Former treasurer coaches new candidate for office

An old hand is temporarily at the helm of the Lake County Treasurer’s Office. But emergency acting treasurer Robin Vert-Rubel says she’ll happily relinquish the reins at the end of the year, when candidate Rebecca Maso takes the oath of office.  

Vert-Rubel agreed to return to her post mid-summer when former treasurer Erika Jennison stepped down, citing health reasons. Jennison had been elected in November 2023 to replace Vert-Rubel, who had retired June 30 of last year after serving as treasurer since 2018.

Vert-Rubel agreed to step in again, she said, in order to help train deputy treasurer Maso, “and to get the county current.” She will continue to show Maso the ropes until late December, when the former treasurer will be free once again to resume her retirement in Sanders County.

And Maso, who has no opponent in the election, will take on the challenging task of making sure that the money that comes into Lake County “is posted to the correct accounts when it comes in and is dispersed to the correct accounts going out.”

Maso was hired in 2018 by Vert-Rubel to work in the Treasurer’s Office, first in bookkeeping and then in the motor vehicle division, where she served as an executive administrative assistant.

“I saw something in her and, when one gal quit, I moved her in as the deputy treasurer – a position that really oversees daily stuff,” recalled Vert-Rubel.

What caught her eye? “Her wanting to deal with numbers, her wanting to learn, her wanting to research and figure out why,” said Vert-Rubel.

“That does not come naturally to a lot of people, dealing with numbers,” she added. “But numbers don't confuse Rebecca. She wants to know why and how come. She's not afraid to ask.”

If Maso’s current job is to make sure the daily ledgers balance, the treasurer's job is more complex. “It’s to take everything for the month, balance it to the penny, and then disperse everything,” Vert-Rubel explained.

That includes income from state and federal sources, as well as local property taxes that fund county government, schools and fire, water and sewer districts.

“We're essentially the bank for the county,” Maso added. “Anything coming in through taxes and other sources, it all goes right back out. So we have to make sure that it balances coming in and balances going out – which makes it sound simple, but it's not.”

Maso grew up in the Mission Valley and attended Glacier View Christian School before moving to Washington, where she attended a Christian boarding school, and then worked for Inland Empire Food Services, a multi-million-dollar corporation, as an administrative assistant.

She eventually returned to Polson and was employed at the Mission Valley Aquatic Center before joining the Lake County Treasurer’s Office.

She is married to retired Polson Police officer Juan Maso, and the couple has “a lovely yellow lab.” She’s also the proud aunt of five nephews.

Maso clearly feels an affinity for numbers. That’s a skill that’s apt to be useful in her new job.

The deputy treasurer, who was chosen by the Republican Central Committee to replace Jennison on the November ballot, says she feels good about her decision to run for office.

“It was nothing I had in the plans for my future, but the way things have played out, I feel it's a duty to my community to share my knowledge and experience.”