Clerks, recorders to meet in Springfield

by Karen E. Culp

SBJ Staff

Mike Carr is gearing up for a meeting of his colleagues in his hometown.

Carr, who serves as Greene County's circuit clerk, is also president of the Missouri Circuit Clerks and Recorders Association, which will hold its annual meeting in Springfield this year.

"We bring it to Springfield about every three to four years. We always end up back in Springfield because it's a great place with good resources for something like this," Carr said.

Carr expects the event to draw about 125 participants from all over the state. Participants will be either circuit clerks or recorders, or in some cases, both.

"Some counties have recorders who also serve as circuit clerks," Carr said, citing Taney County as an example.

The state association of recorders and circuit clerks holds this meeting each year, and also spends its time lobbying the state legislature, representing the interests of the recorders and clerks, Carr said.

Some of the topics to be covered this year during the annual meeting relate to changes to the state's child-support payment and distribution system.

"After Oct. 1, employers will be sending checks to a central collection site in Jefferson City, and disbursement will be made through that office. There will be little involvement of the circuit clerk's office in the child-support payment and disbursement system after that begins, and the clerks need to understand what will change and how it will impact them," Carr said.

The changes will be incremental, so that by 2001, the circuit clerks' offices will be out of the child-support-collection business entirely, Carr added.

The convention will also have an education session on changes to child support laws that govern when and how a child is released, or emancipated, from support, Carr said.

A new law, passed during Missouri's last legislative session, would allow a child to be emancipated at the age of 22 without the parents' having to go through the court system or enlist the help of an attorney, Carr said.

The meeting will also focus on other areas of legislation affecting clerks and recorders, most of which pertain to new forms and new procedures to be followed in the clerks' offices. County recorders of deeds will have a special session during the convention, said Greene County Recorder Linda Montgomery.

The convention will also feature 12 vendors who will be demonstrating computer hardware and software, along with new technology in micrographics, for use in circuit clerks and recorders offices.