With season behind us and the school year wrapping up, now is the perfect time to take a break and enjoy what makes Southwest Florida such a special place to live! Contractors are hard at work installing emergency beach berms, but several beaches and pools are open for enjoyment. Also, we invite you to bring your children by the Collier County Courthouse to take a stroll through the decades that helped shape our community. Our Centennial Committee has set up an interactive display with photos, historical items, videos and more to share with the public. Just come by during regular courthouse operating hours, there is no charge to visit.
June 1st marked the start of hurricane season. While we all hope this will be an uneventful year, I encourage you to be prepared by organizing your essential records and documents and working with your family to make an evacuation plan. Stocking a supply kit can also come in handy when regular storms knock the power out during the summer. Take advantage of the tax free days for hurricane items.
For our office, this time of year is when we are developing budgets for the upcoming fiscal year. You may remember from this previous article that we receive funding from the State of Florida for Court Operations as well as funding from Collier County for Non-Court Services. In my newly appointed role with the CCOC Executive Committee, I’ll be meeting with Clerk’s around the state to review and improve budgeting processes. In an upcoming issue, I’ll be sharing more details about how your tax dollars are being spent throughout the state. I encourage you to listen, view or attend the Collier County Board of County Commissioners Workshop, which is scheduled for Thursday, June 15. You’ll be able to hear discussions about budgets from different departments throughout Collier County, including ours.
Our clerks have been taking steps to ensure smooth operations, make our services more accessible, and improve our overall processes. This includes improving our SAP financial systems by updating our system to the newest version called S/4 HANA. Through this implementation, we can provide improved processes and security for the important financial records that we maintain for Collier County.
Additionally, we have improved our e-filing services to make them more accessible for Collier County residents. Through a new agreement with eRecording Partners Network (EPN), businesses and residents will be able to submit electronic documents for e-recording in Collier’s Official Records. Recording e-certify will provide quick, easy access for the public to purchase certified (or non-certified) copies of the Official Records from the Clerk’s website and immediately receive them electronically.
As a continuation of our Centennial celebrations, I interviewed the two founders of Leadership Collier, Scott Salley and Mike McComas. They helped us look back to the beginning of the Leadership Collier program and it’s role in our county’s growth and development. I hope you will take the opportunity to watch our video and thank these two great men for starting it all in Collier County!
I wish everyone a safe and productive June!
