Shelly Brock
County Clerk/Register of Deeds
THE ROOTS OF A HAPPY, HEALTHY COMMUNITY ARE CONNECTIONS.
Meet Shelly
I am a single mother of two special girls that I fostered and adopted. They are currently 8 and 4 years old. We live with our sweet, loving cocker spaniels that I have bred and shown. When time permits, we like to garden, bike, horseback ride, go to the Creature Conservancy in Saline, take swimming lessons at Vets, or go to the many playgrounds throughout the county.
I have a masters degree in Educational Psychology and have taught in Ann Arbor for 33 years. Teaching in Ann Arbor has allowed me the opportunity to live in our amazing county for over 30 years. I have taught in Ann Arbor and know how diverse and unique every little part of it is. Every elementary is different from one another and unique to its neighborhood. I live in Saline, which is an wonderful community with extraordinary schools. I event horses and have spent so much time in Dexter, that it too feels like home. My girls and I love visiting our friends on a lake in Chelsea, or going to Ypsilanti to pick up amazing chicken from Chicken Shack or Ma Lou's. I love where I live and the diversity that it brings.
Questions & Answers
Here are some questions that I have been asked. Hopefully you can get to know me more through my answers. If my answers ring true with you, please consider voting for me August 6th. I would truly appreciate it!
Why are you running? What are your qualifications and why would you like to win the office of register of deeds?
I have a masters degree in Educational Psychology and have worked for the Ann Arbor Public Schools for 33 years. I would love to work for the county that I know, love and have lived in for over 35 years. I genuinely care about others. This office ushers in big changes in people’s lives. I would love the opportunity to create an office that supports those big changes.
I am intelligent, genuine, dedicated and hard working. I am not a politician. I am here for the job. I am very interested in the administrative aspect of this job, and serving my community in this way. I have worked with so many different administrators over the years. I have experienced how what they say and do can drastically affect your ability to carry out your job, positively and negatively. Too many administrators get lost in the power of their position, which almost always has a negative effect on the people they are supposed to be supporting. I believe my job as the administrator is to do whatever I can to help the people in my office to do their jobs efficiently, effectively and with compassion. This will help to ensure we provide a fluent and efficient office that is welcoming to the public. I care a great deal about customer service. I am here to make sure we are serving all people from all parties, neighborhoods and economical backgrounds. I would like to create an environment where the people that come to us are treated more like clients than a customers.
What are your goals should you be elected and how
will you work to accomplish them with limited resources?
My goal is to provide a welcoming, accessible, efficient office. When entering this position I would first take some time to get to know the people and procedures that they have in place. I would also ask the people that have been doing the jobs, what they see as the office’s strengths and where they feel we could grow. I will also ask that we keep track of different questions that are asked and requests that are made to see if we can find patterns that could be addressed for the public. One way that I am thinking we could address these are through the addition of informational videos to our website that can help to clarify common questions and needs.
What resources does the county need in order to improve
the service the clerk’s office is expected to provide?
Our services are mandated by law. Thankfully our county does well financially which helps to ensure we can easily provide these mandated services. When I first enter the position, I will spend some time observing how things currently function, go over how we are currently allocating our resources, and make sure that it is aligning well with what is most needed by our community. I will ask my staff to keep a record of the different questions and service requests that come in. I would also like to have suggestion boxes up, and maybe an exit question that we ask those who use our services. These are some ways that we can try to keep a pulse on the needs of our community.
What thoughts do you have about the current voting procedures?
I am thankful we have the Bureau of Elections to help our state provide its residents with a secure, efficient way to vote. As a Chief Election Officer, it will be important for me to stay on top of what is changing, and meet regularly with the 26 city and township clerks within our county to make sure we are following the procedures put forth by the Bureau of Elections. This will help to ensure we provide a safe and secure way for our community to vote. I would like to add a video on our website that shows the differences, pros and cons, of absentee verses in person voting. This might help to push more absentee voting. I would also like to work with the other clerks and my staff to meet with our different post offices in our county to see if there is anything we can do to help make sure absentee votes are safely and efficiently delivered. Making sure to have effective training that is easily acquired by those who are interested in helping at the polls will also be very important.
Are there challenges to ensuring a safe and secure voting process, both in person and through absentee ballots? What are your recommendations to meet these challenges?
One of the biggest challenges is making sure you have enough poll workers. Washtenaw County has some amazing resources, three of them being WCC, EMU and UofM. I would like to see if it is possible to form a partnership with university and high school professors and teachers, to see if we could help young adults to become more involved. This could help to familiarize young adults with the voting process and working for the government. They could possibly earn a grade or extra credit for working the polls, creating a video to help inform our community, shadow different positions, etc. These partnerships could be beneficial in so many ways.
When the housing market is hot and many houses are sold, how will you make sure all deeds are recorded promptly?
It is going to be critical that I have a dedicated, intelligent staff in place who have been trained well. This will help to ensure mistakes aren’t made and that the records are accepted and not returned. As a former teacher, I know training will absolutely be a strength of mine. I have always worked with students of different abilities and strengths. I know how to teach from different angles until I find what works for each of my students. I will not only be effective at training my staff, I will be a great coach that helps my staff become great trainers.
Please vote!!!
TUESDAY, AUGUST 6th
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