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Candidate Bio
I am a lifetime resident of Caroline County, with over 35 years of professional experience. I live in Greensboro.
1990 - 2000: Law offices in Denton
2000–2004: Circuit Court for Caroline County, Judges’ Chambers
2004–Present: Circuit Court for Caroline County, Clerk’s Office. Duties include customer service and counter operations, senior criminal clerk, business/marriage licensing, experience in land records, civil, juvenile and child support divisions, unit supervisor, court operations (since 2021)
Education & Professional Development: Currently attending the Institute for Court Management (ICM), recipient of the State of Maryland Judiciary Certificate of Recognition for 20 years of service.
How does the office that you are seeking serve citizens in Caroline County?
We serve the citizens by being able to keep accurate records and being as helpful to citizens as possible. We want people who come in to access the public court kiosks and feel like when they read the records that we are putting all the information in there that they would like to obtain or like to see. They become historic documents.
People come into the courthouse and sometimes they're emotional, or they are having some issues, and we just try to make sure that we're helping people in a polite manner and trying to help them to get some kind of relief, to give them good customer service. And if we can't help them, we try to make sure we send them to the right direction, to make them feel like they're not getting the run-around. We try to really listen to what they are there for and what they need, and try to direct them to the right place.
My hope is, if I should be elected, that I could structure a more cross- trained office where we have multiple people that are familiar with multiple aspects of the office. There's some cross-training, but I would like everybody to be a little familiar with each other's jobs, and everybody trying to assist the public that comes in.
The current clerk (Terry Lord), I think does a wonderful job. And I worked for the previous clerk, Dale Minner, and he did a great job, too. I have a good working relationship with multiple agencies, and I work hand-in-hand with the Caroline County Detention Center; I talk to them on a daily basis. I work with the Sheriff's Office quite frequently and have good relationship with them and with a lot of the local attorneys and judges.
I have worked in the courthouse for 26 years total, between the judge's chambers and the clerk's office, and I have enjoyed my job. I've enjoyed the relationships that I have made. I am always there. I'm there a half hour early. I'm usually there late. I usually work through lunch.
I think it's very valuable to have relationships with all the different agencies, and those in neighboring counties. I have contact with them regularly, and I've built a good relationship with all of them.
If your office budget has significant budget cuts, how do you imagine you will handle this?
That's a good question. We don't propose our budget to the county. Our budget comes from the State Judiciary in Annapolis, so we would just try to evaluate where the money's going to each type of category, and try to cut it from something that won't affect the public and our service to the public.
We're funded by the money that comes in for land records, for recordation, transfer taxes, things like that. So we're a state-funded budget. Everything that comes from the revenue that we collect in the office goes into a state revenue, and that's where our budget comes from.
The budget is a big part of it, but we’re also managing marriage records, license records, business records, divorce records, custody records, juvenile records, criminal records. We have to make sure all of those items are accurate and that people can come in and find them easily and understand them.
Your office is a state office serving Caroline County residents. How will you manage local needs with state requirements?
We do have fees that we require, and we do explain the fees to everyone that comes in, and we have to follow the guidelines of the state. So whatever the state directs us to follow, that's what we follow, because we can't make our own rules up.
You don't want to affect your customer service. You want to make sure you're giving everything you can to the public and assisting them with getting what they need. Plus you want to make sure that your court’s running smoothly. You want to make sure that you're still fulfilling your obligation.
