Cheryl Haner, chief deputy assessor, retires

Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Friends, family and co-workers gathered at the courthouse Tuesday to mark the retirment of Cheryl Haner, chief deputy assessor, after 16 years of service. Besides the two cakes, punch, and measuring tape were two copies of a Vernon County Assessment which listed Cheryl's name and declared "This property retired" Johannes Brann/Daily Mail

jbrann.ndm@gmail.com

After serving 16 and one-half years as Vernon County's Chief Deputy Assessor, Feb. 28 was Cheryl Haner's last day.

"While I enjoyed the job and especially working alongside Cherie Roberts, it's time for me to retire," said Haner.

The combination of arriving at age 65 and recent health problems convinced Haner now was the right time to make this change.

While she thought she had to come to fill out some paperwork, Haner's co-workers, those of other offices in the courthouse as well as family and friends joined in a surprise reception honoring Haner at the courthouse second floor landing, Tuesday afternoon.

The gathering began with Joe Hardin, presiding county commissioner paying tribute and presenting a gift to Haner. This was followed by Haner's boss "telling stories" which had people laughing and crying in turn.

Instead of the usual cake, Roberts personally designed and made two cakes for the occasion. One was designed to look like a typical assessor's office drawing of a property and attendant notes while the other thanked Haner for her service. Winding across the table was an actual measuring type used in field assessments.

Once the "speeches" were over, the cakes were cut and plated and those assembled enjoyed cake and punch while taking the opportunity to give cards, hugs and tears to a good friend and co-worker.

"I hired Cheryl on July 24, 2000 and I don't know what I'm going to do without her," said Roberts. "She truly has been my right hand."

Working in the assessor's office can be stressful as people who are upset about an assessment come in and -- in the words of Roberts -- "they are very generous in sharing what they think and how they feel."

"That's the part of working in this office that nobody likes but I tell my people what I tell myself, they're the ones paying my salary and no one likes having their taxes raised, period," said Roberts.

But she added it's still not fun.

A second problem with fieldwork is unleashed dogs.

"We have what we call 'go backs,'" said Roberts as she began to tell a story on Haner. "It began when some folks were building a house and Cheryl had made the first visit."

At that time, before computerization, each place had a property record card. In the section for notes, Haner had written "Beware of mean dog, red with no tail."

"Cheryl and I went out together for the second visit and while at first we looked for the dog, we didn't see it and soon got involved in taking various measurements on the house," said Roberts.

And then, when they came around that certain corner of the house, well, you guessed it, there was the dog, and yes, it was mean.

The passenger side of their vehicle was closer and Haner jumped in. With the dog nipping on her heels, Roberts realized she would not make it to the driver's side so she opened the passenger side and jumped in on top of Haner and slammed the door.

"That day I was wearing a nice long coat," said Roberts. "When I got in, I slammed the door but a good deal of my coat hanging out."

While Roberts was her boss, Haner said, "Get off me," but with the dog barking outside and the coat caught, Roberts said, "I really couldn't move."

Haner crawled out from under Roberts and eventually made her way into the driver's seat. The boss struggled to get the keys out of her pocket but she did and off they went.

That day it was muddy and the coat dragged on the gravel road for some time before they stopped.

"While my coat was ruined the more amazing thing is that after this and a number of other 'situations,' Cheryl never asked to get out of field work," said Roberts.

Computerization has been a boon to the assessor's office but it still requires fieldwork.

"When I go to state meetings, some assessors are talking about using drones but I think that's an invasion of privacy and too impersonal," said Roberts. "Besides, if people have questions, I want them to get straight answers from me or my staff, from people who've actually visited and know their property."

Assistant mapper, Shelby Morris; mapper, Lora Miller; personal property clerk, Trisha Pike; review appraiser Cathy Swope and chief appraiser, Kerry Donly, have all witnessed the way Haner and Roberts can answer each other's questions.

"From my office I'd call out to Cheryl something like, 'What's the name of whistle britches, you know, those people who, when you go down such and such road and then turn west and then back north, their house is the blue one on the right?" said Roberts. "And she'd always know."

Vernon County's assessor pointed out, while someone else will eventually be chief deputy, that person will never be able to replace Haner's knowledge and place in the hearts of all who work in that office.

"Cheryl's been such a good friend to me and the people of this county owe her a debt of gratitude for all the great work she's done for so many years," said Roberts.

Roberts and Haner gave each other another hug and wiped the tears from their eyes.

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