Clearing misconceptions about County Clerk substation closure
Thank you for your article in the June 23rd edition of Wimberley View regarding the closure of the County Clerk’s office at the Wimberley substation. Since the article appeared, I have received many questions and comments regarding the closure and would like to offer clarification.
Many people confuse the County Clerk’s Office with the Tax Assessor. The County Clerk has no role in collecting taxes or handling Motor Vehicle matters, such as the issuance of license plates. Those duties are handled by the Tax Assessor, whose office will remain open. All services previously offered by the County Clerk at the substation—recording and retrieving official records, obtaining birth and death certificates, issuing marriage licenses, filing DBA forms—are still available online, by phone or email, except for the issuance of marriage licenses, which currently requires an in-person visit to the office. However, Hays County will soon be one of the first Texas counties certified to issue marriage licenses without requiring an in-person encounter. This will further increase our level of service and convenience.
Closing the Wimberley substation is under consideration, but a final decision has not been made. Fewer than 10 people per week have visited the office since January. We are examining the cost-effectiveness of continuing to staff the substation when our services will be readily available online or by phone. Nevertheless, I invite community members to contact me for discussion and consideration.
Since early 2022, I have met with the Commissioners and Judges several times to express concern about the increasing difficulty of hiring and retaining qualified personnel based on the current county pay structure. My clerks are among the lowest paid staff members in the County, earning approximately $29,000/year. New hires must undergo 4-6 months of training before they have the necessary skills to work unsupervised at a substation. Unlike other departments, the County Clerk’s office generates income for the County, including funds that are available only for use by the County Clerk and which would be sufficient to cover the cost of raising salaries without relying on taxes. The Commissioners Court has declined to approve the critical raises.
One misconception circulating is that the County Clerk closed all offices during the pandemic and did not record any documents during that time. That is false.
Like most county and private sector offices, we closed our doors to the public to protect our staff and the public. Staff worked either in the office or remotely, serving clients by email or phone, or through appointments. We were one of the first Texas counties to resume issuing marriage licenses after the initial quarantine. We remained in full compliance with all statutory recording and reporting requirements throughout. In fact, we received The Vital Statistics Office 5 Star Award for 2021. We have consistently been granted this award and it is evidence of our department’s exceptional performance and compliance with all statutory requirements and industry standards.
Another misconception is that I fired the Assistant County Clerk when she announced her intention to run against me in the 2022 election. She told me herself, soon after I took office, that it was county policy that a person could not continue to work in an office if running against the elected official.
The policy makes sense, especially when the person is the top assistant to the elected official, filling a role as a trusted advisor and confidante at the highest level. Her candidacy would immediately create a breach of confidence and trust, making it impossible to work together effectively, not to mention create an air of unease and underlying interoffice-conflict for the staff members. It was well understood that her candidacy would create a general disruption of smooth operations and that if she ran for office, she would have to relinquish her current position.
When she announced her plans to run against me, I offered to mentor her and ensure she received the training and experience she would need to assume an executive position effectively, suggesting that she delay her candidacy until the 2026 election.
When she moved forward with her candidacy to run against me, her boss, we both sadly saw the writing on the wall. I was sorry to see her go but none-the-less wished her well on her new endeavor. We amicably said our goodbyes; however, she was not fired. She elected to pursue another interest and unfortunately that interest was not consistent with her current employment.
The Human Resources Department immediately placed her in another position within the County. There was no lapse in her County benefits and there is nothing in my opponent’s employment record to suggest that she was fired.
Despite the closure of the substation, and the challenges posed by the staffing shortages, the County Clerk is moving ahead with implementing many efficiencies and improvements in customer service that will save tax dollars and allow us to continue to meet our statutory requirements as demand increases, while still offering excellent customer service. These include a fraud alert program to notify property owners any time their property records are accessed, a texting capability to allow text communication between residents and staff (e.g., to notify jurors if they need to appear in court or not), a more sophisticated queuing system that will save visitors time, and a program that will allow one of the most time consuming tasks in the office to be performed in much less time with 99 percent accuracy. I invite feedback and suggestions from residents.
We are always looking for ways we can provide even better service.
Thank you,
Elaine Cardenas
Hays County Clerk