The county auditor and clerk offices will have new leadership next year after voters elected two Republicans to replace the Democrat incumbents.
Julia “Julie” Reeves will become the new auditor after defeating incumbent Beth Mulry by nearly 400 votes.
Reeves said she the results were “surprising.”
“It’s always hard to go up against somebody who is already in office,” she said.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Mulry was disappointed by the outcome. “I was really looking forward to the opportunity to continue the positive progress that was made in the auditor’s office in the last three-and-a-half years. I wish Julie Reeves the best and hope they continue the forward momentum we have going now,” she said. “My people are important.”
In August, it was announced that for the first time in several years, Brown County’s audit by the State Board of Accounts included no “supplemental reports” for the treasurer’s and auditor’s offices. Those are issued when the state auditor makes negative comments on the routine audit. The audit covered 2015, 2016 and 2017. Mulry took office Jan. 1, 2015; Treasurer Mary Smith took office Jan. 1, 2013.
Reeves has worked for the Hancock County auditor’s office for 16½ years. Reeves said she has no specific plans for the Brown County auditor’s office; she will look at what’s there and see how she can improve it.
Mulry has worked in three county offices over the past 18 years. She was elected twice as clerk and was elected auditor in 2014.
“I think she’s a great person. She’s done a great job. I thank her for that,” Reeves said about Mulry after the results were final on election night.
Reeves said she wanted to thank everybody who helped her secure a win.
“She’ll do a great job for the county,” said her husband, Bob Reeves, slinging his arm around her shoulder, clad in her campaign T-shirt.
“This is my biggest fan,” Reeves added with a smile.
‘An exciting adventure’
The day after she learned she’d be out of a job next year, Brown County Clerk Brenda Woods was in her office finishing the paperwork necessary to pay poll workers for their efforts the day before.
Woods was defeated by Republican challenger Kathy (Grimes) Smith by more than 400 votes.
“I was heartbroken. I enjoy my job and was hoping to continue,” Woods said.
She said she appreciated all the poll workers who worked so hard, along with the absentee voting board, her staff and her family.
The clerk’s office has become her “second home,” she said. She’s has been working there since being hired by former clerk Benita Fox in 2005.
Woods wished Smith well.
A couple of days after the election, Smith said she was “extremely excited” about being elected. “I’m looking forward to an exciting adventure,” she said.
Her plans include helping transition the office to paperless. “I don’t want to go paperless completely until they can assure me 100 percent that we don’t have to worry about losing something or it being hacked into. I have great concerns about that,” she said.
Smith said she had spoken with judges, attorneys and prosecutors who are not ready to go completely paperless; they prefer having hard copies in hand when in a hearing or doing a trial. It may be possible to get tablets that would allow for those people to easily get important electronic documents in the courtroom, but she had not found that technology yet, she said.
Smith has been working in different polling locations on Election Day for more than 25 years. She said she played a role in helping the county transition to disability-compliant electronic machines and encouraging people to use them.
The county now uses electronic voting machines at all polling locations. She supports their continued use. “As far as the money we have saved by not printing so many paper ballots, at 39 cents a ballot, that’s a pretty good save,” Smith said.
She’s also interested in getting involved in the discussion about a proposed new justice center, which could move her office out of the courthouse.
“We need to look at that a little harder and see where some of our better options are. We have several large expenses going on right now, and to add another $10 million to $12 million building on top of that, I don’t want to just jump right into that,” she said.
Her other plans include finding ways to recycle more documents in the clerk’s office, and allowing for her staff to possibly take time off to volunteer in the community monthly. “Maybe people won’t see them as a negative thing when they have to come into the clerk’s office. There’s usually some sort of a problem that they have to come to the clerk’s office,” she said.
Smith volunteers with a local fire department and cooks at Mother’s Cupboard Community Kitchen every Monday. She also works for the ITS emergency medical service in Indianapolis.
She said she respects Woods “wholeheartedly.”
“That has not changed through this whole thing at all,” she said.
“I hope that our friendship, as time goes, will return to what it was. I wish her all the best in the world,” Smith said.
She encouraged voters to keep being politically involved. “We had an awesome turnout, especially for a midterm election,” she said.
“It’s not us that should be making all of the decisions; it’s what the people want. I want to still see people coming to meetings and still being active and positively voicing their concerns. This momentum, I hope we’re able to keep it.”
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County clerk
Republican Kathy (Grimes) Smith: 3770
Democrat Brenda Woods: 3349
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County auditor
Republican Julia “Julie” B. Reeves: 3751
Democrat Beth Williamson Mulry: 3354
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