McQuigg to seek reelection as clerk of court

Clerk of Court Michèle McQuigg, saying she is the only candidate “who is a Certified Clerk of Circuit Court” has announced that she will seek reelection for a second term as Clerk of Circuit Court that serves Prince William County, Manassas and Manassas Park. She said her “certification is from the University of Virginia, Weldon-Cooper Center for Public Service and School of Continuing and Professional Services.” She issued this statement:

First, I want to thank my constituents for the opportunity to serve them and for the trust they have placed in me over the years as a member of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, the House of Delegates and now as Clerk of Court.

I can remember the first time I ran for office. It was for Clerk of Court in 1983. I didn’t win against the incumbent, but I did establish the practice of going door-to-door. Back then I wore out many pairs of “high” heel shoes. Over the years, I got smarter and now wear sneakers.

I went on to do some consulting work, was computer operations coordinator for the National Tax Limitation Committee and became a Realtor and broker. When a vacancy on the Board of Supervisors occurred in the Occoquan District, I ran for it and won.

When I was on the Board of Supervisors, I was the first to have a website and a budget committee.  I knocked on every door in my district more than once. I remember when Pastor Frederick Ray of Mt Olive Baptist Church and president of the NAACP said to me that over the years many politicians had come to his church and said that they would pave Telegraph Road-but they didn’t.  I said that I would work hard and try to do it. I did with lots of help and it happened. Telegraph Road went from a gravel road to a 2-lane paved road.

I think it is fair to say that over the years I have demonstrated a record of hard work, commitment and concern for my constituents.

In 1997, there was an opportunity to run for the House of Delegates because of an unexpected vacancy. When I was elected to the House of Delegates, I was the first woman from Prince William to serve in the General Assembly. I also brought “parity” (equal number of Republicans and Democrats) to the House. Working with the leading businessmen of the Commonwealth, I am very proud of being the chief patron of the Roadmap to Virginia’s Future that established performance management in the Commonwealth.

After 10 years serving in Richmond, it was time to come home and run for the office I had run for 24 years earlier. In 2007, I was privileged to be elected Clerk of Court.  The last 7 years as Clerk have been filled with numerous challenges, a steep learning curve, lots of hard work and long hours, a great staff and the opportunity to help many people during important times in their lives.
The job of Clerk is about trust. It involves reliance on and confidence in the Clerk’s integrity and strength of character.  It is a responsibility I take very seriously. 

The Clerk’s Office needs to work well for all of its customers. Stability and knowledge is important. It’s not a job where you want to change clerks unless there is a compelling reason to do so. There is no compelling reason.

We’ve made more than 20 major improvements and countless smaller improvements to the Office in 7 years—more than any other Clerk in the history of this Office.

When I took office in 2008, it became quickly apparent that spending had to be slashed dramatically - by more than $1 million - in order to stay within the Office’s reduced budget. Working with the Board of County Supervisors, I eliminated all non-mandated functions. I moved our Public Service Center back from the old courthouse to the “new” courthouse so that we could better utilize staff.  The administrative office’s secretary was moved to Public Service in order to provide more service to the public. We implemented cross training to take advantage of the peaks and valleys in demand in different sections.

Most people don’t think about the Clerk’s Office unless there is an important need or event in their life, such as getting married, probating a will, recording a deed or other land related records, obtaining a concealed carry permit or having to go to court or serve on a jury.

Under my leadership, we switched to a computer system used by 117 of the 120 of the Clerk’s Office, saving thousands of dollars and increasing reliability, eliminating redundancy of effort and eliminating the filing of paper documents into file folders. We did it in 6 months.  Usually it takes a year or two to do that.  We are now a file folder-less court. We handle and scan well over a million pages of court documents per year.

We were the pilot for preparing appeals electronically-now it takes 1 person to do a job that before could take up to 4 people and the 1 person now has additional duties. We are a pilot for the e-filing of civil cases. We are able to certify documents electronically-eliminating mailing costs and expediting delivery of documents.

We reduced the time it takes to process concealed handgun permit from an average of 6 weeks to 1-2 weeks or less. We developed a probate pre-appointment worksheet that helps people know what information they need to gather, saving time and reducing the number of appointments.

On the records side, we are continually upgrading our land records system and adding features. We were the initiator and pilot for Occasional User that enables people to obtain a copy of their deed and other land records every day at any hour. We’ve increased e-recording from the 20% range to the upper 30% range on average saving customers and staff time.

My personal favorite project is digitizing all of our old records back to 1731. We have boxes stuffed with unknown papers-volunteers are now sorting and indexing them. To help find the information in our older books, we are matching indexes with the books. I liken this project to a giant jigsaw puzzle of a monochromatic, modern painting with all of the pieces about the same size and shape. This is definitely a 2 term project.

We are a continuous quality improvements organization. Our metrics focus on customer service. We continuously seek ways to improve efficiency, effectiveness, accountability and customer service.

In terms of innovation, we are one of the leading Clerk’s Offices in the State.  Why change Clerks from someone who is innovative and focused on customer service, knows the job and is getting it done with someone with no relevant experience?

I am pleased to have the endorsement and support of many local leaders including former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli; State Senator Dick Black; Delegates Bob Marshall, Scott Lingamfelter, and Rich Anderson; and Board of Supervisor Members Maureen Caddigan and Jeanine Lawson. 

I am running for re-election because my job as Clerk is not finished. A few of the things I want to accomplish in my next term are the implementation of online payment of fines; creation of a digital Clerk’s worksheet to enable faster production of court orders and to provide quicker and more thorough information for customers; continue to streamline the jury system;  and complete the digitization of all of our records back to 1731 and get them online

I have proven that I am an experienced leader, working hard for my constituents and getting the job done. I ask for your continued trust and vote to give me another 8 years to serve you.