HERMANN – Deputy County Collector Glenda Shockley took over the reins of the department this morning with the early retirement of longtime Collector Shawn Schlottach.

Tuesday was Schlottach’s last day after four decades as a county government employee. Her term ends this year and her successor will be decided in the November General Elections. However, she opted to retire early to focus on her recovery from injuries sustained in a horse-riding accident a year ago.

Shockley recently was appointed interim collector by the County Commission. A candidate for outright election to the office, she will hold that interim title until either the November General Election or an appointment to fill the position by Gov. Mike Keohe.

The process involved in a gubernatorial appointment is that the Governor’s Office reaches out to a county’s Republican Central Committee and Democrat Central Committee for recommended appointees. A governor usually appoints a success within the same political party as the outgoing official, but not always. Also, an individual of either party interested in holding the position can appeal directly to the governor for the appointment. Usually, if a vacancy occurs close to the General Election, a governor often opts to let the interim officeholder stay in place. But because there are several months between Schlottach’s departure and the General Election, an appointment of a new collector — perhaps Shockley — is possible.

With Shockley in place as the interim collector, the County Commission last week signed a new agreement with the county’s six municipalities for the collection of those cities’ property taxes. For the past several years, the county has collected the cities’ property taxes and remitted the funds to the cities. For the service, the Collector’s Office keeps 3 percent of the amount collected. A new agreement between the county and the cities was needed with the change in the Collector’s Office.

In other matters, barring a sufficient number of applicants in the next few days for the courthouse custodian’s job, the County Commission might consider hiring an outside janitorial service to clean up the place every day. The position became open with the last custodian joining the staff of one of the departments of county government.

“We’re going to try to get it nailed down,” Presiding Commissioner Tim Schulte, R-Hermann, said of finding a new custodian. A decision regarding the janitorial work could be made at tomorrow’s County Commission session in Owensville.

Activity is picking up regarding the work to be done in preparation of the first-ever election this November of a Recorder of Deeds. Office space for the new officeholder is being carved out of existing work area in the courthouse. The Commission has scheduled a walk-through of the project on April 9 with potential contractors.

An office area became needed when the County Commission last summer agreed to separate the Recorder of Deeds operations from that of the Circuit Clerk’s Office. The combined operation has been in place since the county services began. The move to separate the two functions came as a way to improve services and allow an elected recorder of deeds to focus on that part of the work while the circuit clerk can focus her or his efforts on Circuit Court matters.

Citing an increased caseload in the 20th Circuit, Circuit Clerk Jennifer Schneider was a leading proponent of separating the functions and creating a new department within county government.

County Treasurer Mike Feagan reported that the March reimbursement check for the state’s Motor Fuel Tax for the county amounted to $75,834, smaller than the February amount but almost $10,000 more than the March 2025 amount. For the first three months of the year, the Motor Fuel Tax has generated $236,207 for the county — $17,623 more than the total amount received during the first three months of last year. The total amount of revenue generated by the Motor Fuel Tax last year for the county was $937,801.The Motor Fuel Tax revenue is allocated to the county’s Road Department.