T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Jill Tompkins, center, who serves as the assistant to the county engineer in the Secondary Roads department, was honored for 25 years of service to Marshall County during Wednesday morning’s Board of Supervisors meeting. Also pictured are Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Carol Hibbs, left, and County Engineer Paul Geilenfeldt, right.

Jill Tompkins has been a public servant in Marshall County for 25 years — first in the treasurer’s office for 13 years, and then in the engineer’s office the last 12.

A Marshalltown native, upon graduating high school, she set her sights on nursing school at Mankato State University. But once she started a family, she changed her mind, hesitant to embark on a career pathway with potentially long hours and hectic schedule.

“I decided that wasn’t my route, and got a job at F&M Bank in Marshalltown, and worked there for like a year,” she recalled. “I got to know Deane Adams, who was the treasurer for Marshall County. There was an opening in the treasurer’s office, motor vehicle part, and I applied for that, and I’ve been with the county ever since.”

Tompkins handled vehicle transfers, renewed and transferred car tags and property taxes.

“I did both sides of the treasurer’s office at that point,” she noted.

Then she got an opportunity for career advancement.

“The administrative assistant that was over at the engineer’s office was getting ready to retire and I saw that position becoming available,” she said. “I learned payroll, a lot of the accounting side of the office.”

As someone who has always liked working with numbers, the job was a perfect fit.

“I excelled in math and science in school,” she said.

On June 6, 2024 — her birthday — she was promoted within that office to assistant of Marshall County Engineer Paul C. Geilenfeldt. The office works on the roads and bridges outside of the Marshalltown city limits. She noted that Marshall County has approximately 920 miles of roads. Two hundred of those miles are paved roads, 700 miles are rock roads (gravel), and about 20 miles are dirt roads. For some perspective, it is about 900 miles to Atlanta, GA from Marshalltown.

“I still do some of the accounting side of it, but payroll and HR goes to our office manager. If (Geilenfeldt) needs a map, I have a program that I can go in and create maps that we use to do routes for resurfacing all our gravel roads every year,” she said. “I’m taking some classes to learn about bridges and resurfacing the paved roads.”

Geilenfeldt said Tompkins is an amazing part of the office, with accurate handling of accounts payable and accounts receivable.

“She is willing to learn new tasks (like working with FEMA) that aren’t always pleasant,” he said. “Jill is always willing to listen when I have an idea or problem that needs consideration. I can always trust her to share an honest opinion. Jill is considerate when helping concerned residents and will help coworkers whenever needed. One of her best traits is her sense of humor. You don’t have to be crazy to work in the county engineer’s office, but it helps.”

Tompkins keeps track of how many tons of rock is used each year, who hauled it, and which roads can have heavy equipment pass on it.

“I do a lot of approving those permits for those companies…I also bill and collect payments. That’s the accounting side. Kind of nerdy and boring,” she said with a laugh.

Sometimes, the Marshall County Engineer’s Office collaborates with the City of Marshalltown and bordering counties’ engineer offices. Grundy, Tama, Jasper, Story and Hardin counties border the county. Any combination of factors may require Marshall County officials to get involved, especially if safety is an issue.

“We have a bridge on the Tama County line that is actually Tama’s bridge, but when that bridge went out, we helped block it off and get it safer, so that nobody would get in an accident on it,” she said.

Tompkins said working for the county has allowed her to learn new things and challenge herself.

In her personal life, she has a granddaughter named Lylah, daughters Cassidy and Alyssa, and husband Hoss. She reads, goes to movies and travels when she can, particularly relishing time around water.

“I enjoy going to any body of water and enjoying the sunshine. Whether that’s a lake or an ocean. That’s my happy place,” Tompkins said.