Countywide : County Clerk Office May Be Eliminated

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved in concept a proposal to eliminate County Clerk Gary Granville’s department and distribute his duties to the recorder’s office and the court administrator.

The move would cut 12 jobs, including Granville’s, at a savings of $536,166 in salaries.

Supervisors applauded Granville for proposing to save the county money even though it will cost him his job. Granville said the proposal was entirely his idea. He first suggested it on Jan. 11, in a memo to County Administrative Office Ernie Schneider.

Granville said he is leaning toward running for a new combined post of clerk-recorder in June, 1994.

Current Recorder Lee Branch also is expected to seek the seat.

Granville said he has no intention of challenging recently appointed Supervisor William G. Steiner. Before Steiner’s appointment in March to replace resigned Supervisor Don R. Roth, Granville had been mentioned prominently as a possible candidate for the seat.

The reorganization is to occur no later than July 1, 1994. It would bring all court-related responsibilities of the clerk’s office under the control of the judicial branch.

There has been a trend throughout California counties in recent years of ensuring the separation of powers between the courts and county governments’ executive branches by transferring judicial duties to court administrators. Those duties include maintaining thousands of criminal and civil files on cases in Superior Court.

The reorganization also calls for a new clerk-recorder’s office to be established. It would combine the non-judicial responsibilities of Granville’s current office, such as issuing marriage licenses and fictitious business names, with the duties handled by the recorder’s office, including the filing of deeds and property-related records.

For seven years, Orange County had a combined office of clerk-recorder headed by an elected officer. But on Oct. 1, 1985, the offices were separated into two departments, each headed by an elected official.

The 1985 split came after a negative management audit and growing unhappiness among judges over the way the court and public were being served. But the county’s top judge has endorsed the new reorganization plan.

Before Granville assumed the duties of the county clerk in 1985, “there were many deficiencies in the clerk of the court operations,� Presiding Superior Court Judge Donald E. Smallwood wrote in a letter May 17 to supervisors.

“Since that time, Mr. Granville has revitalized the county clerk’s department and the clerk of the court operations into one of the very finest and most cost effective in the state,� Smallwood wrote.

A former journalist and college instructor, Granville’s term as county clerk expires Dec. 31, 1994. But he said he expects to resign his job before the end of the term if he does not run for the new post of clerk-recorder or runs and is defeated.