 Welcome to Sheboygan County Government, working for you. My name's Adam Payne, Sheboygan County Administrator and co-host of this program with Chairman, County Board Chairman, Mike Van Der Stien, who as you can see is not with us this month and hasn't been for the last couple, still recovering from surgery, but I'm pleased to report doing well. And if you did follow the County Board meeting this month, he did lead the meeting last night, so hopefully he'll be with us next month. Very pleased to have with us today one of our important department heads. They all are, but Rebecca Persick is our Family Court Commissioner and is a very important role and responsibility. Welcome Rebecca. Thank you. Why don't you begin by sharing a little bit about yourself and when you first became the Family Court Commissioner. Alright, well I was born and raised in Wisconsin. I got my undergrad degree at Lawrence University in Appleton, went to law school in Chicago at Chicago Kent. I worked in private practice for, gosh, about nine or ten years before I became a county employee. I started out doing child support enforcement and acting as assistant corporation counsel for the county and now I'm the court commissioner. And how does one become a Family Court Commissioner? As some of our viewers are certainly observing, there's elections happening for Circuit Court right now, Circuit Court Judge, but how do you become a Family Court Commissioner? Well there are some statutory requirements. You do have to be an attorney with at least three years of experience and then you're appointed by the judges in your county to act as court commissioner. And I think sometimes there's a question about what a court commissioner is or does. In a lot of other states they're called associate judges. So it's a judicial position. I assume a lot of the duties that are assigned to me by the judges. So I assume some of their work basically. And the former Family Court Commissioner, Terry Burke, actually went on and was elected as a Circuit Court Judge. Yes he was. So when are you going to follow his? Well there's an election coming up in April and I am not participating in that election and that's something we'll have to see if the future holds for me. Well I know you've done a tremendous job as Family Court Commissioner and I hope that someday you do aspire to that. And thanks for springing that question out. Sure, sure. We've got to ad-lib a little. So tell me a little bit about your role and responsibilities. How many staff do you have? What are some of the key responsibilities of your office? Besides myself I have an assistant court commissioner and a paralegal aide who acts as our secretary does all our scheduling. And she has the title of paralegal aide because there's quite a bit of legal knowledge that's required to act in the capacity. There are a lot of cases that come in that have to be heard within certain time limits. Just a lot of things to keep track of. So we have a staff of three and between all of us we handle about 5,500 cases a year that come through our office. And you mentioned that you're appointed by the judges, the Circuit Court judges are elected but what are the key differences in responsibilities? What is a Circuit Court judge doing that a family court commissioner isn't and vice versa? I handle a lot of the preliminary responsibilities. So for example in criminal cases I do a lot of the initial appearances where a criminal defendant will appear before me, I'll review the criminal complaint with them, make sure they understand the charges and the possible penalties, I'll go over their rights with them, I'll make sure they understand their rights and then I'll set a bond. And after that the case is passed on to the Circuit Court judge. In family cases there's a, when someone files for a divorce for example there's a 120 day wait, a statutory wait from the time you file until the time you can get divorced. And often times if things are very volatile people are in need of a hearing before that divorce happens to set some ground rules to divide up personal property to assign responsibility for the house and the ability to live in the house to one party or the other, to set a placement schedule for the children, establish custody. And so I do a lot of what are called temporary order hearings in divorce cases. So those are hearings that are held very early in the divorce process that make an order on all those issues that are in effect until the final hearing can be held. So walk a person through that a little bit because unfortunately we do have a number of divorces and we need folks to help clarify who's going to get what and mediate that. Just take us through the steps. Does someone contact your office, how do they get referred to your office and what is the process? You mean from to file a divorce? To file a divorce and then ultimately before you and then in some cases before a circuit court judge? Well, my office gives out information to people if they're interested in filing a divorce about how to get those forms. They're available in our Clerk of Courts office. They're also available online. And once someone files a divorce they're given an instruction sheet from the Clerk of Courts office about what to do if they want what's called a stipulated divorce. I do final divorce hearings. I do well in 2009 which is the last year I have statistics compiled for. I did about 190 divorces that year. And I do divorces in cases where all of the issues are agreed upon. It's called a stipulated divorce. And there are instructions when someone files about what they need to do to have a stipulated divorce. The forms packet that they get when they get information about filing divorce also contains the form they would need for requesting a temporary order hearing with instructions about how to do that. So they go to the Clerk of Courts office or can go there to get information and also you can go online or county website and get information there on who to contact. That's in the courthouse. They see you if it's a stipulated divorce where they have agreed to terms. But then you mentioned that you also assist with child custody and placement. And that I would think often isn't necessarily agreed to that they need to work that through. Right. I kind of see all kinds of cases because I see cases at the end where all the issues are agreed upon and there's a stipulated divorce. And I see cases in the beginning when things are often very volatile none of the issues are agreed upon and they come to me for a temporary order that will govern things like custody and placement until the final divorce can be held by the judge or by me. So you provide the temporary order and you just said until the final decision is made by the circuit court judge or by you. What's that next step? How does that happen? Well, it's really up to the parties. If they're able to reach an agreement they can put that agreement into a form called a marital settlement agreement and they would submit it to me. I would look it over and make sure it meets all the statutory requirements. If there are any problems my office will notify them of what needs to be changed, what corrections need to be made and if they're still able to proceed with an agreement then the divorce will just be scheduled before me. If not it will be scheduled before one of the circuit court judges. Very good. A lot of time on the divorce process but I imagine there'll be some folks interested in that wanting to learn more about it. On the other end of the spectrum I know you also preside over weddings and can marry people about how many people do you bring together and marriage each year and how does that work? How does one contact you if they want to do so? Well, it really varies. I think I've generally done between 130 and 150 weddings per year and if you want to be married you just contact my office, schedule a date. We normally do them at the courthouse on Friday afternoons. If there's a particular date you're interested for example Valentine's Day was Monday, we had a wedding that day also even though it was Monday we don't typically do them then but sometimes if a date is meaningful to a couple if we're able to work them into our schedule we'll certainly accommodate them. What do you enjoy most about being family court commissioner and maybe it's not most, maybe it's two or three things but what is it about the job that motivates you and interests you? Despite the difficulty of the family cases that's probably the area that I think is most important and that does motivate me the most because when people come in for a temporary order hearing they're often in crisis. They're unable to agree and by the time they leave they have a starting point they have a schedule to follow. I'm very mindful of the impact my decisions can have on families and particularly on children and so I try very hard to craft orders that will meet everybody's needs and that are in the best interests of children and that's something that really motivates me. Most of what I do I would say the majority of my cases have to do with family law or with criminal law and both of those areas I think are areas that are extremely important to the public and to me. I live in Sheboygan County I have children myself and I want our community to be safe and I want children to be happy and safe and that motivates me. And about how many cases do you have a year I'm sure some of our viewers are either curious to know that but probably have no idea just how many people are going through your courtroom each and every day. Well if you add up everything I've touched on the family law and the criminal law which does make up the bulk of it but I also do mental commitment hearings the initial hearing and a mental commitment process and also in guardianship cases. I do domestic abuse injunctions harassment injunctions I do the initial appearances and paternity cases and juvenile delinquency cases and children in need of protection or services so when you add up everything that my office does it's probably about 5500 cases a year that we hear and my assistant also does small claims pretrials and trials. 5500 5500 cases a year and it's yourself an assistant and and our paralegal and your paralegal remarkable remarkable what about the overall caseload not only for your office but the circuit court judges are you seeing quite an uptick in that has it leveled off what's been the trend the last year or two. Well it really ebbs and flows for example in December there was a real noticeable decrease in the number of criminal filings that I saw come through but there was a real noticeable increase in the number of domestic abuse cases and divorce filing so it it tends to ebb and flow and over the course of a year the statistics usually are pretty consistent some areas may go up a little some may go down a little but it's been pretty consistent I think. How do you attribute some of the domestic abuse or violence to what are some of the I mean the economy people being out of work have you are there any trigger points. Well I think that is certainly triggered an increase in property crimes burglary and thefts I've seen an increase in that and in the criminal filings as far as domestic abuse very often in criminal cases alcohol or drugs seem to be at the root of a lot of the incidents that get called into the police and by its nature a domestic dispute is between people involved in a domestic relationship often it's a husband and wife or a boyfriend girlfriend situation and there are some nasty breakups I guess that that lead to trouble for people so there's no one answer it's it differs from case to case. No one of the services your office also provides is mediation prior to you making final decisions or temporary decisions on custody what have you they meet with individual mediators to work things out how does that work. Well not prior to the temporary order hearing the temporary order hearing happens very early in the process and and it's difficult because I don't have the advantage of having a guardian at Lightham or having had the parties go to mediation but by law before people can have a final hearing if there is a custody dispute they have to attempt mediation where there they meet with someone who's trained to help them try and reach an agreement and who's also trained in child development and the type of schedules that might be appropriate for a child given their age or temperament and to apply for mediation you can come to my office and fill out an application form if you want to do that voluntarily otherwise an order for mediation will be triggered by the circuit court judges not just in any divorce case but any case where there's a placement or custody dispute because sometimes after a divorce is granted or after paternity is established that's not the end of it people several years afterwards may find themselves in a dispute about the property custody proper custody or placement a schedule for their child and in all of those cases people can attend mediation or are compelled to attend mediation if they want to see the judge. And the guardian at Lightham that represents the child how are they selected and how many do we have that you can draw from to assist people? A guardian at Lightham just to clarify as an attorney who's appointed not to represent the child per se but what's best for the child the best interest of the child and that may differ from what a child wants as a parent I think we know that sometimes what a child wants isn't always what's best for them but in terms of selecting them there are requirements guardian at Lightham's have to not only be attorneys but they have to have had special training and once they've received that training they submit their names to the court if they're willing to take cases and then the judges or I select from that list. And from beginning to end what can someone expect if they have if they're going to go through a divorce have children go to mediation are not necessarily on the same page about custody and time what kind of period of time are folks looking at till that's all sorted through. Well it really depends I mean in a contested case I think sometimes it can take a year or even longer to work through that whole process if parties are able to agree either on their own or with the help of a mediator then the divorce can be done pretty close to that hundred and twenty day wait from the time you file until the earliest date the divorce can be granted. So it really depends on the issues and the judges calendar and what he or she has available. As you juggle all these responsibilities in the different cases that come through your office with three of you which is I think pretty remarkable. What are the key changes you've seen over the years what are some of the challenges that have presented themselves to you and how have you overcome that. Well the main challenges have to do I think with the budget not with the workload per se we've my secretary has a hard time keeping up with with with the workload and we've addressed that by for the last several years having unpaid interns come in to assist in the office and that has been a big help. In terms of the case load my assistant and I so far have been able to juggle that pretty well between the two of us and it's not always able to be planned specifically. For example if I have a temporary order hearing that involves children that involves a placement dispute I don't want people to have to walk out without a decision without a starting point and sometimes those hearings can take much longer than we've allotted time for because we don't always know ahead of time what the issues are going to be and in those situations my assistant very often can juggle her calendar to assume another hearing that I was supposed to start in the courtroom so I can continue with the temporary order hearing and I think the three of us we've worked together now for seven or eight years have just developed a real good working relationship that that I hope benefits the public so that everyone can have their cases heard when they expect to be heard and on a timely basis. Well what I find rather remarkable with your particular area I mean every now and the circuit court judges take some heat in the in the press and of course they're in a position where they're not going to make everyone happy nor are you but it I always as I reflect on the last year or the your tenure in this office the number of complaints or concerns I've heard have been I can count on one hand I mean it I know you have tremendous respect from the clients that you interact with the attorneys you interact with and obviously your team is excellent and the budget issue as you mentioned and just for our viewers standpoint as a whole this is an issue that you're all hearing a lot about with the state budget constraints and county government being part of the state government we're all subject to these challenges and those Sheboygan County I think has a pretty good track record we've reduced our staff by 30 percent since 1993 and offices such as the family court commissioner or sheriff's department health and human services critical programs and services for the most part it's the same number of staff or less that are administering these programs and services so we're getting to a point in government where you know we're all gonna have to take some responsibility to make sure we're paying for these programs and services and contributing to the solution because we need effective law enforcement we need an effective judicial system and we need programs and services for the neediest of the needy for our community to be successful and again the family court commissioners a very important role and you do good work I appreciate it thank you so as you look ahead not only the budget from a challenge standpoint but what other any other challenges you see coming your way or there are any new initiatives or goals that you have for your department areas you'd like to see to improve well there are always legal changes that we have to keep abreast of there's always continuing judicial credits that my assistant and I have to to get in order to maintain our positions and make sure that we're on top of any changes in the law which occur you know certain case areas of the caseload do increase from time to time and it's always a challenge to try and juggle that one of my goals recently is to be able to offer a wedding service in Spanish my husband's a Spanish teacher so I'm hoping he can assist me in in translating one of the ceremonies I use into Spanish and teach me to say it well enough to be able to do it because we do have quite a few Spanish speaking customers who come in for weddings and not just Spanish I've started a list I've done weddings for people from over 50 countries including Afghanistan Pakistan Moldova I believe which I had to look up I wasn't familiar with where that was certain countries in Africa it's a very interesting part of my job it is performing weddings is that a kind of an expected role of a family court commissioner all 72 counties across the state to their family court commissioners generally do so does it vary yes I believe so I know that other family court commissioners do them I really don't know how many other family court commissioners do I'd be interested in finding out I'll have to ask next time I have a conference is that one of the more enjoyable parts of the job because at least everyone in the room is generally pretty happy yes yes it is because normally I can be pretty sure at least one of the two parties in front of me is unhappy with the decision that I've made and weddings are one of the few really happy parts of my job one of the other areas that from time to time the county board discusses and we get some input from the community is about courthouse safety a lot of folks from the public coming in and out of that courthouse every day whether they're going to the clerk of courts your office one of the circuit courts the district attorney and we do not have armed guards at the front doors we do not have security systems that are necessarily people have to walk through we may for certain circuit court trials as you know but what's your role with the sheriff's department the bailiffs for example and how do you feel about the security in the courthouse as a whole well I don't have a bailiff assigned to my courtroom all of the judges do I don't I have a bailiff for certain types of hearings all of the criminal initial appearances I do have a bailiff when I have a domestic abuse or harassment injunction case I have a bailiff present and if I have a family hearing where I know there's a history of violence because there's been an arrest and a criminal incident or because there's been a domestic abuse injunction filed or issued will request to have a bailiff present and those requests are always accommodated I feel very confident right now with the security we have simply because the bailiffs that are working now in the courthouse are all very experienced and I think I've mentioned to you privately there have been times where the the chief of the courthouse bailiffs will come to me and say you know I see so-and-so on on your calendar this week we're going to have extra security for you because they're aware of a history even when I may not be they've all been with the sheriff's department for 20 years or more and and we we do tend to have a fair number of repeat customers so they're they're very mindful of the people who are coming into the courthouse I think they do an exceptional job so with the bailiff staff we have in place now I feel quite confident with with courthouse security there's never any way to be completely secure even courthouses who have security at the door have had violent incidents so just hope for the best so for perhaps some viewers out there younger viewers who might be thinking about becoming an attorney or becoming a family court commissioner or a judge someday what would your advice be to them what do they need to do to position themselves to attain a position that you have well they need to get a bachelor's degree first go to college and get a bachelor's degree I don't think it's necessary necessarily to major in the field of justice or a law-related field I think it's important to get a broad education and and get as much a background and as many topics as you can to go to law school you need to be able to write very well which is not something I think most people may think about so writing skills are important to get ahead in law school and after law school again it's just important to get as broad a background as you can if you want to be a circuit court judge in particular because they handle every type of case so certainly the more experience you can get the broader the experience you can get the better job I think you'll do as a circuit court judge or as a commissioner and as you can also see if you haven't in the last 28 minutes of this program you also need to have a professional calm cool demeanor and I think Rebecca Pursick has provided that throughout her tenure she is very professional she treats people fairly and I can't imagine if I had 5,500 cases going before me every day and domestic abuse and the the divorce cases and child custody I got to believe that's really got to pull it at folks emotionally and as a judge obviously you have to keep a cool head and be a good listener and and Rebecca's done a tremendous job for us so I appreciate your time today and talking about the roles and responsibilities of your office thank you for having me and thank you for joining us next month we're going to cover another important department department head our county clerk Julie glancy is going to be here Julie glancy has been with the county for I think 30 plus years she's a very very professional experience department head and as a county clerk I couldn't ask for a better one she provides service to the county board as a whole the county and as as you know if you follow county board proceedings or if you have a question the county clerk's office is always a great place to start so please join us next month to learn more about the county clerk's office elections that are coming up redistricting of the county board the county board's going to be going from 34 to 25 or at least that's the plan to date and that's going to certainly change our organization a little bit and if you have any questions about any area in county government don't hesitate to contact my office the county clerk or particularly if it's the family court office please don't hesitate to contact Rebecca Persek or her staff so again thank you for joining us