New faces, old issues hit the campaign trail

After attending the Republican primary County Clerk candidate forum Jan. 16, I came home asking myself, “Is Grimes County really ready for this?” By “this,” I mean the call for extending the work hours of the county clerk’s office to allow for more “access.”

Before I go any further, this column is not about any one candidate. It’s more a question of have the challengers really thought this through? Gosh, wasn’t it just three years ago that a 30-year regime bound to the idea of closing the office during the lunch hour came to an end? Being open to the general public from noon-1 p.m. was a campaign pledge of more than one unsuccessful challenger. What I heard at the recent candidate forum, however, seemed a little bit less about the needs of the general public and more about the convenience of attorneys, realtors and title companies.

“Access” is a great sounding word in any campaign. Just saying it implies that someone or some group is not being served as they should but in this case, those attorneys, realtors, title companies and the general public already have access. In fact, more than ever before in Grimes County history! Since 2019, 700,000-plus documents have been scanned and are available online. Grimes County’s nearly 30,000 citizens can access life transactions from the womb to the tomb in the privacy of their home, any hour of the day or night, and in their pajamas if they so choose.

So, what exactly does extended hours mean for the employees? It’s my understanding that staying open during the traditional noon-1 p.m. lunch hour was not without growing pains when it was introduced in 2019. I wonder how well working evenings or weekends or being on-call to accommodate a specific demographic will play in Anderson. And then there’s the budget - departmental and county. A change of this nature can’t help but impact salaries and the budget.

Perceptions have a way of spreading like wildfire. What’s to keep this records-on-demand, instant gratification mindset from spilling over to the tax assessor’s office to accommodate the procrastinators who think their inspection sticker should be available when they want it – even if it is 7:00 in the evening? Yes, there are departments in county government which have to be flexible, but I don’t think this is one of them.

I’m not an attorney or a realtor and my stint with a title company was 39 years ago so I realize I may not understand the needs of today’s real estate market, but I did take a look at other county clerk offices to see how Grimes stacks up in comparison.

Brazos, Harris, Madison, Montgomery, Walker, Waller and Washington counties have populations that range from 14,000 to 4.7 million and not one is open on the weekend or past 5 p.m. The majority close at 4:30. Montgomery and Walker counties still close during the lunch hour and there was no indication in any county that staff are on-call for ease of access. The biggie, Harris County, is still operating with a Covid mindset. Operating hours are 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. by appointment only.

There are many important things in our lives which require in-person contact and sometimes we just have to wait till the next day or Monday. So, what kind of property transactions are of such a serious nature to justify a departmental restructuring?

This is an opinion column and my opinion is that the office hours and inferred lack of access are nonissues and the lack of anything more sinister means the clerk’s office must be in pretty good shape. For that, as citizens, we should all be grateful.

I also think this perceived problem is more generational than anything else and provide this quote from evangelist Joyce Meyer as sort of a teaching moment - “Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.”

Connie Clements is a freelance reporter for the Navasota Examiner and award-winning columnist. She writes feature news articles on a weekly basis and an opinion column as the mood strikes her.