Ratering To Serve As Treasurer

A lifelong Park Township resident has accepted an offer to serve as St. Joseph County treasurer.

Judie Ratering will serve the rest of 2012 as treasurer following a consensus reached early Thursday by a three-member panel. The 52-year-old Ratering will succeed Phyllis Bainbridge, who is retiring next week due to health issues.

Ratering currently serves as a mortgage lender at Southern Michigan Bank and Trust in Three Rivers, where she has worked the past seven years. Previously, she spent 12 years as deputy clerk at the county treasurer’s office.

An alumna of Mendon High School, Ratering will earn close to $59,000 annually. She said she plans to seek the four-year seat when it goes up for election in November.

Ratering’s first day on the job will be Feb. 6. The time and date of a swearing-in ceremony will be determined today, after a courthouse reception to honor Bainbridge concludes this afternoon at 4 o’clock