Editor’s note: This is one in a series of stories looking at races in the Aurora area in the Nov. 3 election.
The race for Kane County circuit clerk in the Nov. 3 election includes Theresa Barreiro, a Democrat, who is running against incumbent Thomas Hartwell, a Republican.
Barreiro, 58, of Aurora, who was first elected to the Kane County Board in 2012, said she is seeking the circuit clerk job “to help save tax dollars and make an impact using my knowledge and ability.”
Issues in Kane County, Barreiro said, include problems with the pandemic and “people wanting to see change.”
The current pandemic, Barreiro said, “is not just a health issue” but one that involves “jobs, health insurance, rent, food, and a lot of other things that are going to trickle down.”
Voters, Barreiro said, was to see change and see politics “as the same old, same old, and are looking for a better future.”
If elected, Barreiro said her goals include conducting a customer and staff survey to improve service, help with expungement to clear people’s records, and provide more technological training for staff and judicial partners.
“I want to conduct a customer survey as well as with staff and judicial partners about how we’re doing and identify areas of improvement,” she said. “I also want to help people clear their records in order to get jobs as well as get people in the court system lined up with various programs and help them get back on their feet.”
Hartwell, 60, of Elgin, is looking to continue on as circuit clerk and said that the most pressing issues currently are the pandemic and its many ramifications and maintaining financial stability.
“We’ve done everything we could to keep our employees and the public safe even though the courts have not been totally shut down,” Hartwell said. “The number of rooms has been lessened but we’ve done the best we could.”
Financial stability has likewise been affected with people “wondering how they are going to pay their bills.” Hartwell adds that keeping things under budget over time “has saved the county $7.5 million, meaning the levy wasn’t raised.”
Goals if re-elected include “continuing to offer fairness and justice” to those who might not have access to an attorney, as well as continuing to provided efficiency in the office and working to help court services, attorneys, judges and others utilize technology better.
“We had 125 people working in the office and now we’re down to 105 without firings or layoffs,” Hartwell said. “As people have left, we’ve used technology to fill the gaps and we have software that is continuously upgraded and allows us to improve efficiencies for free.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
