To the editor:

I write to strongly endorse Joe Provoncha for re-election as county clerk.

As an attorney, I have a lot more regular opportunity to engage with the county clerk than the average citizen. The clerk’s duties cover everything from recording deeds, mortgages and similar documents in the county records, issuing pistol permits and running the county branch of the Department of Motor Vehicles for the state. The county clerk is also the court clerk for the Supreme, Family, County and Surrogate courts.

I think the typical interaction between a citizen and the clerk’s office is at the DMV office. Joe runs a very user-friendly and problem-solving DMV office. I have seen him personally step in and assist in a complicated or difficult transaction and solve a problem on the spot. If anyone has tried to register a car or do some similar transaction at the “convenient” Franklin County satellite office in Saranac Lake, they know what a frustrating experience it can be. I have driven directly from Saranac Lake DMV to Elizabethtown and accomplished with the same paperwork what Saranac Lake told me couldn’t be done.

Joe has modernized the clerk’s office. When he took over, only the most current documents could be located on a computer using a program written in Greek or some other language foreign to me. Today, virtually all documents are in the database and can easily be retrieved not only in the clerk’s office, but online as well.

Luke Hudak, a great hockey coach and teacher (he was one of my son’s teachers at NSA in Lake Placid) and a heck of a tennis player, thinks he can do better. How, I’m not sure, and neither is he. If he is sure, he hasn’t told us how he will do a better job. That said, if he were running for the job in another county, or if Joe wasn’t running for re-election, I could see myself supporting him. He’s a good, hard-working, conscientious guy. But I can’t support him in his bid to replace Joe Provoncha. Joe is just too good. He is a gem, and we are darned lucky to have him.

On Nov. 3, vote for Joe Provoncha for county clerk.

Sincerely yours,

John Wilkins

Lake Placid