Have you ever thought about how the government works? I mean, really thought about it in a dial-down, deep-dive kind of way? Citizens and commissioners can endlessly debate where our tax money should be spent, but who is actually in charge of that money once the decision is made? Whose duty is it to pay the county vendor bills? Who reconciles the county bank statements? Who keeps track of all the court documents? Who pays the county staff? Who keeps track of the budget? The expenses? The income? If you don’t know, here’s one more clue. This office also handles everything that has to do with the courts. Yes, we’re talking about the Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, and just when you thought you knew what the office does, you realize that’s only a portion of it, as evidenced by a recent tour of its offices.
To understand the complexity of the Clerk’s office, you have to understand its role in government. The Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller is one of five constitutionals, offices that are elected county-wide (the other four are Sheriff, Supervisor of Elections, Property Appraiser, and Tax Collector). The constitutionals run on party affiliation on the presidential cycle, meaning they are all up for election this year. “The constitutionals don’t make policy,” explains Crystal K. Kinzel, Collier County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller. “We are the enforcers. Tax collector, licensing, all that. We are ministerial. We follow statute. We decide how many people we have in each of our offices, but we don’t even decide our budgets. The Board decides our budget for the non-court and the court budget is decided by the Clerk of Courts Corporation Board that is made up of elected Clerks.” Kinzel was appointed by Senate President Kathleen Passidomo to that Board.
Kinzel has taken great strides in educating the public on the crucial role the Clerk plays in the county. It can almost be broken down into two distinct roles: the courts and the comptroller. It is almost a disservice to just break it down into these two roles as the responsibilities underneath each are vast and varied.
Take the court's role. The office is literally the clerk to the courts and processes everything from all the county's civil, criminal, and traffic cases to maintaining custody of all the evidence and exhibits entered into court. The Evidence Vault is a fascinating look into the cases that have made their way into court. There are weapons, bicycles, a beer keg, even a potato that was used as a silencer (it doesn’t work). There are diagrams and crime scene photos. If the evidence was entered into court and the case is ongoing, it is in the Evidence Vault and maintained by the Clerk of the Courts until the case is over and it can be destroyed. (The Sheriff keeps any evidence not entered as part of a trial).
Of course, there is more. The Clerk of the Courts conducts mortgage foreclosure sales and processes petitions for protective injunctions, meaning they supply the actual paperwork. The Clerk is also the recorder of all official records like deeds, mortgages, marriage licenses, and declarations of domicile. The Clerk records liens and judgements and collects and disburses intangible taxes. The office processes passport applications, audits child support payments and guardianship reports. The Clerk even performs marriage ceremonies.
All that is a lot of paperwork. Now, imagine that paperwork going back 100 years because that is another function of the office of the Clerk of Circuit Courts and Comptroller – it maintains all records for Collier County dating back to 1923. “All the paper, tape, and microfilm from 1923 to the present has been automated,” said Kinzel. “Those are official records we have to keep in every form. Even the plat books. Now everything is digitized going back to 1923.”
Are you looking for access to non-confidential records? The Clerk’s website is the place to go. “We’ve tried to make our website really robust,” said Kinzel. Intuitive buttons on the home page point you to everything from making a payment to searching for a record or discovering career opportunities within the office.
The Self-Help Center at the Clerk of the Court Building is another resource to help with filling out all kinds of forms from small claims to a name change. Over the course of the past ten years, the Supreme Court of Florida has started to develop forms citizens can use without an attorney. These forms can be accessed at the Self-Help Center. The computer workstations are set up for privacy, and there are notebooks at each station with step-by-step instructions on how to fill out the forms. If you are still stuck, staff is there to walk you through the process. “We don’t give out legal advice,” said Kinzel. “But we are responsible for the paperwork.”
One area specifically of interest is the assistance in filling out injunctions for domestic violence. “We help prepare the packets that go to the court to get the injunction,” said Kinzel. “But after that, the person says, ‘Well, where do I go? What do I do? I can’t go home.’ So, we partnered with the Domestic Abuse Shelter, which funds a full-time attorney who can give them legal advice and direct them to the shelter's resources. So, they’re not just stranded in our lobby. That arrangement is one of the things I am most proud of,” said Kinzel.
The record keeping doesn’t stop with just the day-to-day functions of the everyday citizen. The office is also the Clerk to the Board of County Commissioners and produces the meeting minutes, maintains custody of the resolutions and ordinances and is the accountant and custodian of county funds. And here is where the Comptroller role comes into play: the office monitors all the revenue across the county. The Clerk provides accounting services to all County departments, handles investments of available county funds, processes accounts payable and the county payroll. Think about it. All the county departments have their own budgets and expenses, and it is up to the Clerk’s office to monitor the invoices. They process about 150,000 invoices a year. Then there is payroll. The county has just under 2,600 employees who receive paychecks and benefits (this does not include the sheriff, tax collector, or property appraiser’s office). The Clerk’s office, which is now staffed by around 206 people but authorized for 220, handles all that as well.
The Clerk provides finance reports and disbursem*nt records.
The Office of the Inspector General is also under the Clerk’s purview. The Inspector General also provides internal audits. “These guys do a lot of the research into the criminal activity by vendors,” said Kinzel. “Right now, guardianships are a big thing.”
One of the most impressive things about the Clerk’s office is the friendliness and dedication of the staff with an impressive employee retention ranging from just a few months up to 44 years. No matter where you turned, there was a genuine willingness to share the details of their job function, giving new meaning to transparency in government.
There are a few ways that you can get your own lesson in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Courts and Comptroller. Kinzel likes to get out into the community and has spoken to condo associations and social clubs about everything from protecting taxpayers' money to searching for records on the website. You can also sign up for the monthly newsletter, where Kinzel gives an accounting of where taxpayers money is going, provides updates on county projects, talks about the latest scams, and gives the public other information happening in and around the county.
“We’re a conglomerate,” Kinzel said when describing the county. “We have marinas, libraries, airports, roadways, capital construction, parks…and it’s up to our office to monitor, document and provide an accounting for it all.”
