DeSeyn comments on first year

Hot Springs County Clerk Rose DeSeyn and her family moved to Thermopolis in 1996. She’s been Hot Springs County Clerk for one year now and shared her reflections.

“It’s been really a great experience. I got elected, started my term in January and March 1 my husband passed away. It was bittersweet, but this job, I have to honestly say, it saved me because it’s easy to just kinda fall into a depressive mode and I feel like, ugh, I can’t do this. But having to get up and come to work and learn new things saved me. My girls, my staff, they have supported me 150%, especially my chief deputy Karen Slocum who I cannot think of doing this job without.” 

Even though she worked prior in the County Clerk’s office working for Marlene Christopherson, she said she had some challenges. DeSeyn said part of it was, “Just getting reacquainted with the actual job itself. I had never been on the administrative end before. I look at this office as being the hub of the county. Meaning, as they’ve said in the past, the County Clerk’s office is the eyes and the ears of the Commissioners. Most of the departments, if they have an issue because they don’t go straight to the Commissioners, they come to me and I will filter, if I can’t help them with some of their questions I will of course filter through the Commissioner sthemselves.” 

She said it’s about, “Getting familiar, getting my feet back into this world I was familiar with, but now it’s a whole new world.” And in this new world, DeSeyn explained many changes and that things today are different. “The statutes have changed. The Legislature is always changing. As of right now, we are gearing up for the Presidential election. We are getting all new equipment this year for the voting. It’s good and bad for me because I don’t have any preconceived notions, I’m just getting right into it. It will be an exciting year and I’m sure it will go really fast,” said DeSeyn 

She stated that getting reacquainted with the community has been some of her successes as County Clerk. She commented, “As a whole, I’ve said from the get-go, to me, customer service is really high on my list. I feel my customers feel very comfortable. My girls go above and beyond. I think that’s a great success for the community.”

Besides preparing for the coming elections, DeSeyn said that entering the digital age and transitioning from paper to the computer archives for the Clerk’s office is also a major undertaking.

“In years past whenever we get recordings for example, we’ve had them in abstract books. We have moved away from that. We have stepped up and started to scan everything. So it’s going to be accessible hopefully down the road to people for public access,” said DeSeyn.

In the past, the County hired a private company for this transition to the digital age called Arca Search. DeSeyn said that they will hopefully work with them again. Because of costs and limitations, the transition is being done in stages.

DeSeyn explained why being in the role is important to her. She said she values the people and wants to make sure their requests are taken care of nicely. “I’ve always been a people person. I just want to keep that establishment going with our community. To make them feel comfortable and not intimidated when they come into our office. To make them happy and take care of their needs as best as we can,” said DeSeyn

Regarding her goals for the coming year, she wants to keep the county moving forward in the digital world. She said they need to continue scanning old documents. She added that they make great efforts to make sure all the data is correct.

DeSeyn wants the community to know how much she appreciates them. She said, “I appreciate them putting me in this position and giving me the chance that they did. Sometimes I think things happen for a reason and even though I don’t have my husband here with me anymore, I have a new family and they are so supportive and so awesome. I’m blessed. It could be so much worse. People have it so much worse. I’m so happy to be here and to thank them 150,000 times to have the confidence in me to know that I try to do the best I can.”