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Any effective organization should have a progression plan for top management, with a second-in-command designated to step into the leadership role should unfortunate or unforeseen circumstances arise.
The Collier County Clerk of Courts Office had one. With that in mind, we recommend voters elect Crystal Kinzel on Aug. 28 to complete the two-year term of the late Dwight Brock.
Voters sent a message in 2016 that they had faith in the multifaceted clerk’s office when Brock handily defeated a well-known challenger who we believe would have shaken up the clerk’s office. We construe this as community support not just for the longtime clerk of courts, but for his leadership team. We interpret this as a message that voters supported the watchdog work the office was doing on behalf of taxpayers, that citizens weren’t looking for major change.
As chief deputy clerk since 2016 and the office’s finance director before that, no one is more qualified to step in now than Kinzel. She was the logical choice for the governor when he appointed an interim clerk after Brock died unexpectedly in June. She remains the best choice for voters today rather than turning this vital office’s operations over to a newcomer.
In some ways, Kinzel has been the public face of the office, representing the clerk at County Commission meetings. However, serving at board meetings is just a fraction of the responsibilities. The office handles public records, including thankful advancements toward making them available online; audits the county’s books and contracts; pays county government’s bills; provides essential courtroom support staff; records property sales related documents; handles passports, and much more.
In our editorial board’s separate meetings with Kinzel and opponent Don Berry, she had far superior knowledge of where the office has been, what’s changed and how the public might be better served such as through restoring satellite offices and making public records more readily available.
It’s key that this is the final two years of what’s customarily a four-year term. Voters won’t lose any time to a learning curve if they elect Kinzel. We’re anxious to see how she puts her own stamp on the office.
On the campaign trail, there are lingering perceptions that the clerk’s office is lawsuit happy. We dispute that’s presently the case.
For one, Brock’s background as a prosecutor made him a courtroom combatant. Kinzel’s background is in running finance departments, for the Collier sheriff before switching to the clerk’s office.
Secondly, such claims are an anachronism. Soon after the 2016 election, the clerk’s office and county government leaders reached a peace pact to work out their differences and not spend taxpayer money against one another fighting in court.
That agreement doesn’t mean the clerk’s office has backed off from watching taxpayer dollars, to the chagrin at times of vendors with county contracts. In recent months, the clerk’s office delivered a harsh audit regarding county government-supported business accelerators. As word of the audit findings first surfaced during commission meetings, there was the potential the newfound commission-clerk relationship would blow up in public. It didn’t. We believe that’s evidence the County Commission and clerk’s office relationship has changed.
Kinzel says she’s comfortable with the agreement. When Berry met with our editorial board, he hadn’t looked at it and couldn’t address the liaison relationship it created with county commissioners. That’s a big miss.
Saddening circumstances have turned Kinzel into a politician she never intended to be. With just two Republicans running, this race is open to all Collier voters who will decide it Aug. 28. We urge voters to elect Crystal Kinzel.
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