The official record-keeper for McLean County’s court system is running for a fifth term in this year’s election. But first he’ll have to survive a primary challenge from one of his former employees.
Incumbent Circuit Clerk Don Everhart will face Republican challenger Jason Dazey in the March 19 primary, for which early voting is now underway. With no Democrat in the race, the winner is likely to advance to an unopposed election win in November.
The winner will lead the circuit clerk’s office through one of its biggest changes in recent history: the launch of the county’s new case-management system that is expected in early 2025. Other challenges will include hiring and retaining workers in a competitive job market and continuing progress away from paper records and toward electronic filings and record-keeping.
“I’m a public servant, and I enjoy serving the public,” said Everhart, 71, of Bloomington. “The office is bigger than any one individual. And I have never made this office about me. I'm seeking re-election because I believe with my knowledge and experience that I would continue to serve the court and the public well. And as a public servant, I'm always mindful that serving the public is an honor to which I’m dedicated.”
Dazey, 49, of Bloomington, worked in the circuit clerk’s office from 1998 until 2013, when he became the county’s jury coordinator. Dazey said he’s not trying to push Everhart out, and he considered running for circuit clerk in 2008 when former clerk Sandra Parker retired. He opted against it in part because one of his children was very young at the time. [Everhart was first elected in 2008, succeeding Parker.]
“It’s where I want to finish my career,” Dazey said. “It had nothing to do with him [Everhart]. I just thought it was the right time in my life to try to do it.”
Circuit clerk is one of the lower-profile countywide elected positions, though its work interacts with many members of the public on a daily basis. The circuit clerk oversees a budget of around $2.9 million, currently with 60 employees. It’s the official record-keeper of the court system, as well as collector and distributor of fines, fees, and costs the court imposes.
New case management system
One of the biggest challenges facing the circuit clerk will be implementation of the county’s new case-management system, called eCourt, alongside vendor Journal Technologies. The costly project has been years in the works and is expected to go live in the first quarter of 2025, Everhart said.
The county’s current system — which at one time was a point of pride as the first fully integrated case-management system in Illinois — has become antiquated and difficult to use, especially as electronic filings of civil cases became legally required in 2018. Everhart said he used his technology background to find creative workarounds and stopgap solutions, though it’s time for a complete overhaul.
Everhart said keeping him in the circuit clerk’s role would be a good thing as 2025 approaches.
“That continuity is very important for someone who’s been innovative in dealing with the shortcomings of the current case management system, who’s advocated for the new and seeing that come forward, and dealing with the new system and challenges as they’re finessing it and so forth,” Everhart said. “I have years of knowledge and experience that my opponent does not.”
Personnel
Dazey does have a lot of experience working in county government — about 26 years — and said his past experience working in the circuit clerk’s office is a differentiator, as Everhart didn’t have that experience when he started in 2008.
“I’ve still maintained a good relationship with all the workers in his office [who were there] when I worked there,” Dazey said.
Dazey said his top priorities, if elected, are all related to personnel. He’d like to focus on cross-training employees to be able to work across areas, and develop a more uniform way of performing certain tasks across departments.
“The circuit clerk has a high turnover rate,” said Dazey, claiming it didn’t always used to be that way. “I don’t know what the problem is. It’s not for anybody to blame. I don’t know if it’s the pay, or the work environment — I don’t know what it is. But I’d like to try and figure out a way we can keep people.”
Everhart said staff pay did emerge as a problem during the pandemic, as other short-staffed employers were offering higher wages and bonuses that the county couldn’t compete with. Everhart said he attacked the problem and even jumped ahead of the county’s broader salary study that led to raises in 2023.
“I couldn’t wait. My office serves the court, and we were down, and I just couldn’t wait for 2023. I went to county administration and advocated for a process to increase their wages prior to 2023,” Everhart said. “I was able to get wage increases for my staff in September 2022, months before the county implemented its 2023 budget for the new increases. Because of that, some staff I had lost to those wage issues — three of them asked to come back. And I brought them back.”
Everhart, the incumbent, touts a long list of endorsements, including from McLean County Board chair Catherine Metsker, former judges David Butler and Robert Freitag, and fellow countywide officeholders Sheriff Matt Lane, Coroner Kathy Yoder, and Treasurer Rebecca McNeil, among others. Dazey said he didn’t have any endorsements other than friends.
