CASPER — Sit in the lobby for the Natrona County Clerk of District Court on any given day and you’ll see people arrive looking for divorce paperwork, to pay a fine, make a child support payment or just hope to make sense of a legal issue they’ve unexpectedly been involved in.
Some come asking about a loved one who is in trouble with the law. Others try to find a court record from years ago as they work through an estate inheritance.
It’s a place where all records related to felony court cases, probate issues, divorce, adoptions, name changes, civil cases that involve more than $50,000, and child support are maintained.
Records available inside the office go back to the late 1890s and the 16-member staff led by Clerk of District Court Jill Kiester juggle their mandated roles with helping people on a bad day as they spill out their stories of bad marriages, child custody issues, a loved one in jail, or their own run-in with state statutes.
“Everything we do here affects people’s lives,” Kiester said. “We try to understand where they are at. We just listen, and that’s OK."
Kiester, in the elected office since 2021, has 40 years working for the county, and said her office’s main duty is keeping the permanent court record which gets added to on a daily basis.
On the ground floor of the county’s court building, her office is also the first one people see and go to for help.
Last year, 64,583 people walked through security into the courthouse building and many stopped to be helped, redirected within the building, or maybe outside it.
Sometimes people show up looking for the federal court, Kiester said.
Her staff work with the four Natrona County District Court judges and their staffs as well as law enforcement, attorneys, state and county agencies, businesses doing background checks on potential employees, and the public.
Cases And Pleadings
The second largest court in the state, there were 2,360 cases added to her office records last year and 65,000 pleadings either via electronic means or paperwork. Child Support Enforcement is the biggest filer.
The public is her boss, Keister said.
Complicating the Clerk of District Court’s role since April 2022 is the Wyoming Supreme Court’s effort to take all the state’s district courts to a paperless record.
That has now become mandatory. Kiester still sees no end to that transition period and notes that people who represent themselves on an issue typically file using paper.
“We have a lot of systems for a lot of different things, and everything is on a timeline,” Kiester said. “We also are the face of the court.”
Many of the older and more historical court records are now on microfiche with originals sent to the state archives.
Deputy Clerk Supervisor Michelle Brown has spent 19 years in the office and works at training the staff on the responsibilities, processes, and legal understanding they need to answer questions from the public as well as ensure legal guidelines related to the documents are followed.
The office is currently working to develop some AI training that will cover the duties, protocols, and processes that need to be learned.
Brown also handles all the process of supplying documents for cases that are appealed out of the county to the Wyoming Supreme Court.
Enjoying Their Role
Both Brown and Deputy Clerk Carol Korell, who has been in the office for 18 months, join Kiester in emphasizing that serving people continues to be the motivator that brings them back to work every day.
“We want to try and make it not a scary experience,” Brown said.
Korell said she formerly worked for a civil attorney as a legal assistant in Nebraska and finds her Wyoming job challenging.
“It’s a whole different game being on this side of things,” she said.
While the staff works hard to find documents and answer questions presented by those who appear at their windows, one thing they cannot do is provide legal advice.
Their message when asked for a legal answer goes back to telling people about the record on an issue.
“We try to give people the resources we know of,” Kiester said. “We don’t like people going from one office to another.”
One resource that has proven beneficial in the building is a court navigator who can explain how cases proceed through the court, help with filling out legal forms and proper conduct in the courtroom.
Kiester said staff regularly send people to the navigator program.
In the office’s role working with judges, Kiester said she and her staff are in district court courtrooms to keep the court record, swear witnesses in, and assist the juries.
The Clerk of Court keeps the process for selecting the names in jury pools and when a jury sits on a case, the office is responsible for providing for their needs as well as obtaining a civilian bailiff who oversees the jury.
Her office also pays the jurors their salary set by the legislature of $30 a day.
“We try and make it the best experience we can make it,” Kiester said. “The content and subject matter often isn’t easy for them or our staff.”
In additional to criminal matters, the Clerk of District Court keeps records for family court matters that involve child custody, child support, and divorce; probate court issues involving conservatorships, estates, guardianships, and wills.
Kiester’s office also serves juvenile court and adoption issues that must be kept confidential.
A Judge’s Perspective
Natrona District Court Judge Joshua Eames in a statement for Cowboy State Daily said the judges and district court clerks serve the public in different ways but need to work closely together to accomplish their mission for the public.
“Their work forms the foundation that allows judges to concentrate on what happens in the courtroom,” Eames said. “It’s a close working relationship based on mutual respect, and the courts simply couldn’t run without them.”
Kiester said she is involved in the state’s Clerk of District Court committees and in addition to trying to educate the public about the office’s role, she also works with the local bar association to put on lunches to talk about process changes and other issues.
On the wall in her department’s meeting room are three framed pieces of artwork recently created by Kiester and her staff that represent their motivation and responsibilities.
One framed picture depicts the scales of justice with the word “Service,” another “The Record,” and a third, “Care.”
Kiester uses them as a reminder for her staff as they keep fulfilling their mandate and meeting the next person at the window who wants to talk about their divorce or answer the phone when an attorney calls looking for a case number.
“I love it. I love the public, I love the record, I love it all,” Kiester said. “It’s lives. It’s important. As we go forward, people should be able to come to this window and get their record today.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
