Greene County Assessor Willard Neill died unexpectedly Sunday morning at his Highland Township home from a heart attack.
He was 78.
Neill had filed his candidacy and was seeking a second term as county assessor.
Greene County Coroner Sherri Wilson said Neill died of natural causes ---- a heart attack.
On Monday afternoon, Renie Powell, who has served as Chief Deputy in Neill's office since he first took office in 2011, was sworn in as the interim county assessor.
A notice was mailed on Monday to the Greene County Republican Party Chairman Pam Yoho, notifying her of the vacancy and stipulating that the party must have a caucus meeting within 30 days to name a replacement to fill out Neill's term, which ends Dec. 31, according to Marjorie Cullison, an assistant in the county Voter Registration office.
Neill's name will not appear on the primary election ballot in May, because the ballots have not yet been printed, Cullison said.
Powell said this is not the way she wanted to transition to be the county assessor, but she said there had been discussions with Neill about her succeeding him when he decided to leave office.
"That was the goal from the beginning when Willard asked me to come work for him. He asked me to work my tail off and get all my levels of certification and be ready to run," she told the Greene County Daily World.
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