Fraise changes direction on retirement plans

LEE COUNTY – Lee County Auditor Denise Fraise announced Monday that she will now not be resigning from her position at the end of the year, and will stay as the county’s Auditor through the end of 2024.
Fraise told Supervisors Monday that she has decided to stay in the position until her term is over after someone came forward from the Lee County Treasurer’s office to step in as Deputy Auditor.
Sherri Yasenchok, who’s been with the Treasurer’s office for almost one year, told officials she would be willing to be Fraise’s Deputy Auditor and then would consider running for the position for the general election in 2024.
Yasenchok was introduced by Fraise at last weekend’s Lee County Republican dinner held near Keokuk. Yasenchok would run on the Republican ticket for the position leading up to the election.
Yasenchok has more than two decades in accounting, office management, and human resources experience since starting her career with an air cargo company in the 90s in California.
She said she made the decision after conversations with peers.
 “I decided when talking with Denise Fraise, that my past and current experience would be valuable to the position and decided to announce my decision at the Lee County Republican Banquet on July 15^th,” Yasenchok said.
“Through multiple conversations with (Budget Director) Cindy Renstrom and Denise, I decided this was a perfect fit for my experience and hopefully I can bring some new knowledge to the county offices.  I decided that since Denise was retiring next year that I wanted to get my name out there so I can be training for the position I am also running for.” 
Yasenchok said her past experience will help her navigate the learning curve of the budget and auditor’s offices. 
“I have always been in controller, accounting manager positions that have allowed me to gain knowledge of all aspects of accounting, and I have been through budgets to audits over the years that I feel have provided me with the knowledge to be successful at learning Cindy’s job also.”
Fraise said she wanted to get Yasenchok in her office as soon as possible. Renstrom said it would be good to allow Yasenchok to help in the Treasurer’s office with transitions of staff and new hires.
The county will now start looking to fill the positions in that department.
Fraise announced earlier this month that she would be retiring from the Auditor’s post at the end of the year. She had offered to stay on part-time to be the board of supervisors' secretary.