Name: Lisa Schlegel
Party Affiliation: Republican Write-in
What was your motivation for seeking the office of county treasurer?
Vern Ruder will work for the politicians. As Treasurer, I work for YOU. I enjoy learning what the best Treasuries in the country do and making that happen here. My work has made our Treasury millions of dollars. I want to continue to make my living working for you. With me as Treasurer, everybody wins. I love my staff; I love meeting and talking with the public. You will make a wise investment if you mark the bubble, then write-in “Lisa Schlegel” on your ballot. I am from Ellis County and I work for Ellis County. I will continue to make smart decisions that benefit the community I live in, to be the honest voice for the citizens whose money I am in charge of bookkeeping. I enjoy educating the citizens about where money goes, and investigating each and every way I can make the Treasury better and stronger.
What experience do you have that is relevant to the office?
Having executed the duties of Treasurer for several years, my past performance is the best indicator of my future performance. I am a Level 2 Certified Kansas County Finance Officer, with almost a decade of supervisory management experience. My opponent has only been a supervisor since 2017. Furthermore, being the only candidate without a spouse or child that works for the county, I am beholden only to the voters of Ellis County. Without the conflicting interests and pressures of nepotism, voters can guarantee my first priority, as it always has been, is their interests. Vern Ruder’s motivation is to make more money and populate Ellis County with more Ruders, like his son Mason Ruder, who works for the City of Hays. If the voters show the politicians what they want and what they will not settle for, all this bad behavior will stop. It is truly up to the voters.
What areas of the office do you believe needs improvement and what changes would you implement?
Within my first year, the money I made the county paid for my salary for all 4 years of my term. The Treasury operates like a strong private sector organization. I was first in Ellis County to revise office hours, along with making stronger county contractual agreements and investments. I put in the time, negotiation, and research to strengthen the Treasury in all facets. Right now, things are running very well. My resume includes record percentage-collection on taxes, hosting the first ever annual tax sales, and millions of dollars from banking proposals and investments that make your money safer, too. All three audits conducted on the Treasury yielded a perfect record for my performance. I aim to “maintain the gains,” which are unprecedented. I guarantee you Vern Ruder cannot maintain those gains, and will take away from local jobs by outsourcing jobs to “kiosks,” as he said two months ago. The only change Vern will bring is disorder, and a further removal of transparency and voter power.
Why do you believe you are the most qualified candidate for the position?
This question has nothing to do with “belief” or “opinion.” Whether or not the busy voters of Ellis County know the facts is the issue, I am the best-qualified candidate; belief simply does not come into play.
The treasurer’s office handles the county’s finances, how would you be a good steward of the county’s money?
I am the best steward of Ellis County’s money any Treasurer has been. That will not change, except for that as I learn more, I will be an even more powerful negotiator on behalf of the taxpayers for any and all contracts I oversee. Vern is not a good steward of the county’s resources in his current job, so why would voters trust a man whose failure to adhere to standard operating procedures caused a building to burn down? If he were an employee of anyone else other than his current boss, who is also the boss of his son, he would no longer work for the county based on the gross negligence he’s exhibited.
The treasurer’s office works with every department within the county, what would you do to improve relationships with other departments?
Win. There are no issues to improve that cannot be solved by voters. Secondly, the Treasury works well with other departments. A small group of misbehaved people need to be “schooled” by the voters, pun intended. We need quality; not more of the same old family members who want their relatives to work for the county. The departments: Sheriff’s, Public Works, IT have “issues” because Sherry Dryden’s husband wanted her to work for the County, before he was asked to resign from the Sheriff’s. The Ruder family has political goals, so Vern’s son bullied me on social media and by calling multiple times, as did Vern, through the Public Works department. Julie Mercer’s husband worked in Technology, and though she no longer lives here and is not a serious candidate, many people think she was pressured to run by the IT department head. Nepotism is an issue only voters can nip in the bud when they VOTE. All the nastiness and lies are propelled by familial ties who want better jobs.