The Lowndes County Circuit Clerk’s office is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, expect on rare occasions.
One of the rarest of those occasions came Thursday.
A sign on the locked door of the office advised visitors that the office would be closed from 2-4 p.m. for a going-away party for longtime circuit clerk Haley Salazar.
There are few occasions as infrequent as a goodbye party for a Lowndes County Circuit Clerk — there have been just two in the past 60 years.
“I took over as circuit clerk after T.E. “Jack” Wiggins, who was my uncle and he was circuit clerk for 36 years,” Salazar said, as she moved around the room exchanging hugs with more than 60 guests who gathered for the party.
In January, Salazar announced she would not seek a seventh term in the office she has worked in since 1976. At the end of the month, Salazar will officially retire for the second time, marking an end to 39 years in the circuit clerk’s office, including 15 as an assistant clerk.
“It’s really been a blessing,” Salazar, who was first elected to the post in 1991, said. “What I’ll miss most is all the wonderful people I’ve worked with.”
‘We’ll see where the wind blows us’
While much of the duties of the circuit clerk’s office remain as they were when Salazar first began work in the office in the mid-1970s — conducting elections, court filings, collecting fines and fees, issuing marriage licenses — the biggest challenge she had upon taking over for her uncle was bringing the office into the computer age.
“When I first started, there was one computer in the entire courthouse. It was in the tax office,” Salazar recalled. “Then, when I got elected, it was about the time that offices were converting from paper files to computers. In fact, we worked with a software company to develop a system for filing and that company eventually sold the software to circuit clerks all over the state. We still use that system we helped developed.”
Among the well-wishers Thursday was Teresa Barksdale, who has served as an assistant clerk in the office for 20 years. Barksdale will become Salazar’s successor in January after winning election to the post in November.
When it was noted that the average tenure of a Lowndes Circuit Clerk is 30 years, Barksdale laughed.
“You’re not the first person who has mentioned that,” she said. “But, goodness. I’m 53 years old. I don’t expect to get anywhere near 30 years. My goal is to do the job as long as I can do it effectively. But it’s not going to be 30 years, I can tell you that.”
Barksdale said she expects a smooth transition, due mainly to an experienced staff. Along with Barksdale’s 20 years in the office, six of her eight employees have been in the office for 10 years or longer.
The circuit clerk’s pay is based on fees, with the maximum salary capped at $90,0000.
“I haven’t been making anywhere close to that, though,” said Salazar, who took the option of retiring in 2003 and drawing 25 percent of the normal pay.
Salazar, 62, and her husband Carlos, a retired sheriff’s deputy, have three children and four grandchildren. They hope to do a bit of traveling come January, but there no specific plans at the moment.
“We’ll just see where the wind blow us,” she said.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
