FORT MADISON – Democrat Roslyn Garcia and Republican Sherri Yasenchok squared off Tuesday night in Fort Madison talking about efficiencies in the Lee County Auditor’s office and how the office can better serve residents of the county.
Current Lee County Auditor Denise Fraise is retiring from the position and is seeking a spot on the Board of Supervisors representing the 1st District.
Garcia is currently the office manager and collections administrator for the Lee County Attorney’s office and is a three-year member of the Keokuk City Council.
She said she has a unique perspective of city and county governmental operations and is a data-driven individual who can bring efficiency and greater transparency to county operations.
Yasenchock is the current deputy county auditor and has worked for the county since 2023, but has a financial background with auditing positions in the private sector since 1992.
Garcia said she is committed to transparency, accountability, and responsible management of our county’s resources. She serves, or has served, on at least 10 different volunteer organizations.
In her six years with the county attorney’s office, Garcia said she’s been instrumental in substantially increasing collections for the county.
“We’re now seeing greater reimbursements from the state, and we’ve changed our collections program which is now bringing in more than $600,000 per year in collections and fines. In those are restitution, jail fees, court costs all revenue generators for the county,” she said.
She said she would resign her Keokuk City Council seat if elected despite it being legal to hold both positions, citing ethical concerns.
“I feel like I can do more for the citizens by running for auditor. Our county is at a crossroads. We face challenges in budgeting, public service, and community engagement. We need a leader who understands the importance of financial stewardship and ethical governments,” Garcia said.
“My vision is simple. Ensure every dollar spent is a dollar spent toward our community’s future.”
The member of the 2025 League of Iowa Cities class of elected and fiscal officials said the county shouldn’t be planning year-to-year, but looking ahead at the next 10 to 20 years.
“You’re seeing the issue of pay-as-you go right now in front of us,” she said.
Garcia said a good auditor will be impartial and should be willing to comb through every department budget with an eye toward expenses as well as revenues.
“Feet on the ground, I’m out finding the issues for the board of supervisors. They need to be brought information from the public. Your auditor is a spokesperson for you,” she said.
She said transparency with the public is also paramount to success in the office.
Transparency in the election process, which is overseen by the county auditor, is critical in the current sociopolitical landscape.
Garcia said the law is very clear when it comes to elections and the county has no wiggle room.
“In 2021 the laws were changed, and now you have an elections administrator within the auditor’s office, so obviously I would let her take the lead of that and support what she needs,” Garcia said.
“Integrity is the baseline of the auditor’s office and we are lucky in Lee County that our elections are fair and sound and I personally don’t challenge it because that staff takes care of it.”
She said she would support all departments involved in the election process and make sure they continue to have all the resources they need.
Garcia said new legislation passed last year as proposed under House File 718 has put tremendous pressure on rural counties including Lee County.
“718 was something that really affected rural areas of Iowa. You’re looking at counties and cities across the state that it has crippled,” she said. “You’ll have actual workshops at any of the big conferences that are about how to combat life during the era of House File 718.”
She said consolidation of levies and lowering taxes isn’t a bad idea, but the execution was terrible. She said responsible and thoughtful bonding could be one solution.
“We have to be innovative. Less pay as you go - more bonding. The issue with bonding is that you can see the citizens don’t trust your government. They’re shooting down your bonds. Alleviate some of that stress on your general fund by bonding. It’s the only way to keep infrastructure for the future and be able to have less pressure on your general fund now.”
She’s in favor of road use tax bonds which aren’t constitutionally limited and, until state legislators stand up for rural Iowa, the county needs to get pressure off the general fund, she said.
She also said departments can find budget cuts, and she did that as a member of the Keokuk City Council. Attrition would be a way to help stave off increased costs as well as capital improvement plans that look at what the county will need in the next five to 10 years.
She said she would like to see the county’s IT Department more heavily utilized for additional services and would like to see more resources put toward the county’s real estate services. But she said absorbing other jobs hasn’t been the current department’s practice.
“The other candidate is saying they would absorb her position. In April of 2023 the then deputy auditor left to go to another department. That job was not filled through attrition. It was said it wasn’t necessary. In July, (Yasenchok) announced she was running for county auditor and a week later, the supervisors decided to reinstate that position. So on the backs of taxpayers they were grooming the next county auditor that you didn’t vote for.”
Yasenchok challenged Garcia’s assumption that taxpayers paid for her grooming to be the next auditor.
“From April to June, I was learning the deputy auditor position. So I was just training over there from April to June. I was not being trained or transformed or mentored into being the new auditor in any sort of fashion. I reached out when Denise decided to retire and I was interested in that position,” Yasenchok said.
Yasenchok started as a tax supervisor in the Treasurer’s office in 2023. There she learned about property taxes and driver’s license information and carried that into her current role.
“I have built a financial background that has brought strong education along with job experience to the auditor’s office. I have made some changes there and would like to make some more changes for the good of our budgets. I would like to start utilizing some different budget forecasting.”
She said she’d like to forecast five to seven years looking at different cost-saving measures and how the county is spending money. But she said her main focus is election safety and integrity.
She said she’s certified by the state to teach elections, to poll workers in the county’s 19 precincts.
Yasenchok said there is now a team she helped assemble consisting of the sheriff, the IT department, and Emergency Management Agency to be on hand to react to any unforeseen voter crisis.
“We did a lot of training and we have more to do, but they are a great team of people.”
Yasenchok said the quality of a good auditor is someone with a strong background in finance and a commitment to people. She said listening to people and investigating issues toward a resolution is also part of the process of the auditor.
“These problems need to have a forum that they need to be spoken in and I’d like to see a different platform where the Board of Supervisors can get information from the public,” she said.
As current deputy commissioner of elections, Yasenchok said integrity and safety of elections is the number one concern of the office on a daily basis. She’s gone through state election administrators' training and they have attended Secretary of State training and cybersecurity training.
“Our elections are safe and secure and working in conjunction with the Secretary of State has given me the knowledge to run an entire election,” she said.
Her experience includes a city/school election, a special election, a primary election, and this will be her first general election.
“I feel confident that we have our teams in place, and I feel confident that our entire auditor’s office is trained to handle every situation with integrity and safety due to our training,” Yasenchok said.
She said House File 718 has been a struggle for most rural counties in the state.
“House File 718 cost taxpayers (in the county) $8,000 just to send a letter to every household. I hope you know that. $8,000,” she said.
But she said there are budget cuts that could be made within the county including, if elected, absorbing her current position responsibilities and not replacing that salary. She said she was also on a committee that helped save taxpayers $140,000 in health insurance costs this fiscal year.
Yasenchok said finding savings in the budget starts with transparency and implementing a five-to-seven-year forecast with progressive budgeting to find cuts. That would mean not losing jobs, but absorbing jobs as she has committed to do if she wins the election.
“Other people will take over other aspects of jobs and we will move forward. We can do that in other departments. I don’t see it in the sheriff’s office or the EMS. I get those are essential services,” she said.
She said the county also needs to look at contracts for services and utilize the county IT department to take on additional jobs that are currently contracted with vendors.
“There are other departments that we outsource in and we could absorb some of that and save thousands of dollars,” she said.
Yasenchok credited current auditor Denise Fraise for running a clean department and said there aren't a lot of changes that need to be considered. She said would re-evaluate things, but didn’t think there was a lot of changes to consider.
Absentee in-person voting starts today with the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
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