Catherine Hurlbut: Candidate Profile

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:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: ElginWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Kane Clerk of the Circuit CourtAge: 51Family: Married, 3 childrenOccupation: AttorneyEducation: Bachelor of Science in Business Administration 1982 Juris Doctor 1985Civic involvement: -Provena St. Joseph Hospital Board of Directors -Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors (8years) (Chairman 2002) -Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce Transportation and Development Committee Chairman (8 years) -Cosmopolitan International (20 years)Elected offices held: Kane County Board District 19 (since 1994)Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Preparation of a zero based budget for all departments within the Circuit Clerk's office.The Circuit Clerk's overall budget for 2012 is $577,000 more than the actual amount spent by that office in 2010. Simply taking a previous years budgeted amount and adding an additional percentage to it in hopes that the County will not ask questions is not an appropriate way to budget.In order to reduce spending it is important that each budget is rebuilt from zero. This is the only way to understand whether staff and costs are being allocated properly and to flag innefficiencies in the office.Key Issue 2 Building a coalition of elected officials and staff from each office involved with the judiciary and public safety that meets atleast bi-monthly.These offices all share information, services, computer data and in some areas staff.The County Board put together a Technology task force of these offices to work on the judicial/public safety computer systems, as a result the parties are working together to build a system that will be integrated between all offices and prevent the duplication of data entry and provide the internal and mandated reports needed by each in order to provide efficiencies and proper state and federal reimbursements.Working with the Judiciary and related offices on a regular basis will allow the circuit Clerk to solve problems and develop over-all efficiencies, reducing costs to all of these offices resulting in a savings to the taxpayers of Kane county.Key Issue 3 Developing an ongoing staff review and participation program.I will meet with all levels of staff on a regular basis to obtain staff input on operations, job descriptions, and efficiencies.Staff input and job satisfaction are essential to operating an efficient office.Full staff job descriptions assist managers in determining staffing and employee efficiency. Staff has essential information regarding their positions and how their work can be completed more efficiently.The ongoing staff review and participation program will provide the information necessary to restructure the office to obtain peak efficiency.Questions Answers Do you believe the county court system needs a computer system upgrade that might cost as much as $12.6 million? If so, do you support using RTA sales tax money to fund the cost, or do you have a different plan? If not, what is your alternative plan?I agree that the county court system needs a computer upgrade.The current system is almost ten years old and lacks the components necessary to provide the required information to the offices involved with the court system.As a result, information is inaccurate, reports need to be hand calculated, reimbursements are missed and all of the offices within the court system require the use of man hours to make up for the defficiencies in the system.The County Board commissioned a technology task force including all of the elected officials and select members of their staffs to audit every office and determine their needs.The task force has worked with the Circuit Clerk's and County's IT departments to put together an RFP that will be used to purchase efficient systems that can talk with each other.The overall result will be a cost savings over the life of the system and greater efficiency and reimbusements within the court system.The final cost is not known at this time, however, several years ago upon the State of Illinois implementation of the county RTA tax for highways and public safety, the county board had the foresight to start putting money into contingency for this system.I believe that this is a proper use of the funds and as a result will not burden the property tax payers in kane county.How do you resolve the ongoing debate over the county board setting budgets for departments run by other elected officials whom the county board has no control over? How should the county board enforce the budgets it sets'The Circuit Clerk does not set budgets or legislate.This question is not applicable to this position.Do you believe the county board members and chairman should receive health insurance and pension benefits'The Circuit Clerk is not a memeber of the County Board and does not legislate.This question is not applicable to this position.Do you support a more stringent ethics ordinance for Kane County governing the conduct of elected officials and county employees' Why or why not? If so, what should the ordinance contain?County elected officials by statute may not be governed by the County Board.The Circuit Clerk specifically is commissioned by the Governor.Therefore, the County Board cannot legislate ethics for the Circuit Clerk.The ethical standards for the Circuit Clerk's office are legislated by the State of Illinois.