After 16 years of service as Cole County public administrator, Marilyn Schmutzler has decided to step down.
"I won't run again in 2016," she said. "But we'll get somebody good who cares about the people."
Schmutzler is 79 years old now; she'll be 81 on Dec. 31, 2016, when her terms comes to a close.
"It's really been a joy," she said. "But it's time for me to retire."
The Cole County Democratic Central Committee recently honored her with the James T. Blair Award, named for a former Missouri governor. The award recognizes recipients for their community service.
Schmutzler was tapped for the position by Gov. Mel Carnahan in 1999 after previous administrators had cycled in and out of the job. Prior to her appointment, Schmutzler worked in area law offices for 40 years. Her plan was to retire back then, but fate intervened.
"'I want you to get in there and get the place straightened out,'" she said Carnahan told her. "My legal background prepared me for a lot of it."
Although she promised Carnahan she would campaign for one term, she has since been re-elected to four four-year terms.
Serving as public administrator is a big job. Anyone who has ever been tasked with caring for an aging parent or watching over a disabled relative will be familiar with what it takes.
Schmutzler currently serves as the guardian or conservator of 240 people from Cole County. Some are mentally ill; others are developmentally disabled. A few suffer from brain injury, dementia or Alzheimer's.
They have no one else to care for them.
Agencies like Pathways and New Horizons can only do so much to help patients, Schmutzler explained, because clients must voluntarily accept their services. When people get to a point where they are a danger to themselves, the agencies ask for the public administrator's office to file for legal guardianship or conservatorship.
The judicial system makes the call.
According to Missouri law, the duty of a public administrator is to taken into charge and custody the estates of all deceased persons, and the person and estates of all minors and incapacitated people when circumstances demand it.
As public administrator, Schmutzler ensures each of her clients has a safe place to live, food to eat and medical care. Her team ensures their bills are paid and they have small allowances to spend. Many of her charges live in residential care facilities, assisted living settings, group homes and skilled nursing homes. It's her responsibility to sell their houses, if necessary, or auction off their belongings.
Some of her clients live here in Cole County; others reside elsewhere in Missouri.
The majority of them work.
"These people want to be as independent as possible," Schmutzler said.
It's not always an easy task care for someone else's needs. And not every client voluntarily surrenders his or her freedom.
"Sometimes I'm the bad guy," Schmutzler said.
Responsible for so many lives, Schmutzler said she sleeps with her cell phone on her pillow, so she can respond to emergencies.
But she noted one of the blessing of the job is working with a team of professionals who find solutions by working together.
"We have a wonderful community," Schmutzler said. "I like to be a part of a team, helping people."
She said her work ethic - she was raised on a dairy - has kept her in the job after others would have retired.
Serving as public administrator is not a job for someone who simply wants a nice title or a good salary. It takes someone with a caring heart, she said.
"It's a very difficult, serious job," she said.
Her faith informs her work. As a member of the Catholic Immaculata Club for 35 years, Schmutzler and her friends did something special - ice cream socials, Thanksgiving dinners, homemade sandwiches - every month for the residents of Fulton State Hospital.
Although she is one of only two Democrats left in power in Cole County - the other is Presiding Circuit Court Judge Patricia Joyce - people from across the political spectrum have helped her.
"The job has nothing to do with politics, and Republicans and Democrats alike have supported me," she said.
Leaving the job has been a difficult decision, she said, because not everyone is ready to see her leave the position.
"But it's time for me to retire," she said. "I'm going to sleep without the cell phone on my pillow. I'm looking forward to having time to read books again, and spend with my friends."