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<\/p>\nRepublican 32-year incumbent Tom Wilder is facing off against Democratic challenger Nathan Smith to serve as Tarrant County\u2019s district clerk in November.<\/p>\n
The district clerk handles the business and documents of the county\u2019s courts, managing the finances of 28 elected judges and 27 appointed magistrates and associate judges, Wilder said. The district clerk\u2019s team operates the business side of family, civil, criminal and juvenile courts, ranging from managing files to collecting fees. In the last 12 months, the district clerk office handled 68,000 cases, Wilder said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s quite an involved operation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Wilder, 82, was first elected to the position in 1994 and is a businessman by trade, having operated a commercial real estate company for 22 years prior to his role in public office.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Smith, 38, previously served as a staff member for Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons and in several roles with the U.S. Army, including as a compliance officer for military secret facilities.<\/p>\n
Both candidates spoke to the Fort Worth Report and will be on the ballot for the Nov. 3 Tarrant County election.<\/p>\n
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Early voting for the November elections is Oct. 19-30. Election Day is Nov. 3. To check your voter registration, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n To find out where you can vote, or who will be on your ballot, click here<\/a>. For information on the races across the county, check out our Election Central<\/a> page or our nonpartisan voter guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wilder was the last person of nine who filed to run for district clerk in 1995, he said. Since, the Tarrant County native has won eight straight elections for the position. During that time, the office of the district clerk began offering web access to court case document images and more of the courts\u2019 computerized records in 2004. The office also introduced a new e-filing application system in 2014.<\/p>\n Wilder said his age is not a relevant factor in this election, indicating that his opponent had flagged it as an issue. Smith said his concern has never been Wilder\u2019s age and never indicated as such, but rather \u201chis performance on the job.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilder provided the Report with a \u201cfit to work\u201d letter from his doctor, the same one he said is required for his staff to work in his office. He also indicated that he has no plans to retire and wants to continue serving until he is no longer able.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t need the job. It\u2019s not financial. I enjoy doing it, and we have several things that I want to complete,\u201d Wilder said.<\/p>\n If elected again, his three priorities include continuing to replace the court case management system, renovating the justice center and decreasing county employee turnover.<\/p>\n Wilder noted the county implemented the new court case management system from TechShare for criminal courts three years ago and has begun implementing the software at civil, family and juvenile courts, as well as within the accounting office. He anticipated that process to be completed in April 2028.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tarrant County is the largest investor in the TechShare Local Government Corporation, a nonprofit collective implementing the digital systems in 62 counties statewide as of Sept. 24. Stakeholders \u2014 which include Tarrant County \u2014 invested $61.6 million into the project over the last 15 years, according to an April 14 presentation shared with the Tarrant County Commissioners Court.<\/p>\n At that April commissioners court meeting, Wilder \u201crecommended fully\u201d that Tarrant County complete the implementation of TechShare. He emphasized that the early years of the software\u2019s implementation were bumpy but that currently all is going smoothly. When speaking with the Report, Wilder reemphasized the system\u2019s success.<\/p>\n However, Smith described the new system as \u201can abject failure,\u201d saying that several attorneys have told him the system crashes constantly. Smith added that the voter has no reason to trust the 2028 completion deadline given that previous deadlines had been missed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAssigning any degree of credibility to Tom Wilder with regard to the TechShare system is an exercise in naivete in my belief,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n If elected, Smith plans to pursue a working group with other county leaders to better determine whether to continue with TechShare or go with a replacement software product.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another one of Wilder\u2019s priorities is to renovate the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center. The district clerk department will move from the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth floors of the center to the third floor. The move was approved by the county commissioners on July 14, and is part of Wilder\u2019s vision to have his office be more efficient and save money. He touted that every year during his tenure, he\u2019s run the office under budget and returned money to the county.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a cost-efficient business model, assuming you have the right elected official,\u201d Wilder said.<\/p>\n The current district clerk is also looking at best ways to decrease staff turnover. Wilder said the pay scale for his team will have to be elevated, but that he is still exploring the best path forward without raising taxes for Tarrant County residents.<\/p>\n Smith has a different vision for the district clerk office. He disagrees with Wilder\u2019s description of it as a business office.<\/p>\n \u201cHe sees that as a business operation, and I don\u2019t see it as that at all. I see it as a public servant who is supposed to be performing a function for the public and making things like court documents available to the public and not charging exorbitant fees for those services,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Smith said he decided to run for district clerk because he saw what he described as a gaping hole in Tarrant County\u2019s judicial system, and argued Wilder was not fulfilling his responsibilities.<\/p>\n Smith\u2019s three priorities are staffing magistrate hearings with district clerk personnel as required, better facilitating the jury summons process and ending the practice of charging residents to access court cases.<\/p>\n District clerk staff do not make the decisions during the magistration hearings, Smith clarified, but the office is responsible for providing all the information needed for the judges and the litigants involved in those cases. Smith said the district clerk\u2019s office is not properly staffing those hearings, arguing that the shift in the county to centralized magistration hearings in 2018 does not mean district clerk staff should not be present.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like that indirectly is contributing to the jail death(s) because if you don\u2019t have proper information flow to the magistrate judges, that has follow-up consequences in terms of people flowing into the jail,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n Wilder noted the responsibility of handling magistrate courts was handed to his office several years ago and the process in how that would function was done in conjunction with his office.<\/p>\n \u201cThe commissioners court agreed to fund this in the manner in which I thought it should be, and it\u2019s worked great,\u201d Wilder said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Smith also said that the current method in which the district clerk is managing the jury summons process is incorrect and claims the office is giving the role to an unelected bailiff.<\/p>\n Wilder disagreed with Smith\u2019s claim and said the district clerk is not responsible for the jury summons process since the Texas Legislature gave the responsibility to the local judges and their staff in the 1990s.<\/p>\n \u201c(He) doesn\u2019t ever do his homework,\u201d Wilder added. \u201cThat makes him dangerous as far as liability with the taxpayer, because you have to be precise down here.\u201d<\/p>\n Since 2010, the district clerk has given Tarrant County residents access to court documents regarding their cases online for a fee. According to the county\u2019s website, on-site document look-up is free, but noncertified paper copies are $1 per page. Current cost of viewing case file information off-site digitally includes a $120 initiation fee \u2014\u00a0which is a $50 and two months subscription \u2014 and an additional $35 a month.<\/p>\n Smith argued the process of accessing documents should not cost money. He pointed to counties like Harris and Bexar, which charge for copies of documents but allow free access to search the electronic index.<\/p>\n \u201cThis gets back to Wilder seeing his office as being a revenue generating node for the county, which I just fundamentally disagree with,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wilder said the fee setup was ordered by the commissioners court and is not in his control to change. He also noted that the fee has been the same for at least the last 17 years.<\/p>\n According to the latest campaign finance filings<\/a> between Jan. 1 and June 30 of this year, Wilder raised $2,100 in political contributions, reported $115,024.69 of campaign cash on hand, and spent $2,405.59 in his campaign. Smith, between Jan. 1 and June 30 of this year, reported raising $23,677.33 in political contributions, had $19,466.41 on hand, and spent $6,919.85.<\/p>\n Ismael M. Belkoura is the nonprofit editor for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from North Texas Community Foundation. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n