Experience

In the months between winning the election and being sworn in I spend time with other Elected Clerks of Court learning about the actual responsibilities as the Elected Clerk of Court of Superior Court.  I spent time with elected Clerks from some of the surrounding counties. I visited with Wayne Dixon in Yadkin County, Brian Shipwash in Davidson County and Rena Turner in Iredell County. Ken Boger, the retiring Clerk of Court allowed me to come and spend time with him and I spend time watching him as he carried out his responsibilities. I was able to observe numerous hearings and I learned from watching and listening.

I talked with the staff at the Administrative Office of the Courts which is the agency that provides assistance to the Judicial System. In one of the conversations I had I was told “it’s not a good time to be coming in as the Elected Clerk”. At the time I did not fully understand what was meant  but later I learned.

As I took office everyone everywhere was feeling the economic crunch including state government. The entire Judicial Department underwent enormous budget cuts including the elimination of staff positions. In Davie county one magistrate position was eliminated.  Early retirement deals were offered and two Assistant Clerks retired within the first 7 months that I was in office. Between the Retirement of the Elected Clerk and the retirement of the Assistant Clerks 80 years of experience were gone.

For a while neither vacant Assistant Clerk position could be replaced. An office that once had 12 employee was down to 10 employees. One position later was allowed to be filled while the second position was take away by the AOC.  Throughout the adversity the staff in the Davie County Clerk of Court’s office  continued to provided services to the citizens of Davie County without any noticeable interruption of services.

Since being sworn in I have presided over the majority of hearings held in the Clerks Office. These hearings would include name changes, foreclosures, incompetency petitions, partitions and estate hearings.

I have initiated procedures to insure there will be a back up staff member for the various function in the office. In an office our size with 11 staff members including  myself this is certainly something that is needed. This will be an ongoing process and was one of the goals I had as I became the Elected Clerk of Court.

An instructional book has been started in each area of the office with detailed directions to help all staff perform the duties of the office.

Old evidence and old files have been destroyed according to the law and this will be an ongoing process as we will always have to deal with a large number of files and limited storage space .

Upon discovering there was no fire alarm system working on the third floor of the courthouse I brought this to the attention of the appropriate parties and the situation was corrected.