People of Cheyenne County,
As I leave the Office of Cheyenne County Clerk & Recorder I would like to thank the people of Cheyenne County for placing their trust in me for the past 8 years and allowing me to serve them. It has been my honor.
I have learned more than I ever imagined and enjoyed most of it. The Clerk & Recorder must have a competent and loyal staff in order to run the office smoothly. For those who don’t know this office has five different offices within it. Elections, Motor Vehicle, and Recording are in the office per statue. The Counties bookkeeping is in this office, including the Road and Bridge Clerk. Driver’s License is a state department, and we provide that service as agents for the State and under the State’s preview, as a service to our citizens. Without our staff’s willingness to do this you would be driving to a State DL Office to do your DL business.
I leave the office in very capable hands with the new Cheyenne County Clerk & Recorder, Allison Brown, and employees Pam Helm, as bookkeeper/deputy Clerk, Patty Hevner as a deputy Clerk/new Road & Bridge Clerk, along with new hire, Alisiauna Torres. Retired employee, Louise Konecne, was very instrumental in teaching me the lay of the land when I came into the office, as I had never worked in the Clerk’s office.
The one thing I learned in these 2 terms is that the learning never stops. Alisiauna is just beginning her training with the State and that takes place at the State’s pace. There is plenty of other stuff to learn in the meanwhile. Patty is just 7 months in and has learned a tremendous amount, has made it through Motor Vehicle and has now begun training on Driver’s License.
I have full faith that I leave the office in very capable hands as I know Allison can run the office by herself, if the need arose. During her time (just over 8 years) working in the office she has wasted no time, shown interest in every single part of what the office does and brings logic and common sense to every job she embarks upon. We all know that government does not always employ logic or common sense and we have to work within their statutes and rules, but we always do our best to serve our customers.
If I counted correctly, we had 13 elections and recorded 8,358 documents in the past 8 years. I won’t even try to come up with a number of titles issued, vehicles renewed or drivers licenses issued, but in 2018 we all had to learn a new system of doing both motor vehicle and driver’s license, as the state finally upgraded from a DOS system to a Windows based system. In 2015 we purchased new voting equipment and learned to use it. Our judges never want to go back.
The office has 2 employees who are still willing to get in a vehicle with your 16-year-old child and go for a drive test. I will tell you that we have been limiting this to people from our local county and surrounding counties, as people along the front range will gladly drive out here to do their business rather than deal with the city offices. If we would agree to do their business here, our local citizens would find lines in our office and a backup in the other work we have to do. Driver’s License is not something that the County Clerk’s Office is required to do. I also need to thank the IT support staff, Perry Brewer and the other County Elected Officials, as it takes all of us working together to do the job of running a county.
I have also had the support of the Eastern Plains Clerks and the Colorado County Clerks Association. These folks will answer a phone call or email to give advice or answer a question anytime. We all work together and support each other. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. It is nice to get with someone who has already developed a process or form who will share it with you and make it fit our county rather than start from scratch.
Also, to the Cheyenne County Republican Party and all of the people that make it work, Thank you. When I moved here 22 years ago, I always felt at home. Ok, I have rattled on long enough. Thank you again for this privilege and the honor of serving as the Cheyenne County Clerk & Recorder for the past 8 years.
For an Informed Electorate.
Sincerely,
Patricia A. Daugherty
