GEORGETOWN — The Brown County Board of Elections didn’t have to search very far to find their new Deputy Director.

At a special meeting on Sept. 9, the Board of Elections promoted clerk Connie Ayers to the position of Deputy Director, replacing Elizabeth Thorn-McKenzie, who resigned on Aug. 5 at another separate meeting.

“We needed someone to fill the position and it’s something I was interested in doing,” Ayers said. “We needed someone and I’ve been here three years and I thought I was capable of doing it so I applied.”

Ayers has worked for a number of companies and municipalities over his career, mainly working in management. She has been a clerk for the last three years at the Board of Elections, and prior to that, worked as an office manager at the Brown County Family Physicians while the Brown County Hospital was still run by the county. She’s also worked for a manufacturing company and elsewhere in the medical field, and she began her career in the information technology field, specializing in data entry and computer programming.

Ayers hopes that her move to Deputy Director can help restore some normalcy within the office.

“I want the public to know that we’re going to be here for them and we’re going to have a fair and honest election,” Ayers said. “I want them to be able to trust that we’re able to do that.”

Joining Ayers in the office is a new clerk named Brittany Phillips, who was hired on Sept. 1, according to Board of Elections member and Dallas Hurt.

The Board of Elections also accepted the resignation of member Bill Herdman on Sept. 8. Herdman recently underwent surgery, according to Board of Elections chair Moriah Votel, but his recovery time after surgery was longer than he expected, and he decided to hand in his resignation.

According to Votel, a potential replacement for Herdman will be recommended to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office at the Brown County Republican Central Committee’s next meeting on Sept. 14.

Both Votel and Hurt confirmed that an offer has been made to a new clerk, but the recipient of the offer had yet to make up their mind on whether to accept the offer or not. Both Votel and Hurt declined to name the recipient of the offer.

Lastly, Hurt said there have been nine applications received for the open Board of Elections director position, with eight of them coming from within Brown County. A decision on who to hire as the next director has not been made, as of press time.

The Board of Elections has been without a director since Aug. 5, when then-director Kathy Jones suddenly resigned.

Connie Ayers has been hired to be the Board of Election’s new Deputy Director after three years as a clerk.
https://www.newsdemocrat.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_ConnieAyersBOE1-DanielKarell-.jpgConnie Ayers has been hired to be the Board of Election’s new Deputy Director after three years as a clerk.
Connie Ayers hired as new Deputy Director of BOE

By Daniel Karell

dkarell@civitasmedia.com

Reach Daniel Karell at 937-378-6161. Follow him on Twitter @GNDKarell