Incumbent Clerk of Courts Tyra Boni is facing a challenge from Sydney Wernett, who won on a write-in campaign in the primary election.

The Clerk of Courts office is responsible for filing and maintaining the pledging and the records of all criminal proceedings. The clerk also sits in attendance at all sessions of criminal court to record sentences and dispositions and to complete defendant bills of cost. The clerk of courts will earn an annual salary of $66,346 in 2022 and have a 2% increase to $67,673 in 2023.

We asked candidates to answer questions about the office.

Tyra Boni

Town: Lehighton

Background: I started with the county as Second Deputy Clerk of Courts in 1990. Then left in 1991, to raise my children. Following, I have over 17 years business/management experience. Recently, worked for the county since 2018. First as a first deputy in another row office, then was elected as Clerk of Courts on Jan. 6, 2020. I am currently serving my 2-year term, following a special election and have been in office for 22 months.

Why you are running for office: Being able to serve the residents of Carbon County has been extremely rewarding. When I ran for office, I wanted to make a difference in this office and in the county.

In 22 months, we remediated backlogs, streamlined the office, Collected $1.83 million (costs, fines, and restitution), Disbursed $2.21 million in payments (victims, county, etc.), increased active monthly payment plans by 98%, and saved taxpayers $96,000-plus.

I’d love to continue serving Carbon County residents.

Three main goals if elected: I will continue making fiscally responsible decisions to spare any additional expense to the taxpayers. I will continue moving this office forward in a positive way with evaluation and adjustment of processes and protocols as necessary as done in the last 22 months; if an issue arises, it is evaluated and resolved. I will continue to expand collection efforts to continue to collect on funds rightfully owed to victims, county (taxpayers), state, boroughs, and municipalities.

A great amount of money is owed by defendants in fines and court costs. Your plan on how to better get the defendants to pay what they owe or better method of collection of this money: New processes, contacting defendants within 10 days of sentencing establishing payment plan and delinquent notifications through text messages sent at 10 days, emailed at 20 days, and mailed notice at 30 days. If an account is delinquent for 3 consecutive months, forwarded to outside collection agency for further methods at NO COST to taxpayers. Existing: judgments (lien) are filed for each case to collect on dues owed if property is sold and wage attachments filed when employment verified.

Sydney Wernett

Town: Jim Thorpe

Background: Wernett was born and raised in Jim Thorpe by her parents, Kevin and Catherine Wernett. She obtained her degree in criminal justice from Lehigh Carbon Community College. Upon graduation, Wernett immediately entered the work field and attended Act 2 Training as a Deputy Sheriff. Since then, she has continued to build her court-related experiences.

Why you are running for office: I am running for Clerk of Courts because of my experience, education, and commitment to the betterment of this county. This will make me the leader that the clerk of courts office desperately needs. I not only understand the court system through my degree in criminal justice, but I also have personal experience from working throughout the court system. I have strived to build my background for this opportunity.

Three main goals if elected: I will address the extensive turnover rate in the office. I will create an atmosphere that will be conducive to the longevity and growth of my staff. Through an improved atmosphere, I will work alongside staff to implement alternative means to address the delinquent fines without outsourcing the work. I will attend court hearings, and be a hands-on leader so that issues with early releases, erroneously suspending licenses and filing duplicate judgments no longer occur.

A great amount of money is owed by defendants in fines and court costs. Your plan on how to better get the defendants to pay what they owe or better method of collection of this money: I plan to implement wage attachments, regularly checking sheriff sales, tax sales, the Carbon County Law Journal, and work with CareerLink to assist in locating jobs for those who are unemployed. If a defendant utilizes the job postings through CareerLink and refuses to pay, then a wage attachment can be filed to collect. This will recoup the money that is owed to victims and taxpayers, without an additional hardship on those attempting to rehabilitate themselves.