Photo by Chris Docter The new Bennett County Director of Equalization/Assessor-Appraiser, Diana Merchen-Lipford says she has long awaited an opportunity to escape the rat race in the Sturgis area and move to her family’s ranch.
By Chris Docter
Diana Merchen-Lipford may have grown up in the Sturgis area, but her heart has always been on her family’s ranch. When her cousin reached out to her for help on the ranch, Diana jumped on the opportunity. Finding a day job to suit her was the only challenge. Fortunately, Bennett County had been waiting for someone just like her to take the open Director of Equalization position. She has been in the position since November 10 and feels it is a good fit for her and the county both.
Diana’s father, along with his five brothers and two sisters grew up on the family ranch in the Norris/Blackpipe area. “I believe the family has had that ranch for close to a hundred years,” recalls Diana. Her father left the ranch however, to go to work at the Homestake gold mine in Lead. Diana remembers travelling back to the family ranch at every opportunity. “I spent every summer there. I loved riding horses and I loved the peace and quiet of the country.”
When her grandparents passed the cattle ranch was bought out by two of Diana’s uncles. Then, when one of them passed, her cousin inherited half. As time went on she discovered that the ranch was quite run down and needed a lot of repair and maintenance. That’s when she reached out to Diana for help.
“I had tried to come out a few years ago, but my son is a single father and needed help with my grandkids, so I stayed...Now, my grandson is in kindergarten and they don’t need grandma as much.”
Diana says she chose to take the open DOE position because she has worked several jobs in her life that have set her up to be successful. “I have an associates degree in accounting, so that really helps me understand depreciation and all of those kinds of things,” she explains. “I’ve also run a lot of cash registers and done a lot of customer service over the years.” The combination of number crunching, understanding the needs of the people, and her love of the area have prepared her well for this position.
She has learned quite a bit in the short time she has been on the job. She has spent time doing field work in which she goes out and takes measurements on land and buildings. She says there will also be opportunities to do soil testing to help determine prospective land yields.
There’s plenty of office time as well, Diana admits. We also do tax assessments once a year and we just sent out tax exemption notices. “So far, that’s my grasp of the job, but I’ve only been working for two weeks.” She says she expects to interact with many property owners and will do what she can for the community.
It seems that Diana will be a good fit for the Bennett County Director of Equalization/Assessor-Appraiser position, as not only is she knowledgeable, but she is happy to be in the area. “When I leave the Sturgis area and I get to Wall, I let out a sigh. Then I get to Kadoka and I have another big sigh. The stress just lifts off of you, just coming to the country where you don’t have to deal with the rat race and all of the craziness.”