Few of the Hamilton County Auditor employees had ever met State Representative Brigid Kelly before she got the nod from the Hamilton County Democratic Party and then the voters of Hamilton County to replace our long standing Auditor, Dusty Rhodes, upon his retirement. After all, Dusty had been our Auditor and boss for 31 years, and many of us remembered him also as a famous WSAI DJ and later a DJ for other radio stations through syndication of his shows. He was a fixture in our lives and the lives of the local community.

We were recognizably apprehensive of the change.

Literally, it took but one meeting for all apprehensiveness to be washed away by our new Auditor's distinctively green Irish charm, wit, and eagerness to be our Auditor. We learned in short order that the spirit we saw every single day in the Auditor's office was how Brigid met all of her life: head-on with a "how can I make your day better" twinkle in her eye and resolve in her heart. She was determined to know it all: both the complexities of the office and those responsible for its duties.

She was contagious. No room was a stranger. Each meeting ended with a united effort to do better, no matter how difficult and estranged the meeting might have begun.

She was elected in November 2022, and sworn in in March 2023 as Hamilton County's first female Auditor. She had to be a quick learner since looming before her was the state mandated every six year real estate reappraisal. This wasn't just any reappraisal, but instead was one on the heels of a never been seen before real estate housing boom, which would cause values to soar for many and corresponding real estate taxes to rise for nearly all home owners.

Brigid dug in. She learned every aspect of our office and the reappraisal process. She rallied employees to do more, to do better, and to empathetically help property owners understand that sometimes a rule-driven state law hurts, but that we can figure out a way to deal with it and then, if necessary, work to change it.

She did this with that same Irish wit, charm, and grit, all the while battling persistent cancer.

Few ever saw her wince. We saw her continue to come into the office, sometimes in obvious discomfort, but never without the determination to make that day better.

And then, suddenly her cancer took her from us.

Yes, she was lost to us physically, but never will she be gone from our hearts and from our daily lives as Auditor employees. She was our leader. She was our inspiration. She was our friend.

Her resume in summation reads "recently married, proud sister to two brothers, homegrown Cincinnatian from a long line of dedicated public service ancestors; locally educated at St. Ursula, University of Cincinnati, and Xavier University; former City of Norwood councilperson; former State Representative for the 31st house district which included her hometown of Norwood Ohio; former Communications Director for the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), Locals 700 and 75, representing 13,000 members in the grocery and food processing industries across the Midwest; and elected Hamilton County's first female County Auditor in 2022".

We Auditor employees who had the privilege of working with her add, "thank you for being in our lives, albeit briefly, and for showing us how to meet each day with courage and a smile . . . and of course with a sprinkling of Kelly green".

Bless you Brigid Kelly!



Hamilton County Auditor Employees