Aeschliman settling into her new role as county administrator

Yahoo

18-05-2025

May 17—After almost two months in her role as Freeborn County's new administrator, Melanie Aeschliman has hit the ground running and says she is excited to continue to work through the challenges facing the county.
The Freeborn County Board of Commissioners hired Aeschliman to fill the vacancy left when former Administrator Ryan Rasmusson resigned in October for a new opportunity. She comes to Freeborn County after working as administrator for the city of Blooming Prairie and also working in a few different positions with assessments in North Dakota and Alaska.
Aeschliman lives in Waseca and drives to Albert Lea for the position, though she noted she may eventually look to move to the county.
When she arrived in Freeborn County, she said she felt there was a disconnect between the Board of Commissioners and the staff, so she felt it was important to meet with all of the department heads and the board to better understand needs for the departments. She said she has also worked on helping all of them understand that there needs to be a give-and-take.
She also noted the high turnover in some of the departments, which she said is never good for those departments or for the county as a whole.
With the vacancy in the assessor role, she said another one of her tasks and priorities has been communicating with the state and keeping them apprised of efforts the county is taking to fill the position.
She thanked the staff in the assessor's office, who have stepped up to cover the vacancy.
Aeschliman said Minnesota has strict requirements about qualifications for assessors, and while the county has had some quality candidates apply with years of service and internationally recognized courses, they did not meet the state criteria.
It is also challenging to recruit someone from the Twin Cities because of the local pay scales.
The state has given the county multiple extensions to fill the position.
Aside from these tasks, in the coming months, Aeschliman said she hopes to focus on updating county policy and flushing out some of the problematic policies, particularly regarding new laws in the state.
She also pointed to clearing up policy regarding the county's core hours, depending on department, which she hopes will clear up a lot of uncertainty for staff.
"I don't think policy has been at the forefront here in our mindset," she said.
She also hopes to bring some training regarding workplace environment, develop more unified documentation for resolutions and begin connecting more with leaders from the city of Albert Lea and the Albert Lea Economic Development Agency.
"I will say from day one, though, we've been hitting the ground running," Aeschliman said. "I've really been booked up."
She looks forward to going out and learning about other needs in the community.
She also hopes to implement new budgeting software to ease the transparency and understanding during the budget process.
"I knew there was challenges coming in," Aeschliman said. "They shared that in the interview process. I'm a person who likes challenges. It's been fun and I'm excited to help put those challenges back in perspective and we can get going in the right direction."
She reminded residents that she has the best interest of the taxpayers in mind.
She also pointed out that despite the upheaval in the Assessor's Office, the state's review of appraisals recently came back positive, which analyzes sales and other numbers.
She said the county will soon be looking at a more in-depth commercial reappraisal.
As she continues forward in her role, Aeschliman also continues to work through classes to obtain her doctorate. She said education is important to her, and she will continue to encourage staff to continue their education, as well, balancing all of their responsibilities and continuing to keep maintaining services as the top priority.
"I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here," she said.