public input on the process of redistricting. Public input would enrich the state mandated requirements with local considerations and priorities. Organizations such as the League of Women Voters and the ACLU have a record of contributing to the redistricting conversation.

The County is currently transitioning to a new payroll system that fundamentally will change the county’s system. Recent feedback from the County’s technology department highlighted challenges with this migration, in which the Auditor plays a major role. How do you understand the new payroll project and plans for its completion? Is there anything you would do differently?

My understanding of the project – which is the implementation of a new data management system for the county – comes from public sessions, and a discussion with Chad Goodhue, the former head of IT for the county. Tyler, the corporate owner of Eden, the current system in use by the county, announced that it’s phasing out support. The County has to upgrade before the current license expires. The recommended replacement was Workday, a comprehensive human resources and financial system which has been successfully implemented by other county governments including Clark County in 2018.

On March 2nd of this year, Chad Goodhue reported to the County Commissioners that the project was behind schedule and at risk of failing in Phase 2 of the implementation, which would translate to a $4 million failure. The conversion process is detailed – old ways of recording data need to be mapped to the new software, and only the Auditor’s staff understand the old ways, which are a mixture of approaches used by individual departments andoffices. Additional software consultants and dollars are helping the Auditor Office team, however, other work, such as moving to a bi-monthly payroll has suffered delays. During this time, critical information that the Commissioners need to make informed decisions has not been available. I would do a lot differently:

• I would have studied the Clark County experience to learn from them

• I would have accelerated the implementation, and not waited 8 years once Workday was confirmed to be the best solution

• I would have asked for help before I fell behind

• I would have pushed early and hard for sufficient headcount and resources for a smooth implementation

I am familiar with Workday, and look forward to leveraging its capability as Auditor.

The Auditor oversees the budget process. Last year, the budget was approved on the last day of the calendar year since the original budget was delayed in being submitted by the office. How would you go about improving the timeline of the budgeting process?

The budgeting process starts the second week of July, and runs through the end of the year. Budgeting is a grassroots effort, initiated by the Auditor and implemented by each county department and office.

Each August budgets are due. The Auditor assembles the individual budgets into a consolidated budget for the Commissioners to review. It’s in early September that we see the gap between revenue and expense that needs to be resolved. There are open hearings before the Commissioners where each department and office head explains and defends their budget requests.

Delays occur if the submitted budget is in a deficit, since a balanced budget of revenue and expenditure is required. The Commissioners may send the budget back to the departments and offices with a request to “sharpen the pencil” – meaning look for savings. Alternatively, the Commissioners may name the conditions that must be met, such as a headcount freeze, or a 5% across-the-board cut in spending, as was the case last year. This interactive process takes time, as each department wrestles with how to balance cuts against their service commitments.

I believe that Workday will assist in this process, by making initial revenue forecasts and budgets more accessible to all, as data is entered into one common system. The Auditor will then be able to review inputs real time, and collaborate with individual offices and departments throughout the process.

Having common goals with respect to county priorities for service will provide focus for the budgeting exercise. The Auditor can and should guide that strategy.

The Auditor is responsible for the voters guide for local elections. A few years ago, the auditor chose not to prepare this guide, citing cost, despite the fact that the state reimburses the county for these costs. Do you commit to ensure that each election has a voter’s guide? If not, can you explain your reasons not to produce a voter’s guide?

I commit to ensuring that each election has a voter’s guide, and that every voter receives one by mail. The voters’ pamphlet includes information about voter registration, voting instructions, election dates and deadlines, voter signatures, drop box locations, and candidate statements and ballot measure explanations. It is a vital resource, and is a requirement of the County Elections Department.

The content of the voter’s pamphlet varies by election, depending on whether there are state as well as local elections. State races may have different rules and guidelines for specifics, such as word counts and statement content, however that should not be a barrier to inclusion.

This is a priority for me. Voter information is critical to making informed decisions. Our democracy depends on it.