As current Circuit Court Clerk Charlene Baker, pictured at left, retires at the end of this month, Stephanie Brinegar prepares to fill her position. Brinegar was elected to the post in May.
A retirement party for Charlene Baker has already been thrown; in just a couple of weeks, she’ll be leaving the job she’s worked for 27 years and beginning a new phase in life.
Her career in the circuit court clerk office began in the late seventies when Lena B. Henry hired her to work part-time in a Summer Youth Program out of the high school.
Not long after her graduation, Charlene was hired as a full-time deputy clerk, and in June of 2000, she was elected Circuit Clerk.
“I never thought I’d work here long enough to retire,” she said. “Time goes by so fast.”
Charlene has observed a lot of changes at the courthouse during her tenure. Among them are the Court Designated Workers and the e-warrant system.
The biggest change she’s seen is the implementation of new technology.
“Back when I started, we did everything manually,” she said. “We typed up all drivers’ license by hand.
The biggest change over the almost three decades she’s worked there has been the implementation of the use of computers.
When computers were installed, “They came in and taught us the basics and left,” Charlene said. “We had to figure it out ourselves.
“We were really excited when we got fax machines. Now we are moving away from those to entirely paperless communication.”
“It’s a challenge to keep up with the workload,” Charlene said. “Everything is constantly changing–programs fill up, laws change.
When she hired in, there were three Circuit Court Clerk employees, and now there are six deputies besides the clerk.
“We’ve seen a 20-25% increase in our case load each year. In the past five years, it has really jumped.
“Thirty felonies a year used to be a lot. This past year, we’ve seen more than 190.” Despite the jump in crime, population numbers have remained pretty stable.
“I am sad to leave the people I work with,” Charlene said, “Not so much the job.”
“People are more demanding and less respectful than they used to be.”
“Juvenile court used to take about three hours a month—now it takes a full day, and we could probably use another day.”
“People see us as the place to get your driver’s license, and that is the easiest part of our job, but we are also responsible for all circuit and district court records. We collect all fees and fines, and are responsible for scheduling and recording every case on the docket. We also maintain the law library, which is open to the public.
“I always enjoyed doing the driver’s license,” Charlene said. “You get to see everybody, and it’s the only part where most people are happy to see us. The rest of the time, they’re usually here because a lawsuit has been filed, or they have to pay a fine or show up in court.
“Court is interesting. You never know what’s going to happen, or what people will say.
“Child custody cases are hard to hear sometimes, or cases of sexual abuse.”
Technology has certainly made work in the office faster, but it eliminated the position of court reporter, whose job used to be to record all court proceedings in shorthand.
“Those (jobs) were eliminated in the past five or six years. Now everything is audio or video recorded,” said Charlene.
“Everything is public record unless it involves juveniles, adoptions or mental health cases, so if anyone wants to come in and look up records, they can do that.”
Charlene says that the clerk attends two conferences a year.
“Everybody used to go, but with budget cuts, the clerks go get trained and come back and teach everyone else.
“Field reps used to come in and provide training, but budget cuts eliminated those too.”
Another responsibility of the clerk is to make sure all the machines work. Charlene and her staff have had to learn how to fix them all.
Getting someone out to work on stuff takes so long, she says, they’d never get anything done if they had to wait on someone.
Everyone on her staff is cross-trained, and when someone has to miss, they can really tell because of their work load.
Despite dealing with people in highly emotional and stressful situations, Charlene says she has never felt threatened. Shatterproof glass walls were installed for their security but, “We didn’t ask for them. That’s something they did across the state.”
They have come to appreciate them as a “sneeze guard,” she admits.
Charlene plans to take some time for herself when she retires. She says she used to like to quilt and sew, but carpel tunnel syndrome keeps her from doing much of that.
“Mom’s 72 and I have two sisters who are already retired. My nieces and nephews all have children—I’ll find plenty to do.”
After she catches up on some projects around the house, she said she might consider coming back and working part-time for the Senior Clerk Program.
A graduate of the Estill County High School, Charlene’s parents are Eva Isaacs and the late Grayden Isaacs. She was married to the late Michael Baker, who passed away last summer.
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When the first of the year rolls around, Stephanie Brinegar will be well prepared to officially take on the duties of the Circuit Court Clerk.
She’s been working at the office since back in the summer when she volunteered to fill in for Charlene when her husband was sick. When a deputy position came up later, she was hired full time around the first of October.
Stephanie is a graduate of the University of North Carolina in Wilmington with a degree in communication studies and public relations.
She says that her previous job also prepared her for the circuit court clerk position. Stephanie worked for the Attorney General’s office as a liason to the administrator in the Administrative Office of the Courts.
Part of her duties were to help implement the e-warrants program, which created a database of warrants served statewide. For example, if someone receives a warrant in Clark County, but lives in Estill, their name goes into the statewide network and they can be located more easily.
She already knew the basics of the Kentucky court system and how to move around in it, which prepared her for the clerk position as well.
When she has time, Stephanie’s creative outlets are decorating cakes and scrapbooking, but she says her main hobby right now is her two-year old son, Ty.
Her parents are Roy and Annette Brinegar.
As for her new career, “I think this is a great opportunity for someone my age,” Stephanie said. “I’m excited to get going.”