Who you're voting for: Write-in candidate Dawn Deputy runs for Athens County Treasurer

The race for Athens County Treasurer will feature a unique candidate this fall, with Dawn Deputy running as a write-in candidate.

She will face Democrat Taylor Sappington in the Nov. 5 General Election.

Deputy has been a resident of Athens County for the past 26 years. She worked in a variety of positions including her previous role as the fiscal officer for the Athens County Sheriff’s Office and her current role as the treasurer of The Plains Volunteer Fire Department. Recently, Deputy completed her master’s degree in accounting and is waiting to take her Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam to fully gain her CPA licensure.

“As an elected official, you work for the county, you work for the citizens,” Deputy said. “And I want to have an open door policy. I plan on being the type that I’m an employee too.”

One of her main focuses is community outreach and communication, with her proposed open door policy playing a large role in her plans should her campaign be successful, she said. Several citizens have expressed frustration with their ability to obtain meetings with the current treasurer, she added.

Deputy hopes to alleviate these frustrations in two main ways — her proposed open door policy and citizen education.

She highlighted many citizens’ confusion and questions regarding a variety of county programs such as the land bank, tax escrow, budgeting and more. She wants to work to fix this issue through monthly or bi-monthly education events for Athens County residents.

“These are all things that people need to be educated on and I don’t feel that anybody is educating people on it,” Deputy said. “And I’m not trying to be mean against Athens County but it is a poverty stricken area. Which, like I said, these kids are coming out of high school without the basic knowledge to do these things. So yeah, as a person I feel responsible to kind of say, hey, let’s talk.”

Deputy’s open door policy would work in conjunction with her educational programming, as citizens would be able to make appointments with her directly to ask any questions or simply learn more about her work, she said.

“It’d be easy to run just a small report and answer questions. Because if a person doesn’t have the accounting background, they may not understand it,” Deputy said. “So as the person there, like I said, I want them to feel free to say ‘Okay, I don’t understand this, can you explain it to me?’ and explain it to them in their own terms that make them understand.”

Although, Deputy kept her plans to run for treasurer very quiet until her official announcement, she received strong encouragement from various personal acquaintances, she said. Since her announcement, she has received further positive responses from constituents.

She is slightly concerned, however, due to her position as a write-in candidate. Running for election as a write-in name can be difficult as many citizens have not voted for a write-in candidate previously. In order to help mitigate any difficulties voters may experience, Deputy is working to distribute postcards and brochures with step-by-step instructions on voting.

“My thing is trust, transparency and accountability because I mean, you know, you have to have trust and transparency to be accountable to your residents, they are the people that elected you,” Deputy said. “So you need to be accountable for their tax dollars being spent properly.”