County Report: Interview with the County Clerk

This podcast was recorded Wednesday, June 2, at the Courthouse Annex.==County Clerk Mary Margaret Wright was the special guest for this week's County Report podcast. She has lived in Athens most of her life. She is in the middle of her second term as County Clerk.Topics covered in this podcast:I. What does the County Clerk do? (I:45)"The County Clerk's Office is basically the record keeper for the whole county," Wright said.Just a few examples of the type of records handled by the County Clerk are birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses, plats for subdivisions, misdemeanor court cases, civil cases, and DBAs.II. How big is the County Clerk's Office? (3:32)There are 13 employees: five in the criminal division and the rest work in the main office.The County Clerk's Office is constantly busy. For example, there are about 600 marriage licenses each year.III. Cattle Brands (5:45)The County Clerk's Office maintains the records on cattle brands, which is something that has particular importance this year."The people that have cattle brands will re-register their brands starting August 31, 2021," Wright said. The registration process will end Feb. 28, 2022."That keeps what they have on file as their brands up to date," she said.IV. Challenges and Changes (7:03)Wright said the pandemic was the biggest challenge she's faced in her time as County Clerk."When we had to do everything online, we learned a lot during that time about what we could do," she said.==Henderson County Gov podcasts are available on Anchor, Breaker, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, and Spotify (below). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hendersoncountytexas.substack.com