For the Hub City Times

WISCONSIN RAPIDS – Wood County Clerk of Circuit Court, Cindy L. Joosten has announced her candidacy for re-election.

Joosten has served as clerk of Wood County Circuit Courts for the past 20 years and is a lifelong member of Wood County. She is a graduate of Lincoln High School, with high honors, holds an Associate degree in Accounting from Mid-State Technical College, a certificate in Public Management Essentials from UW-Green Bay, and is currently pursuing a certificate in Court Executive Development from UW-Green Bay.

“In the past 20 years the nature of the office has changed a great deal necessitating changes in policy and procedures to best serve the people of Wood County and the offices statutory attendance to the circuit courts,” Joosten said in a release. “Many of these changes were procedural in nature being as simple as the transition from the manual typewriter to the fully computerized e-filing world of today. Policies and procedures within the office had to change as the avalanche of information coming in every day needs to be disbursed to staff, the judges and county wide law enforcement and legal community.

“Efforts to save taxpayer dollars and increased office efficiency and accountability resulted in the creation of the collection deputy position, which has more than re-payed itself in savings and collections of owed funds to the taxpayers of Wood County.

“Along the same lines has been the development and implementation of electronic filings of civil cases, judgments, criminal cases and debt recovery. These changes have been well received by all customers in the judicial system.

“Although I believe my staff is number one in the excellent job of customer service, we’ve recently renewed our focus in this area with advanced training and customer surveys, which point to our high level of service.”

Joosten is a member of the Wisconsin Clerk of Circuit Court Association where she has functioned as a state wide mentor for other clerks of court, held committee positions such as a member of collection and finance committee, three terms as treasurer, two terms on the audit committee, three terms on the executive committee, and currently chairs the Court Professional Development Committee.

Joosten is a member of the Wood County Criminal Justice Task Force, former member of Chief Judges Committee on Child Support, Effective Justice Strategy Committee, and a current member of the executive board of the Wisconsin Counties Association.