VOTE411 Voter Guide

I have previously served as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Wayne County and currently work in private practice as a Estate Planning and Probate Attorney. My work as a prosecutor and in private practice has given me direct experience working with the court system and have great familiarity with the procedural, filing, and docket systems.

The staff in the clerk's office really do a phenomenal job with efficiently filing and handling a significant amount of requests and contacts with the public.

There is always room for improvement. I think the challenge is reviewing the currents systems and procedures in place to make sure that they are flexible enough to accommodate changes as time passes and that they meet the needs of the court and the general public. I believe that overseeing a comprehensive review of current policies and systems and reviewing other similarly situated offices will help to provide insight into how best to continue to make the office efficient and most effective.

Tim Neal, our current Wayne County Clerk of Courts, is retiring this year. I’m honored that Tim has endorsed me for the position he has held for the last 17 years. I enjoy local government and my passion is to continue serving Wayne County as Clerk of Courts. As a former County Commissioner, I have managed county government budgets and supervised county employees. As a current State Lawmaker, I have chaired a state and local government committee and written two pieces of legislation for the Clerk of Courts office. I am committed to leveraging my years of public service, executive experience, developed local relationships and statewide contacts to best serve our community.

The Clerk's office has a well trained staff consisting of hard working Wayne Countians who are efficient and proud of the work they perform. A new Case Management System, implemented in 2014, enabled the Courts to become "paperless". Case files are now available not only to the courts but also to the public via the Clerk of Courts website. This enabled the Clerk's Office to reduce staffing and space requirements due to the elimination of the paper case file system. The Auto Title office is also a part of the Clerk of Courts operations with offices in both Wooster and Orrville. The courts Office is now in the process of having case files prior to 2014, electronically scanned by case number and will replace the older case files.

As the Clerk of Courts I will continue to work closely with the Judges, Court personnel, law enforcement and county officials in an effort to better and more efficiently serve the citizens of Wayne County. Building upon the great foundation that has been set in place by Tim Neal, I am dedicated to preserving the great team and services provided by the Clerk's office and plan to ensure that new technologies and applications of new laws are effectively implemented.