Tom Houselog will leave his post this summer as Rock County Land Records director after a 46-year career that spanned 21 years in Rock County and 25 years in Pipestone County.
In his June 24 resignation letter to Rock County Administrator Kyle Oldre, he said he’ll miss his work and the people he worked with and for.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my work here for Rock County and have appreciated the respect you and the County Board have shown me,” Houselog wrote.
“… I will deeply miss the relationships that I have made within the county and am immensely proud to have been part of this office and its accomplishments.”
He started in Rock County in 2000, replacing Bob Meester.
‘Mantle of change’
Since then, Houselog led his staff through a series of departmental and technology changes that have benefited county workers and taxpayers.
For example, he guided the process in recent years to digitize recording and assessing work.
“He’s carried the mantle of change for us,” Oldre said.
“They used to do all paper, books and cards, and now he’s got them all digitized. … His whole field has really changed.”
Houselog said the automation improves efficiencies and accuracies and results in better outcomes for staff and taxpayers.
“For assessing, we can basically compute values in a fraction of the time it used to take,” he said. “And that allows us to spend more time knocking on doors in the public to make sure the information we used in the calculation is accurate.”
Recording and assessing
Houselog assisted with consolidating the county recorder’s office and assessor’s office, and he steered the combined workforce through employee shortages when assessors became hard to find.
The Land Records Office records real estate transactions and handles birth certificates, marriage records and other vital records.
But assessing work — placing value on a home, barn and other structures for property tax purposes —requires the most manpower, especially since the county assesses thousands of parcels.
In 2017 the state mandated that anyone who appraises or physically inspects real estate for property tax purposes must have an Accredited Minnesota Assessor license by July 1, 2022.
The four-year accreditation involves completing about 400 hours of continuing education plus successful completion of each of the tests, submitting a qualified residential narrative form report and passing a comprehensive appraisal exam.
This prompted many part-timers to give up their assessing work, and townships and small cities were unable to attract and pay accredited assessors.
Small governments turned to the county for assessing services, which counties by law must provide.
With the additional townships and cities, the county increased its assessing load from roughly 3,400 parcels to more than double that number.
‘Incredibly professional’
Despite these accomplishments Houselog was most concerned about his office’s relationship with the people it served.
“My goal from Day 1 has been to restore integrity and openness to this office, and hope that I have done so,” he said in his resignation letter.
Oldre said Houselog has been a credit to his profession, carrying out the often unpopular task of assessing property values for the purpose of taxation.
“It’s a difficult job,” Oldre said. “Every year somebody’s mad, correlating valuation with taxes. And yet he’s handled it, I think, in an incredibly professional way.”
He said part of Houselog’s success in the field can be attributed to his humble demeanor and patient explanation of processes.
“He tries to educate people on how he came to the number he came to and he’s had great success with that,” OIdre said.
“I think that’s reflected by the few people who come to the board of reviews and board of equalization meetings.”
Houselog returned the compliment.
“It makes the job easier when you have good support from your administrator and commissioners,” he said. “They have been fantastic to work with.”
Meanwhile he’s found satisfaction in the improvements over the years.
“I wanted to leave the office better than when I got there — not that things were in total disarray, but I think we all want that in our careers,” he said.
“I wanted to leave it better for the staff and better for the public.”
Replacing experience
The County Commissioners accepted Houselog’s resignation at their July 6 meeting, when they also discussed plans to replace him.
Oldre said in order to do Houselog’s job, a person needs to be a “Senior Accredited Minnesota Assessor.”
The three people who work with Houselog in the Land Records Office are Jeff Sehr, Scott Adams and Rachel Jacobs.
Sehr has his certification as a senior accredited Minnesota assessor, and the other two are certified Minnesota assessors, but Oldre said they could all three qualify for the director’s position with proper training.
Houselog pledged to do what he can to help with the transition as he leaves.
He and his wife of 45 years, Cindy, live in Pipestone. They have three children and seven grandchildren (six of them boys, and the youngest a girl).
Cindy retired June 1 from her 27-year career with the Pipestone Family Clinic where she worked as Patient Services Manager.
At 68, Houselog’s last day in the Rock County Courthouse will be at the end of July.
“It’s hard to leave a job you love,” he said. “I loved meeting the taxpayers and the people coming in the Land Record Office.”