BURNETT COUNTY -- Burnett County Clerk of Court Trudy Schmidt announced Monday she will not seek another term of office in the November election. She intends to finish out her final four-year term which ends Dec. 31, 2018.
[Information on running for Burnett County Clerk of Court may be found at the end of this article.]
Schmidt is completing her 36th year of service to Burnett County, including 18 years as Clerk of Court. Her first title was Judicial Assistant for the Burnett County Circuit Court Judge. “I was hired by Judge Harry Gunderson and the Clerk of Court at that time, Vera Wicklund,” she said.
Her tenure pre-dates the current Government Center building. She started as a county employee on Jan. 10, 1983, when the court offices were located in the old courthouse in Grantsburg. She recalls moving boxes into the current government center building as she was expecting her first child.
“I have really loved working here,” she said. “I hate to leave because I have enjoyed serving the people of Burnett County.”
She feels good that she stayed in office long enough to help steer the office as it recently moved from paper files to an all-electronic filing of court cases and documents. That transition is now complete and working well, she says.
Though she is stepping down at the end of the year, “I am not going to desert this place. I promised Judge Mogen I will be around to help out my successor as needed.”
What’s next for Trudy? She is a court-appointed Certified Family Court Mediator. Prior to Melissa Mogen’s election last spring as Burnett County Circuit Court Judge, Mogen did mediation, but was no longer allowed to do so after becoming the Judge.
Schmidt said, “I helped out the county by doing some mediations last summer and will probably being doing a lot more of that work in 2019.
“My goal is to help people come to a resolution of family matters before they get the court involved,” she said. "It is less stressful for family members to go to a third-party mediator. Talk about your issues with the mediator so your children can avoid going through a custody battle in court. That is so hard on everybody.”
To Run for Clerk of Court
The Clerk of Court is a partisan position, so candidates must declare their political affiliation and run as a Republican or Democrat.
Candidates wishing to run for Burnett County Clerk of Court must be a Burnett County resident. Candidates may begin circulating nomination papers on April 15 and obtain signatures from 200 county residents. Turn in the completed registration papers to the Burnett County Clerk’s office, located on the first floor of the government center, before the filing deadline at 5 p.m. on June 1.
Nomination papers may be obtained from the Burnett County Clerk office or online at http://elections.wi.gov/candidates/local/partisan.
Last Update: Mar 20, 2018 9:42 am CDT
