BENTON -- Scott County government will see a changing of the guard in the upcoming months when three long-time county officials leave office.

Presiding Commissioner Bob Kielhofner and County Collector Tom Marshall, both of whom have held county office since the early 1970s, did not file for re-election last week but announced their decisions to retire.

Treasurer H. J. "Cotton" Holyfield will not wait until the election to step down. Holyfield sent a letter to Gov. Mel Carnahan last Tuesday tendering his resignation effective March 31. The date on his office calendar is already circled in red.

Holyfield, the new kid on the block relative to the other two, has held the office of treasurer for the county for 15 years. He ran for the position in 1982 after he was forced to stop flying as a crop duster, a job he held for 24 years.

"I wanted to make a living and not work," he joked about his reasons for seeking the treasurer's position.

Though he will be leaving his office, Holyfield will not be far from political life. He readily admits that one reason he is resigning before his term expires is to give his long-time assistant, Glenda Enderle, an advantage in the upcoming election.

In his letter to the governor, Holyfield recommended that the governor appoint Enderle to the position upon his resignation, which would allow Enderle to run as an incumbent.

Enderle filed for the treasurer position Tuesday.

Holyfield said Thursday that Enderle is highly qualified for the job, having run the office for six months while he was out due to health problems.

Even during his stay in the hospital, Holyfield would keep up on the work of the treasurer's office when Enderle would bring copies of computer reports to him in the ICU.

In addition to working for Enderle's election, Holyfield will be campaigning for his wife, Mickey, who plans to run for county collector, though she has not filed for the office yet.

The collector's position will be contested for the first time since 1970, the year that Tom Marshall was elected.

Marshall, who was appointed by Gov. Warren Hearnes in January 1970 to fill the vacated collector position, ran in the August primary that year against three opponents. It was the last time he faced opposition.

Although many of his friends have encouraged him to stay on for an eighth term, Marshall said it was time to let someone else have the job.

"Frankly, I'm a little burned out," he said, noting that the job had grown a great deal since he took office.

In 1970, Scott County collected less than $2 million in revenue. That amount grew to almost $11 million in the last fiscal year.

"I will miss the people in the courthouse, but I won't miss the work load," Marshall said.

Before he was appointed to the office, Marshall had been a farmer and worked with the U. S. Department of Agriculture. He has no plans to return to farming in his retirement.

Although Bob Kielhofner has been in elected office almost as long as Marshall, he is finishing his first term as presiding commissioner. Previously, he had served 24 years as the county clerk.

He first ran for county clerk because he liked the idea of handling the election. He was familiar with elections because of his work as the owner of the Signal newspaper in Chaffee, a paper which he bought after leaving the Navy in 1962.

"I can't remember exactly why I decided to run for commissioner instead of clerk," Kielhofner said. "I had some ideas and it seemed like an opportunity to get some things done."

Kielhofner is proud of the commission's commitment to building a new sheriff's office and its effort to replace 19 condemned bridges in the last four years.

Kielhofner decided not to seek re-election not because he is giving up, but because he considers things in the county to be at a turning point. "Sometimes we need new people," he said.