Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome.
Speaker 1: It's time now for our community connection right here on
Speaker 1: Kwanda one, you trust. We have the lovely Miss Davis
Speaker 1: in here with us today, our county court clerk at
Speaker 1: the Washington County How you doing this morning?
Speaker 2: Doing good?
Speaker 1: Are you all ready to celebrate the fourth?
Speaker 2: Absolutely?
Speaker 1: Even more, it's all on the fifth because you.
Speaker 3: Get absolutely great.
Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit about your office and what
Speaker 1: you do, and then what folks can expect from the
Speaker 1: services you perform.
Speaker 3: Well, we provide all kinds of services. We provide our
Speaker 3: marriage licenses, you can file.
Speaker 1: For divorce, you can got them coming and going, got it.
Speaker 2: Coming and going.
Speaker 3: Yes, we do deal a lot with fines and costs.
Speaker 3: And right now I'm working on a project that my predecessor,
Speaker 3: Jill Spitcher, was working on to restore the old archived
Speaker 3: files from statehood from nineteen oh seven and forward.
Speaker 1: That's a little bit of an undertaking, it is, but.
Speaker 3: It's a wonderful There's so many interesting things.
Speaker 1: I bet you could write a book about some of
Speaker 1: the stuff you buy.
Speaker 3: Well, you read it and it says like in the beginning,
Speaker 3: it says in the Indian territory of such and such
Speaker 3: county or such and such nation.
Speaker 2: And it's really interesting.
Speaker 1: Mike, goodness sakes, I just can't imagine the history there.
Speaker 1: Now you're taking this from paper, how are you transferring
Speaker 1: it digitally?
Speaker 2: Yes, we're doing it digitally.
Speaker 3: And then we're preserving some of the files with a
Speaker 3: business that we use called Cofile.
Speaker 2: And they are amazing.
Speaker 3: They can take paper that has been damaged by tape
Speaker 3: from the acid and restore it to almost new. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's wonderful. The things they can do is amazing.
Speaker 1: We live in such amazing times. Yes we do, right, goodness,
Speaker 1: your office is so busy. They got your right as
Speaker 1: you come in the door.
Speaker 2: Yes they do. Why did you walk in? That's us
Speaker 2: right there. And I'm a very hands on court clerk.
Speaker 1: I like to be you waited on me, I remember that.
Speaker 3: Yes, I liked. I like the people. I like the attorneys,
Speaker 3: I like the people. I like to be up there
Speaker 3: at the calendar waiting on people.
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's really interesting. I mean, you come
Speaker 1: in there, and of course the deputies are really nice.
Speaker 1: They let you know you got a plate in your
Speaker 1: head and none. But anyway, they do make sure everybody's safe,
Speaker 1: food coming and going and what have you. And a
Speaker 1: lot of your business is pretty quick, pretty transactional and
Speaker 1: right there, come in, go and you make it quick
Speaker 1: and expedient. And I know it's.
Speaker 2: Accurate too, Yes it is.
Speaker 1: I know it's because you look through there and you
Speaker 1: said you need to stamp on that.
Speaker 3: Yes, I do, Yes, I make sure. I don't want
Speaker 3: you to have to come back. We try our best.
Speaker 1: Oh, you do, great job. And you know the thing
Speaker 1: is is that with a variety of different things that
Speaker 1: you have to file and take in, you know you're
Speaker 1: getting a variety of different personalities walking in and out
Speaker 1: the door too. And the fact that they're greedy with
Speaker 1: the smile, they're greeeded with professionality, Karen, concern and compassion
Speaker 1: is really an a plus mark on your office.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 3: We I try to strive for everybody to walk up
Speaker 3: to the counter with a smile, and because however you
Speaker 3: treat them, this is how you're going to get treated.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Indeed, but boy, it's a big office for being
Speaker 1: right there in the front.
Speaker 2: I mean, yes it is, yes it is.
Speaker 3: But we have gotten to where we've decorated it quite
Speaker 3: nicely too. We have our little ducks and our legos
Speaker 3: and our plants and you know.
Speaker 1: But it looks it looks like you're, you know, for
Speaker 1: an office. It looks, you know, you got a comfortable
Speaker 1: setting so that folks don't feel like you're going into
Speaker 1: the sterile you know, stern mean environment.
Speaker 2: Oh no, no, we don't want that, No.
Speaker 1: Not at all. Yeah, but you know it's got to
Speaker 1: be great now. You took over for Jill. Yes, okay,
Speaker 1: do you when's your next election time.
Speaker 2: Coming up in three years?
Speaker 1: So you got a little weight.
Speaker 3: I've only been in I've only been in office for
Speaker 3: six months, so it's all still pretty new to me. Well,
Speaker 3: I bet, but I had a great teacher, I really did.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and how long you've been with the office completely?
Speaker 3: I think about thirteen years, really, I think, yeah, well
Speaker 3: somewhere around and there a long time.
Speaker 1: For you because you're young. But the thing is is
Speaker 1: that our county government works pretty well here in Washington County.
Speaker 1: We're not a huge county, but I like to think
Speaker 1: that we're a quality county. Yes, and that runs from
Speaker 1: the commissioners to the deputies to everybody who works the office.
Speaker 1: The office heads and the office workers. How do you
Speaker 1: fit so dark many people in that courthouse.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: It's just the different aspects of the job of what
Speaker 3: we do there, the different needs of all the people
Speaker 3: in the county.
Speaker 1: And it seems like everybody gets along. And I imagine
Speaker 1: from time to time one office has to maybe ask
Speaker 1: another office a question, especially if the something that's got
Speaker 1: some commonalities.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we try to keep the lines of communication open
Speaker 3: well so between offices, and we have the full support
Speaker 3: of the commissioners in our office also, I try.
Speaker 2: You know, they're a big.
Speaker 1: Part, yeah, on these three guys, but they've got a
Speaker 1: lot of.
Speaker 2: Weight, they do.
Speaker 3: They've got a lot of weight.
Speaker 1: But all the same. You know, I've been a citizen
Speaker 1: of Washington County for a little over six years now,
Speaker 1: and I haven't had it easier than I've had it here.
Speaker 1: And I've lived in a lot of different places over
Speaker 1: sixty five years. But you know, just as a citizen, hey, thanks,
Speaker 1: you're welcome. I lived in big cities, and if you
Speaker 1: go to the county seat sometimes it's not in the
Speaker 1: big city, right, You're maybe going to there and go,
Speaker 1: oh you're from there. Yeah, and you can kind of
Speaker 1: get the business and right here, you know, everybody's in
Speaker 1: same and it's all good. But it's really nice. So
Speaker 1: on top of all of this transactional stuff, you get
Speaker 1: filing and I want to get back to preserving these records.
Speaker 1: That was something that got started not too long ago.
Speaker 3: Right, Jill had started that and preserving our books, some
Speaker 3: of our old red, humongous.
Speaker 2: Books that they had to write in.
Speaker 3: Oh yes, and we've got those, the ones that she's
Speaker 3: already preserved.
Speaker 2: We've got some of those.
Speaker 3: If anybody wants to see them and see what it
Speaker 3: looks like, they're more than welcome to come in and
Speaker 3: ask me. And I'll pull a book out and show you.
Speaker 1: Oh that easy, huh uh huh, My goodness sakes. But
Speaker 1: you know it is public record, Yes it is.
Speaker 2: Most of them are. Now. There are some things that
Speaker 2: we can't.
Speaker 1: Do that ordered I understand. But for the most.
Speaker 3: Part, adoptions juveniles, they are not common sense.
Speaker 1: Well, yes, she's common sense. Don't bother with the.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the divorces, the marriage all that stuff. Yeah, you
Speaker 2: can see it.
Speaker 1: If people have questions about your office and your services,
Speaker 1: what's the best way to find that out. I know
Speaker 1: that you're on the website. Phone calls work too.
Speaker 3: Phone call is perfectly fine. I'll talk to anybody. I'll
Speaker 3: take the time.
Speaker 1: Yeah great. I want to thank you for coming in today.
Speaker 1: I know you had a big, big day the other day.
Speaker 2: Yes, I did.
Speaker 1: The end of the fiscal year, the beginning of the next.
Speaker 2: End, the end of the month.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's not the quite new year that most people that.
Speaker 1: That's not the party they like to throw.
Speaker 2: No, it's not. It's not a party.
Speaker 1: But you're kind of relieved to get out of Watkins.
Speaker 2: I am.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you very much. I really appreciate you being
Speaker 1: with us here and sharing a little bit about our
Speaker 1: county government right here on Community Connection. Thank you all right, folks,
Speaker 1: you've been listing and watching to our community Connection