As your new Maricopa County Recorder, I am pleased to offer this report about our progress since taking office on Jan. 3. During the campaign we learned about your issues and concerns pertaining to this office and its responsibilities; for recording public documents and the elections processes. In an effort to address your concerns, this is what we are doing, and how we are doing it.

Our first goal has been to re-establish openness and transparency to this office based on hearing from you throughout the county that this office has not been very responsive. We are taking immediate steps to fixing this. Here are a few we have started:

Outreach: I hired five people to reach out to the community and rebuild the relationship between the Recorder’s office and the residents and voters in the county. We will have five members of this Community Relations Team, each assigned to the County per Supervisor Districts. Two team members work out of our Mesa office, Christine Dyster (District 1) and Peg Kragie, (District 2). Two more at our downtown office; the Team Leader is Francisco Heredia (District 5), and Chatham Kitz (District 3). A District 4 team member will join the team in a few weeks and I will be pleased to say this means all of Maricopa will be covered for out-reach! These team members have already met with community groups and participated in local events. Look for them at the next community event you attend!

Technology: We have embraced the need to restore your faith in our elections processes. Our IT department conducted tests of our networks to ensure they are secure. The first round of testing was successful and while I can’t share the details, we were very pleased with all results.

We are planning to revamp our website for your ease of use. Later this year, we will begin working on a new website to assist those with real estate issues, and for voters to more easily find information they need.

Voting Lines: We are working on a new plan to make sure that no one will stand in line for five hours again when voting in Maricopa County. We are working to increase the number of precincts – helping to cut down voting lines, and getting more people to use Mail In ballots plus, other options to make voting more accessible and easier for all.

In the coming weeks we will be conducting community workshops around the county to hear your thoughts on the elections process and more about how we can improve it.

We are also searching for a new permanent Elections Director. In the meantime, I’ve appointed Rey Valenzuela, our Assistant Director, as our Interim Director. Rey is a member of the Federal Elections Assistance Commission and widely recognized as a leading expert in elections across the nation.

While most people are concerned about elections, of equal importance is the Recording function of our office where we record thousands of documents a month for the real estate industry. We are championing a Recorder’s Summit in mid-February with real estate professionals from across the county to establish a discussion on how our office works for them today and what improvements we can make to enhance their business processes and outcomes down the road.

To learn more about what actions we take at the Recorder’s Office, please check out our Facebook Page.

Adrian Fontes will be speaking during the AZ Tea Party meeting scheduled for March 21, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the District Learning Center.