The DeKalb County board met in full session this past week to approve new precinct boundaries, approve claims, enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the Mental Health Board, and to approve the reassignment of delinquent property taxes. After nearly 5 months on public display, the County Board unanimously approved the new precinct boundaries. These geographical tools help Election Authorities more effectively manage the various elections each year. With an 18% population increase, there was cause to split some precincts to help alleviate congestion at the polls, and to consolidate several campus precincts to ensure easy access to the polls for campus area voters.

The Mental Health Board and the County Board entered into an inter-governmental agreement to combine a position at the Health Department to help improve efficiencies and to help execute the management duties of both organizations more effectively. This is not only a measure to improve the delivery of service, but also a cost savings measure as well.

After a month in recess, there were many claims to approve for the County. You can see the County’s expenditures online by clicking here:  (select the ‘claims’ bookmark), or see my detailed reports here.  Lastly, our County’s management company for delinquent property taxes has a reassignment of the taxes with two parcels of property. A customary housekeeping resolution was needed to execute these agreements. For more information on the County Board and it’s meeting – click here.

Clerk & Recorder’s Website: I encourage you to check out the new Clerk & Recorder’s website: www.dekalbclerk.com. The office is continuing to update the website to ensure accurate, timely, and additional information is easily accessible online. Check out the FOIA section to review many documents and links to resources to find information relating to not only the inner workings of the Clerk & Recorder’s Office, but also the entire County. Should you have any suggestions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Elections 2012 Are you thinking of running for office, or know someone who is? September 6, 2011 marks the beginning date for candidates to circulate petitions to place their name on the 2012 Primary ballot. The Election’s office has a tremendous amount of resources online for candidates and voters. I encourage you check out our Elections Page at www.dekalbclerk.com, and then click on “Elections.”

Please note, that any candidate circulating petitions must have them filed with the respective jurisdiction no later than 5 PM December 5, 2011, (this applies to County-wide, County Board, and precinct Committeeman for DeKalb County).

If you wish to see who is up on the local level for 2012, click here:

http://www.dekalbclerk.com/Elections/Candidates/CountyOfficeCandidates.html

Coming soon – voters will be able to pull up their voting data, i.e. registration address, history, and their full ballot, just in time for the March 20, 2012 Primaries. As always, we stand ready for questions at 815.895.7147.

Clerk & Recorder’s Projects
The Office is in the midst of completing many outstanding projects before the close of this current year.
Within the next few weeks, our office will roll out the new Vital Records program, cutting wait time from an average of 20 minutes, to 5 minutes; begin testing of our new in house land records search program;work with our Election officials to test new poll book entry equipment; finalize plans to produce our genealogical records online; and start the process of Election 2012… Stay tuned!