ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Born in Nebraska, Lina Hill would soon move south in her childhood after her parents found work in Tyrone, Okla., about 10 miles from Liberal.
Hill would go on to graduate from Tyrone High School in 1990, and after attending Oklahoma State University briefly, she found herself back in the Panhandle.
“My parents needed help here,” she said. “I came back, and we did the restaurant business for quite a while. I started working in my adult life in the appraiser’s office, and today, I’m in the treasurer’s office.”
Hill worked in the Seward County Appraiser’s office for about 12 years before going to work in the City of Liberal’s Building Department for a short time. In 2016, she came back to work for the county, this time in the treasurer’s office, and now, she is one of three candidates looking to replace outgoing Register of Deeds Karen Warden.
Hill said it was not just the position being open available that made her choose to run for the office.
“In my adult life, I have worked in the appraiser’s office with the values, the sales of homes, visiting with taxpayers, informing taxpayers,” she said. “I’ve been around it my whole adult career. I liked it so much when I left the appraiser’s office.”
During her working life, Hill likewise got a real estate license, and she said she did not like being away from the valuation and home selling part of her work. This is just some of what appealed to her about the register of deeds office.
“It’s something interesting to me,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of work around the office that involves the office, but not in the office.”
As for goals, Hill said her top priority if she is elected is to make a smooth transition from Warden’s time in the position to hers.
“My first goal is to not let people feel a change,” she said. “I know that’s going to be difficult. I don’t know if some employees would stay the same or if everyone will change. A person won’t know that until you get started, but my first goal is for the public not to notice anything is different.”
Seward County recently installed a new computer system from the Colorado-based company, Computer Information Concepts. Hill said in her time in the treasurer’s office, she has become familiar with the new software.
“There’s a lot of changes we’re still getting used to,” she said. “I’ve actually helped that office a little bit try to understand what to do in the program or submit tickets to get some help. That is going to be an ongoing process.”
This is why technology is also at the forefront of Hill’s priorities.
“I would like to be able utilize the technology more in that office,” she said.
Hill said much of her work in her current job and prior ones have greatly prepared her for taking on the position of register of deeds.
“I have noticed a great deal already in the treasurer’s office with knowing how to understand a legal description,” she said. “Even right now, people will come in with a deed for their house. Sometimes, it’ll refer to the address as ‘also known as’ whatever street, but sometimes, they don’t list the address on there. You have to be able to look up the subdivision block and lot, and I already know how to do that from time in the appraiser’s office. Now in the deeds office, I’m familiar with reeding deeds. I’m familiar with measuring on distances. I can get more in depth with it.”
Hill said she likewise wants to continue some of the same standards in the deeds office such as those concerning properly reading documents and treating people with kindness and respect.
“A lot of my friends and family have called me crazy because I love working for county government,” she said. “I liked it a little better than at the city, and I’m not sure why. It’s just a different clientele of people, but I just like to help the public. I don’t even think it would be the same in a different industry. I really like the public service and the one-on-one communication with the public.”
Hill’s opponents in Tuesday’s primary, Janet Thompson and Jill Garinger, also work with the county, with Thompson herself currently working in the register of deeds office. Hill said having that experience makes all three candidates an ideal choice for the position.
“In my opinion, Seward County is a very easy place to work,” she said. “No one is upset when someone wants to better themselves and switch departments. I appreciate that a lot about the county. To me, it can only help strengthen the county bond. We’re proud to work for the county, and I think the commissioners appreciate that also.”
Hill, Thompson and Garinger all have longevity with Seward County, and Hill said this simply means they enjoy their jobs.
“I think no matter who is in that office of the three of us, we all have pride in our jobs,” she said. “I know we all love our jobs, and that’s why we’re striving to do something different and better.”
While she is confident she has the skills to handle the position, Hill said she knows who fills it will come down to the ballots cast in Tuesday’s primary.
“I feel I have some experience, but voters are voters,” she said. “They have their own minds. You never know. I hope my time in each office, whether it be the treasurer’s office or doing real estate and working with realtors, even insurance agents or people in the treasurer’s office, I hope their experiences with me will reflect in their minds when they go to vote. I feel I’ve had a good time at work, and there’s not a day I don’t want to come to work because I enjoy my job.”
Thompson and Garinger too have longtime ties to Southwest Kansas. Thompson was born in Ashland, and she and her husband, Randy, were married there before moving to Liberal, where they have lived for 50 years.
The couple raised two children in the USD 480 school system, and both are now married and still living in Kansas. In addition to her experience in the Seward County Register of Deeds office, Thompson had some prior work in the field, preparing taxes and other accounting duties.
As a member of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Thompson participated as a Sunday school teacher, choir director, organist and treasurer.
After her children were grown, the Thompsons started a farming operation on the family’s farm in Clark County for 20 years before Randy had to retire due to health reasons. It was then the couple elected to come back to Liberal.
After a short time back in Liberal, Thompson decided to go back to work and was hired in the register of deeds office in 2015 as a deeds clerk and passport agent, and she has remained there for the past eight and a half years.
Garinger’s family also has longtime history in Seward County, with her parents graduating from Liberal High School.
“My dad was a lineman with the power company in Liberal for 40 plus years,” she said in her opening statement at the recent candidate forum at the Rock Island Depot.
Garinger’s experience in the deeds field began at a young age.
“In high school, I went to work part time for Southwest Title owned by the Sharp McQueen law firm,” she said.
Garinger would go on to attend Seward County Community College, and she would then go to work full time for Southwest Title.
“After starting full time, I worked to get my title insurance license,” she said. “As a licensed title insurance agent, my experience is deeply rooted in safeguarding both buyers and lenders in real estate transactions. Every day brought new challenges and opportunities to research and analyze property titles, ensuring they were free from legal encumbrancers and disputes.”
Garinger said this involved delving into historical records, deeds, surveys and other documents, all with a keen eye for detail and all of which would be part of the job of register of deeds.
Garinger added in her time with Southwest Title, she spent much time in the vault at the deeds office researching real estate records, and in 2001, she began working for Seward County.
“Currently, I’m an administrative assistant to John Ralston at EMS,” she said. “At EMS, I have a variety of responsibilities – processing purchase orders, preparing employee time to submit to payroll, processing patient care reports for billing, receiving patient payments, preparing and submitting deposits, gathering and presenting information to accountants for the annual audit and responding to requests for legal records.”
Garinger currently lives in Seward County with her husband, John, who is also a county employee.
“John has been with Seward County since 1994,” she said. He became the noxious weed director in 2001.”
Garinger said her prior experience in title insurance and her extensive history with the county make her great fit for the register of deeds position.
“One of my goals as register of deeds will be to modernize and streamline our system to better serve the needs of our citizens in the digital age,” she said.
