Longtime staffer running for clerk of courts
Beth Jones seeking Republican nomination to lead row office
Beth Jones looks forward to going to work each day.
That’s probably why she’s stayed at the same place for so long, why she’s been showing up to the Berks County Clerk of Courts office with a smile on her face for the last 27 years.
She likes working with customers who visit the office, she likes her coworkers, she likes her boss. All in all, she said, it has been an ideal place to work.
That’s why when James Troutman, the clerk of courts, approached her recently to tell her that he’s retiring after serving nine terms and that he thinks she should throw her hat into the ring to replace him she said yes.
Jones is vying to take over leadership of the office she has dedicated nearly three decades to, announcing she is running for the Republican nomination to be the next clerk of courts.
“I think this is a great opportunity for me because I’m very fortunate to actually love what I do,” the 52-year-old said. “I know not everyone has that same feeling about what they do so I don’t take that for granted.”
Jones started working in the office in 1996 in the accounting side of the office and has worked her way up the ranks to become an assistant to Troutman, helping oversee all the operations that the department performs.
And there’s a lot riding on the operations the office performs. Everything in the criminal justice system — from cases moving forward to inmates being admitted to prison to compensating the victims of crimes — requires paperwork documenting those actions from the office.
“I feel like my experience in the office makes me uniquely qualified,” she said. “Over the years I’ve been exposed to all aspects of what this office does. So I not only have the experience to lead the team, but I have the knowledge that someone else may not have.”
Jones said she understands the procedures that need to be followed in the office, the administrative decisions that need to be made and will continue the implementation of new technology that has helped streamline the department.
Jones is the first candidate to announce intentions to run for the office in the May 16 primary.
The clerk of courts serves a four-year term and receives an annual salary of $96,043.