Floyd County Recorder Roberts announces retirement

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Floyd County Recorder Deb Roberts said it’s time to give someone else a chance to do her job.

Roberts, who has worked for the Recorder’s Office off and on since she was in high school and who was first elected to run the office in 1998, sent a letter of retirement from her position to the county auditor and supervisors Monday morning. Her last day in office will be Jan. 31.

“Timing wise, it’s basically for personal reasons,” Roberts told the Press. “I want to spend more time with my family. … The timing was just right, right now.”

Roberts and her husband, Galen, who live in Floyd, have two children, each with two children of their own, and she said she wants to be able to spend more time with her husband, their kids and their grandkids.

“Luckily they live close enough that we can see them,” she said. “Two live in Nashua and two live in Waterloo, so we’re able to see them, but not enough of them for my liking. My husband and I like to travel, so we’d like to do some of that while we still can, while we’re both in good health and able to do things like that.”

Under Iowa law, a vacancy in a county elected office can be filled by an appointment by the county supervisors, to fill out the remainder of the term, which in this case would be until the end of 2022.

Roberts has a clear idea who she thinks that appointment should be.

“I did actually attach a little note with my letter of retirement, and I suggested that they appoint my longtime deputy, Amy Assink,” Roberts said.

“She has been in this office since 1997, so she’s had many, many years of experience and she’s extremely bright and very capable of handling anything. She has been my right-hand person for as long as I’ve been in office,” Roberts said.

“We’ve been kind of transitioning a little bit where she’s taking on a little bit more of my responsibilities in preparation for this. I’ve obviously made them aware of the decision, for quite a while, and had talks with them,” Roberts said. “They’re ready to go. I have an excellent staff, and they just are really good at embracing any new changes.”

The other option to fill the position would be for the supervisors to call for a special election to fill the vacancy, either by the board’s own choice, or as the result of a petition by county residents calling for a special election.

The board has 40 days to make an appointment after the vacancy occurs.

Roberts said she has enjoyed working with her staff and with the people who come into her office, especially the regular customers. She also enjoyed how the office has evolved.

“I’ve just really enjoyed seeing the changes over the years, how we’ve changed with the technology and how it’s enabled us to be able to serve our customers more efficiently,” she said. “It’s been exciting to learn new things. Sometimes we’ve had some growing pains, but we’ve worked through them. I just kind of like that aspect of it.”

Robert said when she first started working for the office as a high school senior in 1978 everything was done by hand. Gradually over the years records began being scanned and then computerized and now many records are available online.

“It’s kind of nice, too, because we have the old and the new. We still have to go back to the old books,” she said, referring to the volumes that fill a room in her office.

“We have literally hundreds of books, from floor to ceiling, and we still use those daily. We still climb the ladder and get them down, and it’s getting a lot harder to get those big books down, let me tell you,” she said, laughing.

Roberts also noted her time on the Iowa County Recorders Association executive board for about seven years, including a term as president.

“That was really fun being involved with the entire association, and seeing how things run. Hopefully when I was done with my term as president I left it in a nice way and everybody was pleased with my leadership,” she said. “They seemed to be. I’ve gotten a lot of nice compliments from people over the years. I seem to be somebody that they call quite frequently because I’ve been here so long.”

Now, she said, she is ready for a new phase in her life.

“I’ve always been one that change is good. It’s not always fun, it’s not always easy, but it’s good,” she said.

“I’ve totally enjoyed all of the customers and I will miss them, but it’s not like I’m going away,” she said, indicating she will continue a part-time job at Hauser Weishaar Funeral Home.

“I love that and I’ll continue to do that,” she said.