COURIER VOLUME: 02
THIRD QUARTER
ISSUE: 03
AN EL PASO COUNTY PUBLICATION
Elected: Clerk & Recorder Steve Schleiker took office as the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder in January 2023. Previously he served two terms as the El Paso County Assessor and worked in the Assessor’s Office since 1999, including being named the Assessor of the Year in Colorado in 2019. Steve has served the public throughout his career. After graduating from Widefield High School in 1987, he joined the United States Marine Corps where he received numerous awards and was a decorated Veteran from Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Southern Watch, and Deny Flight. Steve sat down to talk about the changes he’s made since becoming Clerk and Recorder, how the office is preparing for the November 5 election, and his goals for the rest of his term. What are you most proud of since taking office as the Clerk and Recorder in 2023? Over the last 20 months, I’m proud of the culture and seeing and knowing the staff feel valued. A lot of times we spend more time with our coworkers than we do with our own family members. It’s great to see relationships develop professionally and personally in the office, where staff go out to eat with each other – that’s a true sense of teamwork and camaraderie. Although I recognize my name is on the door and the website, I’m not the one doing the work. We have a great team and I’m proud of what they accomplish every day. How are you and the office preparing for the upcoming November 5 election, the largest you’ve overseen since becoming Clerk and Recorder? We have changed a lot in the last 20 months in preparation for all elections but especially this one. It starts with transparency. How can we make elections kj
El Paso County Clerk & Recorder Steve Schleiker (L) poses for a photo after being sworn into office in January 2023.
as transparent as possible in El Paso County? We have done a great job in that regard by creating a new voter data website, installing security cameras at all our ballot-boxes and live streaming the footage for anyone to watch, updating our voter rolls to limit the amount of undeliverable ballots, and introducing a ballot audit software, where any citizen can access and look at a digital image of every ballot cast in an election. El Paso is the largest county in the state, so we need to be a leader and have a reputation of being the county others follow. With these changes, I think we are there. It's hard to believe, but there’s still work to do after this election. What are the office’s goals for next year? I still feel there’s a lot to be done. There are many areas to a Clerk and Recorder’s Office, like Recording, Motor Vehicle and Clerk to the Board. There are many projects that are in the works for those ddfdf
other departments as well. Recording recently received a $480,000 grant to back image old documents and update our archaic land records system. We just opened our Dealer’s Desk for Motor Vehicle. This is a dedicated space for dealership titles which will decrease wait times for our regular customers. But most importantly, I want to continue to focus on the employee and their work/life balance. Speaking of work/life balance, what do you do to relax? My wife Denise and I are nerds. When we go home, we usually work on a puzzle over a nice meal. We also love to fish. She doesn’t cast a reel, but she’s so supportive. Hopefully, we get a lot of relaxation on Sundays with some Broncos wins.
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