Pippen Appointed Clerk and Recorder

At their regular weekly meeting on Oct. 21, the Valley County Commissioners announced they had unanimously selected Marie Pippen for the soon-to-be vacated Clerk and Recorder and Superintendent of Schools position. Pippen will replace Taryn Aberg, whose resignation will be effective Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020.

The Commissioners received four applications for the position and narrowed their selection to three. After independently reviewing the resumes of the applicants, they came together to discuss their findings. Pippen was selected because the Commissioners determined that the top qualifications they were looking for included accounting and computing skills. In that regard, Pippen was described as “an outstanding candidate” who stood out from the other applicants.

Aberg will remain on hand to assist in any way necessary through the transition stage. Aberg, who is resigning to focus on her family, has offered her expertise to the County to continue the operation of the office. She was elected to the position in November of 2018 and will have just over two years remaining on her term as of her resignation date. Since the resignation was not announced before ballots were printed, the decision on a replacement appointment was left to the commissions rather than the voters.

Pippen extended gratitude to the commissioners for the opportunity. “Thank you for the chance,” she said. “I look forward to getting to work.”

In other business, the county renewed the adoption of the City County Interlocal Library Agreement and extended the inmate excess medical insurance program. A decision was made to move forward with repairs of the Transit bus barn with reduced funding, including $200,000 of state money to improve the building.