Katherine Keefe: Candidate Profile

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Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioQA Bio City: WoodstockWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Twitter: Candidate did not respond.Facebook: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: McHenry County Clerk of the Circuit Court Age: 51Family: Married for 29 years to husband Pat who is a firefighter/paramedic for Woodstock Fire/Rescue District. Daughter Hailey is a senior at Illinois State University majoring in Elementary Education.Occupation: Circuit Court ClerkEducation: Graduated from Harvard High School in 1983. Bachelors Degree in Finance from Northern IL University in 1987, Masters Degree in Management from Webster University.Civic involvement: Candidate did not respond.Elected offices held: McHenry County Clerk of the Circuit CourtQuestions Answers Why are you running for this office, whether for re-election or election for the first time? Is there a particular issue that motivates you? If so, what?I worked in the McHenry County Circuit Clerk's office 21 years before being elected to my first term as Circuit Clerk 8 years ago. My motivation to run again is my desire to continue with the automation initiatives implemented during my first two terms and continue to improve the efficiency of the office, while also reducing cost, adding the most value for the taxpayer's dollars.If you are an incumbent, describe your main contributions. Tell us of any important initiatives you've led. If you are a challenger, what would you bring to the job and what would your priority be?During my last term we became the 6th county in the state approved for Civil E-Filing, which we launched in 2013. We began Criminal Division E-Filing in 2015.Electronic filing of documents saves the filer time and money, and also saves employee processing time, which ultimately saves the County money. E-Filing is one of the reasons we have been able to reduce our staff count by 25% since 2010. We have expanded the use of electronic citations and improved our website to accept payment for traffic tickets online. All these technology initiatives improve customer service while saving tax dollars.Describe your position regarding the allocation of resources in the clerk of the circuit court's office. Are personnel allocated as they should be? Are there capital expense or other budgetary items that the office must address, and, if so, how do you propose to address them?The vast majority of the Circuit Clerk's general fund budget is personnel cost. Due to increased automation and system engineering we have been able to reduce the Circuit Clerk's personnel by 14.65 positions, or 25 percent, since 2010, which amounts to an annual reduction in salary expense of over $675,000. As we continue to improve automation, I foresee being able to make future personnel reductions to be able to further reduce the Circuit Clerk's budget.Describe your position on transparency in the office and the ease of access to records by the public. If you believe improvements are needed, what are they and how would you go about achieving them?We have made great strides over the last 6-8 years to increase public access to the Court's records. We added a free public case search online which allows better access to the court. We now offer a free "Attorney Access Portal" where attorneys can view the case file where they are attorney of record. We recently launched a free mobile version of the "Attorney Access Portal" to improve that service. Allowing better online access to records has also saved employee time and allowed us to reduce staff.Please list any elected office you've ever run for and what the result of that election was. Have you ever been appointed to fill an unexpired term?Elected McHenry County Circuit Clerk 2008 2012Republican Precinct Committeeman Dorr 8 - 12 yearsHave never been appointed to fill an unexpired term.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?The next step for Circuit Clerk will be E-Record. We applied for and received approval from the IL Supreme Court for E-Record, but need to increase our data redundancy before we can move to making the electronic court record the official, and only, court record, which is what E-Record involves. E-Record is the ultimate goal and will give us even more efficiency and cost savings. It is a big step which cannot be taken lightly, needing to ensure that the Court's records will still be safe and accessible. E-Record will be my goal during this next term as Circuit Clerk.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Candidate did not respond.What is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Candidate did not respond.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?Candidate did not respond.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Candidate did not respond.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Candidate did not respond.