Underwood's career began in 1979 in Auditor's Office, and that's where it ended in 2024

A new name is listed on the Wayne County Auditor’s website, Russell Robertson. Who is he?

After 44 years of serving the public, Auditor Jarra L. Underwood retired in February, passing the torch to Robertson, Robertson, who was appointed interim auditor by the Wayne County commissioners.

Underwood began her career in 1979, when she was hired to work in the real estate department of the Auditor’s Office. In a recent meeting with staff, she described how her time with Wayne County began.

“I always wanted to hold a public office,” she said. “My family was always involved in political campaigns, and as a child I campaigned with my great-aunt.”

Underwood described a time when prior Auditor Glenn Newland came into her family’s hardware store in Shreve and talked to her. After observing her interactions with customers, Newland asked Underwood to join his office. She applied and worked in the real estate department from 1979-1999 when she was elected auditor, becoming the third generation in her family to hold an elected position in the county.

During her time in office, Underwood helped oversee the implementation of technology into daily operations. She began working during at a time when computers did not exist, numbers were crunched using adding machines, documents were prepared using typewriters and filing cabinets were full of property record cards.

As Wayne County grew, Underwood knew change was necessary and technology was needed to fulfill her responsibility to taxpayers.

So, how does Russell Robertson fit into the picture?

Robertson began working in the Auditor’s Office in 2016 as the Geographic Information System (GIS) director. The director position works closely with nearly every county office as well as townships, cities and villages. While often described as digital mapping, GIS also involves maintaining servers, database management, data analytics, data visualization and mapping.

With technology becoming increasingly central to the Auditor’s Office, Robertson’s role as the GIS director naturally found him heavily involved in nearly every aspect of the office, from real estate, to the agricultural CAUV, websites, triennial updates, dog tags and weights and measures.

In 2022, Underwood saw in Russell leadership potential. She spent the next two years mentoring Robertson to succeed her.

“I am grateful to have worked so closely with Jarra for the past two years. With the number of statutory duties given to the county auditor, the job is extremely complex and would have been very difficult to step into the position without any previous exposure,” Robertson said.

New auditor has a passion for stats

Robertson has a bachelor of science degree in engineering geology with a minor in mathematics. While pursuing his master of science degree in geoenvironmental studies/geography, Robertson realized his passion for GIS, statistical analysis and real estate. He chose to use Underwood’s real estate data and his abilities in GIS to develop a model to predict home prices throughout Wayne County, years before working for Underwood was even a thought in his mind.

“My master’s program gave me the ability to research any topic of my choice. It seems fitting that my interests led me to research one of the most important aspects of a Wayne County Auditor’s Office," Robertson said. "As a result, I was very familiar with Jarra’s data years before she hired me as her GIS director.”

Robertson plans to run on the Republican ticket in the November election in hopes of being elected Wayne County Auditor. He plans to continue in Underwood's footsteps, helping the office evolve with technology becoming more efficient and accurate. Robertson hopes to enhance communication with the taxpayers of Wayne County by establishing a social media presence.

“Jarra made exceptional public service the backbone of the Wayne County Auditor’s Office," he said. "That focus on customer service cannot and will not change. At the end of the day, this office isn’t mine or Jarra’s, this is the auditor’s office of the people of Wayne County.”

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Robertson named Wayne auditor after Jarra Underwood retirement