DC finance director heads to new challenges

After 12-1/2 years as Dodge Center’s finance director, Julie Beth is headed down the road to Rochester where she has assumed her new duties as director of finance for the Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency.
Her final day in Dodge Center was last Wednesday, and she started her new duties the next day.
In her new position she has three people working under her, Beth said, and though the finance aspects of SMMPA will be similar to what she did in Dodge Center, there will not be as much variety.
Beth explained that although her title was finance director, she wore many hats over the years.
As Dodge Center grew, she said, the duties she took on also grew.
“I did a lot of things,” Beth said.
She was the city’s first finance director as the deputy city clerk had done those duties before. Over the years she came to manage the Aquatic Center, served as head election judge, human resources and did the OSHA reporting among other duties that cropped up from time to time.
The growth in her job, she said, mirrored the growth of the city.
When she started, the entire payroll was 12 people. Today, she said, there are up to 90 people on the payroll during the summer months. That includes the 35 people working at the Aquatic Center during the summer and the ambulance volunteers who are now paid.
The city budget has increased over the years, again due to the many projects needed by a growing city. Projects during her tenure have included the Aquatic Center, the new ambulance building and the airport project. She said she especially enjoyed working with the Aquatic Center and its growth over the years.
“It’s been enjoyable to watch the growth of the town,” she said.
Beth came to Dodge Center after working for 15 years in the construction accounting field and as a project manager.
She grew up in Kasson and graduated from high school there and now lives in Mantorville with her family. She has a bachelor’s degree in business management/accounting and a master’s in public administration.
SMMPA is a non-profit agency that supplies power to its member cities, Beth said. The agency then bills the cities for their power usage.
“I’m sure there is a lot I have to learn,” she said, adding that she wants to know the process of the agency from beginning to end. “I’m looking forward to that.”
Over the years in city administration she has dealt with many people. She said if she learned just one thing, and it is her advice to anyone dealing with the public, it’s that just because you might have a conflict with a citizen the first time you meet them that doesn’t define who they are.