July 2023

This July we celebrate Palm Beach County’s 114-year anniversary. Since the county’s founding on July 1, 1909, my office has been collecting, storing and protecting Palm Beach County’s public records.

The first county government meetings were held in an old four-room schoolhouse in West Palm Beach where our first Clerk of Court Fred E. Fenno began collecting records. At the time, only about 5,300 people lived here. As of 2022, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates there are more than 1.5 million residents living in Palm Beach County.

Throughout our county’s history, the Clerk’s office has been hard at work making county records available to the public. By digitizing paper, microfilm and microfiche, we’ve made it easier than ever to explore thousands of documents from the comfort of your own home.

If you get a phone call or correspondence claiming to be from our office and threating you with fines or jail time, hang up! This is a scam. Do not give them any of your information. Report the number to your local law-enforcement agency or our office at (561) 355-2996.

The Clerk's office will never contact you to harass or threaten to impose financial penalties.

Putnam County Clerk of Circuit Court and Comptroller Clerk Matt Reynolds, Chief of Staff and Chief Deputy Clerk Shannon Ramsey-Chessman, Martin County Clerk of Court & Comptroller Clerk Carolyn Timmann.

We are proud to have earned a Recognition of Excellence for Best Practices from the Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers for all 10 of the evaluated categories this year.

Chief of Staff and Chief Deputy Clerk Shannon Ramsey-Chessman accepted the award on our office's behalf, alongside Vice Chair of the Best Practices Committee Putnam County Clerk of Circuit Court and Comptroller Clerk Reynolds and 2022-2023 FCCC President Martin County Clerk of Court & Comptroller Clerk Timmann.

Ramsey-Chessman was also recognized with the 2022-2023 Clerk Staff of the Year award for her hard work on behalf of our office.

Congratulations to Director of Strategic Management and Professional Development Nicole Gasparri who is the new Secretary / Treasurer for the Florida Government Finance Officer's Association (FGFOA)!

She was joined by Clerk Joseph Abruzzo and Chief of Staff & Chief Deputy Clerk Shannon Ramsey-Chessman at the FGFOA Conference.

Nicole has been with the Clerk’s office since 2021 training employees on communication, temperament and leadership. She is a Certified Government Finance Officer and Certified Professional in Human Resources, having served on the FGFOA Board of directors for 6 years.

Clerk Joseph Abruzzo with the Summer Financial Literacy and Summer Justice Literacy interns on Thursday, June 22, 2023.

High schoolers from across Palm Beach County spent two weeks in June with departments throughout the Clerk's office during our Summer Financial Literacy and Summer Justice Literacy Intern Programs. 

Students shadowed courtroom clerks, learned about contract law, dove into finance and payables while discovering their public speaking skills.

The Clerk's Finance and Justice internship held another successful year of educating local high school students about our office's finance services and comptroller responsibilities in addition to its role in the justice system. 

During the last week of the internship, the interns had lunch with the judges, met Clerk Abruzzo and had a pizza party to close out their time together.

Do you know how to apply for a passport? We're here to help guide you through the process!

Our Royal Palm Beach branch has moved - but only next door!

We are now in Suite 400 of the Midwestern Communities Service Center at 200 Civic Center Way in Royal Palm Beach.

Our busy Clerks for a Cause team was at Quantum House on Saturday, June 24 giving their time to help with volunteer projects, cleaning and taking inventory.