Tiffany Lee, the unaffiliated incumbent for La Plata County clerk and recorder, is running unopposed this November. Watch Tiffany Lee’s full interview.
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Transcript
The role responsibilities of the clerk and recorder are pretty vast. So we oversee vehicle registration and titling, not driver’s license. We also oversee anything to do with land records. So recording of real property deeds, mortgages, leans, anything like that that’s associated with real property. We are responsible for and our first record begins in 1874 to present. We also have the honor to issue marriage and civil union licenses. It’s one of my favorite parts. And then of course, the big one is elections. So we conduct all federal, state and local elections for the state of Colorado. And why is it important? Well, it’s critical. So if you think about the services that we provide, we serve everybody that’s over the age of 18. So whether you’re going to drive a vehicle legally, if you’re going to get married, if you’re going to own land, if you want to vote, you’re going to come see our office. So it’s a really critical department. We are in a constitutional department, and I strongly believe in being elected so that I am serving the people, and the people have the right to have me in office and choose who they are putting into this really, really important position. Well, I’ve done this since 2010 is when I was first election, elected. Excuse me. However, I started in 1996 and so 30 years of experience and doing this work. And right now more than ever, I think it’s important that we have the experience and the knowledge. There’s a lot of controversial, as we know, in controversy in elections. And I want to make sure that I am here to continue to support my staff, the voters, my colleagues across the state and across the United States. I bring a wealth of knowledge and experience. And I think right now more than ever, people look upon me as somebody that has that knowledge and that a resource, and I just want to continue that. I love serving the public. I love helping people, whether it’s someone that is trying to find an easement on a piece of property to someone that is celebrating their marriage, this is so important to me. And I love the work even after 30 years, and I just want to continue to serve. Such a good question, because people hear the word clerk and they immediately just think it’s a clerical, you know, maybe more data entry and filing records, right? There’s so much more to it. It takes a long time to learn this job. When we hire, we say, you know, it’s going to take you a couple of years in recording, a couple of years in motor vehicle and at least four years in elections to even have the foundation. So the experience I had the honor to work under two former county clerk’s and to learn from them. And now I’ve been the county clerk. This will be my fifth term. And so that right there is a lot of just experience, hands on doing the work. I also am state certified and I’m nationally certified, so I continually educate myself. I am constantly making sure that I know what technology is available. I’m studying statute. I’m very heavily involved in legislation, so we might see over 70 pieces of legislation a year and I stay involved. That’s where I believe my experience and how you learn the most about this position, because there’s a lot when you think of what county clerk’s do, it’s very different all within one department. And so you just have to constantly educate. And I bring that to the table. Great question. Because I always every term I want to think about what do I want to accomplish. And number one is in elections, I want to continue to build on the trust. Right now, it’s been deteriorating because of what has been said out there, and it’s not true. I want to still continue to just build that trust with the public on how great elections are and how well we’re ensuring that the integrity of the election is strong and that every eligible elector has that right to vote. So that will be my huge priority, obviously, for this upcoming election and then continuing on for the next four years. I also want to continue to build the county archive. That’s a big piece for me. That is something else that is a responsibility of the county clerk. So I really want to make sure that archive is solid. And that is something that now we have space for that. So that’s something long term will take a bit. But I’m going to make sure I continue to work on that. And then I also want to continue to just make sure with the movement of AI, that’s a big deal, obviously for a lot of people, and I need to make sure that we’re implementing it properly. And so that is also something I want to really make sure the next four years that I’m implementing properly and securely, but also I think that there’s a lot of of great things out there with AI. So that’s really my my biggest things that I want to accomplish, then again, just with our growth in the community is pretty substantial. So I want to make sure that I’m continuing to serve the public the best I can. However, also being very conscientious of our budget constraints. So how can I continue to do that? You know, keep those wait times and motor vehicle at 15 minutes, but also with the growth, how do we manage that? And so that’s something else that I will definitely be working on the next four years. Well I love Colorado. So obviously I love the outdoors. I love to hike. My husband and I are, we love to camp and hike and any outdoor adventure. I also have three children and three granddaughters, so that’s a big part of my life. It’s it’s a pretty amazing to be a grandparent and watch my children raise their children. So I spend a lot of time with my family and but definitely the Colorado lifestyle of just being outdoors. And I have animals and I just love I love where we live. We’re very lucky. And that’s such a good question. Wow, that’s such a good question. I think that, goodness, you threw me on that one because we’ve accomplished so many things. And I think for me on the motor vehicle side, because that is probably our heavily traffic, you know, where people are coming in the most is being able to offer even more online services for them and a little bit quicker access for them to have, you know, be able to do their license plates online and their vehicle registration. We can do it, but it’s not as seamless as you think. So if I could improve that, I know that would probably be the most impactful to majority of our citizens. And then in elections, just continue with improving our ability for people to cast that vote. So what does that mail ballot piece look like? Are we could we do more? I get asked all the time, could we vote from our phones? I don’t know if we’re there yet, but if we could accomplish that and have it secure, I know voters would love it, especially as the younger generation is coming up. I get asked that a lot, and I think you asked me only one thing, but that’s hard for me as a county clerk because I have so many things that I want to accomplish, but just to continue to provide those great services to the community and continue to be innovative.
