Committee recommends two county‑clerk candidates after five interviews; recommends background checks

The Richland County Executive & Finance Committee interviewed five candidates for the vacant county clerk seat on May 7 and voted to recommend two nominees to the full county board, subject to background and reference checks.

Candidates introduced themselves and described relevant experience. Kayla Williams said she has served three years as township clerk and has experience with the WisVote system; Jessica Morris cited business and contracting experience; Jeffrey Harrison highlighted prior service as deputy county clerk and his current position with the Wisconsin Elections Commission; Brian Train described a background in education and community work; and Jane Kudson described decades of accounting and recent election work.

Committee members discussed whether to recommend two names to the board so that the full board could hear from finalists and noted background checks are not a statutory requirement for elected office but can be used conditionally in the hiring/recommendation process. A motion to recommend two candidates with conditional background checks carried. The committee then moved and carried a separate motion recommending candidate number three, Jeffrey Harrison, and candidate number five (listed in the packet as Jen/Judson) to the full board.

A committee member noted that elected office has minimal statutory prerequisites beyond residency and voter registration, and the checks were proposed primarily to confirm there are no disqualifying criminal convictions. The full county board will receive the committee’s recommendations and the committee asked staff to proceed with background/reference checks in parallel with the recommendation process.

Next procedural steps, including the date the full board will consider the recommendation, were not finalized during the committee meeting.

Representative quote: “I have a tremendous amount of experience creating agendas. I have a lot of experience with ... elections, licensing, agendas, minutes,” Jeffrey Harrison said during his interview.