CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Montgomery County Circuit Court Clerk candidates Tracy Knight, Chelsea Camp and Wendy Davis recently participated in the Clarksville Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2020 Political Forum series at Custom House Museum and Cultural Center.
The candidates answered questions from panelists, including PDI President Jay Albertia, Clarksville Now senior reporter Lee Erwin and Leaf-Chronicle business reporter Jimmy Settle on topics including management style, jury duty and the role of a Circuit Court Clerk.
Seasoned professional vs. fresh perspectives
In many of her responses, Davis cited her 24 years of experience working in the court. Davis currently serves as chief deputy of Administration and Technology at the Circuit Court Clerk’s office.
“In those 24 years I have worked in every division of the Circuit Court Clerk’s Office all the way up to the administration,” said Davis. “It is a job that I absolutely love doing.”
Knight, on the other hand, argued that her experience as a local attorney provides her an outside perspective on the office’s practices, which she called “dysfunctional.”
Knight cited the office’s dress code and desk policies as examples of over-management and a waste of time.
“It seems to me that the current leadership style in the office is one of autocratic, and I think that that is not effective for an office such as this,” said Knight. “The overall culture of the office is best described as dysfunctional. The employees don’t seem happy with their jobs, and it’s evident with the high turnover rate that is seen within that office.”
Camp also spoke on her experiences outside the Clerk’s Office, citing both her military career and her work as director of Development for Butterfly Moments Women’s Recovery Center, an organization committed to reducing recidivism.
Jury duty
Erwin asked the candidates what could be done to improve people’s perception of jury duty, and how the process might be improved.
Camp said the focus should be on education and making sure that jurors know the importance of that civic duty.
“I think it just needs some education so that people understand the benefit that it serves to be the person who is picked because you bring in perspective. We do want to ensure fairness and impartiality. To do that, you have to have a varied perspective and perception in that group,” said Camp.
Knight was less optimistic on the topic.
“Frankly, I am not really sure there’s a lot that can be done to increase the perception or better the perception of jury duty for a lot of people,” said Knight. “I think maybe better organization would be something.”
Davis again spoke to her experience, suggesting that the best thing to do is to stay the course.
“Jury duty is interesting – you get a handful of people that want to serve desperately and then a handful of people that don’t want to serve,” said Davis. “They make $11 a day. Some people find that pay low, but it’s what the law says. Just in general, I think we do a great job with it.”
The forum is one in a series, each featuring a different local race. The entire series can be viewed on Goodwin Production’s Youtube page.
The Circuit County Clerk race will be on the ballot for the upcoming Nov. 3 election. Early voting begins Oct. 14.
To learn more about the Circuit Court Clerk candidates, click here.