Groh says so long to elected office

Published 10:26 am Friday, January 2, 2015

Doug Groh worked through recounts, multiple elections, a recession, changes to property taxes and much more in about 25 years working for Mower County.

“We dealt with unprecedented events,” he said.

Groh

Groh

After a term as treasurer and two terms as auditor-treasurer, Groh is about to bid farewell to Mower County elected office after losing last November’s election to challenger Steven Reinartz.

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Groh first started for the county as a chief deputy in 1989, and he was thankful to Woody Vereide, his predecessor, for hiring him and to the voters for electing him.

“I really appreciate the county constituents electing me for three terms, my predecessor for hiring me, because it provided me with a wonderful life, because I had both the sweet and sour,” Groh said. “I had a lot of sour, but it made the sweet even better.”

Groh has seen plenty of change in his time with the county. In 2007, the auditor and treasurer’s offices were combined, the office faced historically low interest rates on investment portfolios, the Great Recession prompted several tax forfeiture cases, and there were several other challenges.

Groh was also at the helm during the recounts when Democrat Al Franken defeated Republican Norm Coleman in the 2008 U.S. Senate race and when Democrat Mark Dayton defeated Republican Tom Emmer in the 2010 governor’s race.

Groh was proud that there were very few frivolous challenges to ballots in Mower County. To Groh, recounts and elections were intense. Preparation for elections typically begins in April and finishes in early December.

“It’s a big event,” he said. “And for the most part we rose to the challenge of conducting fair elections.”

Groh said he will miss the day-to-day challenges in his office, and he thanked his current employees — a staff of 3.5 positions — and all his past employees for their support and hard work.

Sour with the sweet

Looking back at his time in office, Groh was proud to call himself a risk taker. He was proud of a decision to eliminate a step of processing property tax funds in the treasurer’s office, which he called a small but political task — a decision that could have had negative repercussions. Earlier this year, Groh helped enact several changes to the voting process in several small towns. Sargeant and Taopi switched to all-mail balloting, and residents in Rose Creek, LeRoy and Grand Meadow were able to obtain absentee ballots at city clerks’ offices in each community. He also asked the township clerks and city clerks to initiate training of election judges.

But as Groh admitted, his tenure didn’t come without some sour moments. Groh tussled with Finance Director Donna Welsh last year and was criticized for reporting errors to the IRS that caused $4,500 in penalties. Groh at times publicly disagreed with other county officials on issues — much of it stemming from differing interpretations of state statutes and the authority of his elected office, along with differing opinions on county government.

Groh said the exchange of ideas — and the differing opinions that can stem from that — are just an important part of public service and the job.

“I’m not going to roll over just to avoid controversy,” Groh said. “If there’s something to be said that needs to be said, if I’m right and I feel that I’m right, I should be able to say that.”

“I’m not going to avoid controversy just to be complacent, and just to go along,” he said.

Despite his “sour” moments, Groh urged people to run for office and not shy away from the limelight, as he’s been concerned good candidates may shy away from running.

“We have to have good people run for these offices,” he said.

Groh sees change on the horizon for his and other county seats. In recent years, the county board has pushed for the state legislature to make the auditor-treasurer and recorder positions appointed rather than elected.

While state legislation hasn’t passed for Mower County, some larger counties have made the change, which caused Groh to say he expects that appointing may be in the future for many counties. However, he called it a sensitive subject and argued voters prefer keeping the positions elected. He also argued keeping such positions elected minimizes the risk of secrecy in government.

“Just be competitive and you’ll live to see another day,” Groh said, offering advice to other elected officials. “And hopefully in the course you’ll have done some good.”

Writing his next chapter

Groh graduated from Austin High School and attended what are now Riverland Community College and Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Along with his 25 years working for the county, Groh served 28 years in the National Guard, attaining the rank of major before retiring in 2005.

Monday is Groh’s final day with the county.

Groh, 55, plans to keep working in some capacity, perhaps not in Austin, but he hasn’t secured further employment yet.

“I think I have a lot more to offer an employer,” he said.

While thankful to have been elected three times, Groh has no immediate plans to seek elected office again.

“It was a great career,” he said. “Learned a lot. Met a lot of good people. Served a lot of people.”

Groh thanked his wife, Rita, for her hand in his first campaign. After he was first elected, a man told Groh he was only elected because of his wife, Rita, and her help on his campaign. At first, he was taken aback and a little hurt by the comment, but now he said he takes it as a compliment. He wishes he’d have told the man that showed he was smart and married the right woman.

“She was instrumental in getting me elected with all the work that she did in that first campaign,” he said.

Rita is a law clerk at Baudler, Maus and Forman LLP. The two have been married since 1986 and have two children: Kevin, a physicians assistant in Santa Barbara, Calif., and Megan, who is studying to be a dietitian.

Groh said life is like a book, and he’s getting ready to write the next chapter.

“In the future, I’d like to become an even better writer,” he said.