Johnson County Auditor Julie Persons on Aug. 13 proposed creating a new Account Clerk 3 position to serve as a technical lead in the auditor's real-estate division, and supervisors indicated general support and scheduled the measure for formal consideration at the board's next meeting.

Lede details: Persons told the board the job would be an advanced clerk role to support the deputy in the real-estate section, adding technical responsibilities tied to Tyler software and increased training, documentation and policy maintenance duties. She described the position as a career-path step above the current clerk-2 roles in the office.

Why it matters: Auditor Persons said the position aims to capture and retain institutional knowledge and reduce future errors by providing a dedicated advanced clerk to support complex, technical real-estate and tax workflows in the county auditor's office.

Discussion: Supervisors questioned whether existing clerk-2 staff or the deputy currently handled those tasks; Persons replied her staff have struggled without dedicated support and that the new clerk 3 would centralize technical duties, training and policy documentation. Scott Finlayson, who identified himself as a Treasurer's Office employee, spoke in support and described the deputy's workload and the risk of losing institutional knowledge without added support.

Outcome: The board agreed to take the item up for formal consideration at the next (formal) meeting on Aug. 14. Supervisors and the auditor said the position would likely be posted publicly and that internal promotion would be possible; the auditor said filling the role might be internal given the specialized Tyler software experience needed.

Ending: Persons said the change is the start of broader career-pathing work across the auditor's office; the board did not vote on pay or immediate salary changes at the work session and will consider the item formally the next day.