Clerk of Courts delivers annual report
By Robert Cloud
Among the biggest challenges faced by Clerk of Courts Yvette Kienert is empaneling a jury.
“We often have many jurors that call and indicate that they are not able to serve, making it difficult at times to get panels in place,” Kienert said.
In 2022, Waupaca County scheduled three jury trials and summoned jurors for all three, but one trial did not proceed, according to the report.
The trials cost a total of $7,170.
Kienert delivered the clerk of courts’ annual report to the Waupaca County Board when it met Dec. 19.
She has been the clerk of courts since January 2023 and a county employee for 27 years.
“It’s been a year of learning all the different functions of the clerk of courts office, which has been really exciting for me, specifically the financial end of it, which I was not familiar with at all,” Kienert said.
She noted that the office has eight employees, three of whom have a combined 83 years of service with the county.
“I cannot say enough about each one of they make the day-to-day operations of the office run efficiently,” Kienert said.
The clerk of courts office is responsible for keeping a record of all court proceedings, maintaining a record of all documents filed with the court, preparing notices of judgment of convictions, driver’s license suspensions and all other court orders.
A total of 6,513 cases were filed in Waupaca County Circuit Court in 2022.
Of that total, 3,534 were traffic cases, 723 were forfeitures for ordinance violations, 611 were small claims, 487 were felony complaints, 341 were misdemeanors, 330 were civil complaints, 242 were family-related cases, 230 were criminal traffic and 25 were paternity cases.
The clerk of courts office also collected approximately $540,000 in court-ordered restitution, fines. forfeitures, fees and court costs.
“We continue to send our delinquent fines and forfeitures to the state debt collection and the Wisconsin Department of Revenue for tax collection,” Kienert said. “We work diligently on that each and every day.”
Going forward, Kienert plans to implement a new financial system for the office.
“That will be a new opportunity for us and hopefully make things more efficient,” Kienert said.