Election 2018: Grant County treasurer's race
Name: Darryl Pheasant
Age: 59
Occupation: Grant County treasurer
Education: BA in finance, minor in economics from Eastern Washington University. Continual education sessions through multiple times each year at county treasurer meetings.
Position running for: Grant County treasurer
Please list any previous government or management experience: Worked in the Treasurer's Office for almost two years prior to be being elected county treasurer. This is my 32nd year as the county treasurer. Past president of Rotary, Masquers Theater and County Treasurer's Association. I have managed the County Pool since I created it in 1995 that benefited our taxing districts for tens of millions of additional revenues.
Why are you running? I love this job. I enjoy serving the public and talking to them every day. This job requires a working treasurer and not someone who just wants to let everyone else do the work. I enjoy the responsibility of being the CFO for the county and keeping the commissioners appraised of the county's financial condition and sustainable resources to pay for the county priorities. I have been a taxpayer advocate all these years and have pushed for tax fairness. While my oath of office has required to enforce laws that are not popular, I have pushed and had put into law legislation to reduce burdens. My latest concern has been the unfairness to mobile home owners for having more burdensome tax requirements than stick built homes. In mid-July, I hosted a legislative conference here in Moses Lake where the county treasurers moved forward on four pieces of legislation I presented that affects mobile home owners. I will be part of a treasurer task force to look at the laws that affect mobile homes to see if there are other dire needs to be addressed like more protections for low income housing to present to the legislature. I was responsible for the recent statewide change of mosquito districts assessment methodology to meet state law requirements. With a large amount of county treasurers retiring this year, I am being counted on to be a trainer at the Newly Elected Treasurers conference this winter and mentor.
What are your immediate goals for the position if elected? Communication and knowledge are key requirements of this position. You need to know the law and have the ability to communicate it. To improve communications, I want to work on new social media options for the public whom does not read newspapers or listen to the radio. I want to update our website for more information to be available to the taxpayers. We also need to provide electronic recording of documents to improve work flow in the office and quicker service to title companies, attorneys and other businesses who do not want to make the trip to my office. That will require the cooperation of two other offices.
What are your long-term goals for the position if elected? We need to make strategic purchases in investment software to reduce the time producing the data I calculate each month. We need to find a lawful process for payment plans that focuses on those people the law intended to serve. I will continue to provide the leadership that I have given to this office, the treasurer's association and the service clubs that I am on. I want to continue the leadership that has lead this office to be efficient and effective. Leadership is not just a catch phrase. Leadership means to know all sides of a situation before making statements or decisions. To make the tough decisions that are lawful and to treat everyone the same.
Name: Casey Cooper
Age: 42
Occupation: Homeschool Dad, assistant head coach and track coach at Moses Lake High School.
Education: BA in business administration, minor in coaching
Position running for: Grant County treasurer
Please list any previous government or management experience: 21 years teaching servant-leadership to young men through Royal Rangers, Navy veteran, Fire and EMS incident command.
Why are you running? The Treasurer's office has long had a reputation for poor service to the public, and more recently, poor cooperation and communication with the other county offices and taxing districts. I hope to bring the necessary leadership to solve those problems as well as returning an attitude of servanthood that should be evident in a public servant.
What are your immediate goals for the position if elected? I want to work with the Assessor and the Auditor to improve the flow of work through our offices, to bring the offices into the age of electronic filing and recording, and to find the most cost effective way to do these things that will serve the community better. I want to come up with a unified proposal between all the offices that will meet those needs, for the approval of the County Commissioners.
What are your long-term goals for the position if elected? I plan to mentor and train the current office staff in the art and skill of servant-leadership. I plan to modernize the office to make paying taxes less painful and more convenient, and to have a consistent, positive dialog between myself and the other county officers.