DuPage court clerk candidates talk about improving the office

Democrats vying for their party's nomination for DuPage County circuit court clerk say they want to make the office more efficient and user-friendly, but have different ideas on how.

Moon Khan of Lombard and Candice Adams of Lisle will face off during the Democratic primary on March 17. The winner will take on Republican incumbent Chris Kachiroubas in November's general election.

Khan says he's running because he wants to unseat Kachiroubas, who has served as circuit court clerk since 2004. The office is responsible for maintaining local court records.

"Public office should not be a life career," Khan said during a recent endorsement interview. He said elected officials should serve two or three terms and then "go do something else."

Adams, who is an attorney, says she was motivated by a desire to ensure everyone has meaningful access to the court system. If elected, Adams says she would pursue community outreach efforts to show DuPage residents "what the clerk's office has available for them to use as a resource."

Adams says she also believes she could help with the modernization of the office's computer systems.

"Currently, some of the courtrooms are transitioning from paper to paperless," she said. "I want to help expedite that process."

Khan, who works in information technology, says his experience makes him uniquely qualified to oversee efforts to modernize the office. He said he also has management experience and knows how to budget and save money.

If elected, Khan said he would work to improve the bidding process in the office "to make it more fair." He also would establish a legal advisory committee to recommend changes.

To help people who come into the office, Khan said he would assign more staff to provide front desk services. In addition, he would hire more bilingual employees to communicate with non-English speakers.

Adams says her legal background would be helpful if she becomes the circuit court clerk. She says she already has ideas on how the office could be improved to help residents and attorneys.

For example, she would like to create a website where the public can view motions and other documents related to a court case. Right now, online access to those records is restricted to lawyers, judges and other authorized users.

"The public is allowed to see motions if they go in and look them up," Adams said. "So why aren't we putting them on the website? And why aren't we doing it in real time?"

She said one of her priorities is to give everyone equal access to the system.

Another idea Adams would like to try in DuPage is to text and email reminders about court dates to individuals involved in cases. She said other counties have learned that people are more responsive to text messages than they are to letters.

Finally, she says she would look into modifying the Web page for the circuit court clerk's office to make it easier to use.

"I know that there's a uniform program for DuPage as to how it is," she said. "But it's a lot to navigate when you're a first-time user trying to pay a court fine."