Court clerk produces best of both worlds

The argument is as old as time: Does government spend more to provide better service, or do they spend less of our money and we put up with less service?

Somehow, Lake County Circuit Court Clerk Keith Brin has found a way to give us the best of both worlds. He has improved service in his office, both by adding new services (such as passport services) and by improving the level of service (including cross-training employees and making his managers always accessible to the public).

Yet he's accomplished all this while reducing his office's budget significantly.

I've read in some places he's cut the budget by as much as 20 percent by streamlining operations and modernizing the office. I guess my only question is: why can't we have Keith Brin go around teaching the rest of our nearly 7,000 units of government in Illinois how to do this?!?

James C.Thompson

Lake Barrington