Rachel Brown
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Susan Miller says she would do a better job managing the Whitfield Superior Court Clerk’s office than incumbent Melica Kendrick.
Kendrick says the job is too complicated for someone with no experience there.
The two women are in a heated runoff after Kendrick garnered 48.87 percent of the vote in the Republican primary on July 31 while Miller received 20.68 percent. Also vying for the job were escrow closer Jessica Swinford and school teacher Jodi Stuckey. Swinford received 16.04 percent, while 14.41 percent cast votes for Stuckey. If no candidate received 50 percent of the votes plus one in the primary, the top two head to a runoff. The winner of Tuesday’s runoff will take office in January 2013.
Throughout the campaign, Miller has said Kendrick has run up the budget in the clerk’s office and failed to manage it as efficiently as Miller could. Audited figures from the county finance office show the clerk’s budget has increased from $817,535 in 2007 (the year Kendrick took office) to $1.15 million in 2010, a fact Miller has pushed into the limelight. County administrator Mark Gibson, who said he has no alliances with either candidate, said most of the increase actually comes from a change in the budgeting process beginning in 2009.
“Indirect costs” such as information technology services and building maintenance were not included in each department’s itemized budget before then, but were afterwards. Gibson said that portion of the budget is for fixed costs and that department heads don’t manage it.
In an advertisement in The Daily Citizen, Miller said, “Mrs. Kendrick would now have you believe she has no control over any part of her budget, direct cost or indirect cost. The facts are, the clerk’s duties are mandated but that does not require her to spend excessive amounts of money in the performing of these duties. It should be expected by the taxpayers that this office would be managed efficiently and at the lowest cost which Mrs. Kendrick has not been able to do.”
Kendrick said she has initiated several cost-saving measures such as replacing an old computer system with a newer one she said saves $25,000 a year because it’s more efficient, and technology updates for child support and jury programs that save another $6,000 annually. She added that the job isn’t easy for someone who has never worked in the office. Miller lost her first campaign to Kendrick four years ago. Miller has years of experience as a manager and accountant in private industry but none in the clerk’s office.
“The experience counts a lot because this job is so detailed,” Kendrick said. “There’s just tons and tons of responsibilities, and I don’t see how someone that hasn’t worked in this office before could actually come in and perform the job. This is my 21st year in the office and the sixth year as clerk, so I feel like I’m giving the community experience.”
The office handles records related to, among other things, property deeds, jury management, civil and criminal cases, adoptions, child support, fines and fees.
Kendrick, 57, has been the clerk since 2007 and has worked in the office for a total of 21 years. Miller, 48, is a manager at a private business in Chattanooga.
Miller can be reached at smiller1434@optilink.us or (706) 217-8912. Kendrick can be reached at mkendrick@whitfieldcountyga.com or (706) 275-7450.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
