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2026 Watauga County Meet the Candidates - Charles Haynes - Watauga County Clerk of Court · Mind Your Business - A Podcast Series produced by the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to this special election edition of Mind Your Business.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm David Jackson.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: The Boone Area and Blowing Rock Chambers of Commerce are proud to host our annual Meet the Candidates Forum in conjunction with the 2026 general election.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: While the Watauga County Board of Education and Board of Commissioners and races for the State House and Senate were conducted as part of our in-person forum at the Appalachian Theater back on October 1st.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Candidates for U.S.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: House, Watauga County Sheriff, and Watauga County Clerk of Court were interviewed individually.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: This episode features our conversation with Charles Haynes, the incumbent Republican candidate for Watauga County Clerk of Court.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Charles Haynes.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: I am currently at the Clerk of Superior Court and wishing to keep my position as the Clerk of Superior Court for Watauga County.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I'm running is because I I love to serve the people, I love to help people.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Something I fell in love with in another industry that really I think goes a long way as far as helping our local community and getting the things they need to live their daily lives.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: So the first question that we've got for you is what ways do you envision the clerk of court crossing the boundaries and working with local businesses?
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, certainly that's something that we've discussed many times in the past with local businesses as as you know, as we know about downtown Boone and how crowded it can be on certain days when it's very busy and and managing parking um and and uh other events that we have going on.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: We have um plenty of conversations throughout the year when we're when we're working on scheduling, whether it be at the district court level, about what what things are going on, what would cur what would uh curtail um having a good session of court or good day of court, such as boonerang or or other um activities like First Fridays and Af State football games, whether they be on a Saturday or a Thursday and things of that nature, ski weekends, etc.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we we try to avoid having a lot of traffic downtown when we know there will be traffic downtown from our um tourists and others.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: I know that some small businesses will interact with your office through small claims court and and going through the process of resolving unpaid invoices, vendor customer disputes, things like that.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: How do you work to manage scheduling so that cases can be heard and and and that process can play out at a time that's most convenient for business owners?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And and we've done this for uh a long period of time and it's based off of uh the volume of small claims cases we may have in a particular week, but we have small claims court on Thursday mornings, um usually at 9.30.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um certainly we have the the type of cases we hear are mostly evictions and some readjustments.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then we'll have some cases where there's money owed for um a lost deposit on an apartment complex or something like that, or a business that um didn't have the the greatest um interaction with someone they were trying to do business with, whether that be an individual or corporation.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: And and those small disputes, um we we try to give them their time.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we don't want to have a situation where they feel like they're rushed coming in and out of a hearing.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we we do our best to schedule those cases um as fluid as we can.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want to have 30 small claims cases on on one Thursday and then the next Thursday have two.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't do anybody any good.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we we do our best to kind of just spread those out um as those they are filed.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: There are certainly some time constraints that we have to follow as far as when cases must be heard or when they should be heard within.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um then if we ever have any issues with scheduling as far as maybe there's a case that took a little bit longer than we were expected, just doing our best to understand that everyone's time is important, and if we need to grant a continuance before a long case is heard, then certainly the magistrates can can handle that.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: Speaking to that same efficiency, and I know that these are are areas that probably don't come up as frequently as maybe small claims or some other services, but a state and probate, foreclosures, any special proceedings, how do you intend to continue to work with your staff if elected to maintain efficiency because sometimes those things are complicated and a business might not necessarily get the intricacies but need quick action?
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: And and that is that is something that is always um we we've always had questions about foreclosures.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: And usually those are some people who are not a local who are wanting to see if they can find property up here, which may not be easily attainable because of uh of our market um that may come on the cheap, so to speak.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um and we continue to post uh any for any tax foreclosures that we have on our boards.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have we usually don't have many, usually a handful, maybe a half dozen or so at a time.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then certainly estates matters are are the one of the more complicated situations.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: And those are the those are the times where we're the original jurisdiction of those matters.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: So we are the ones who will make those decisions if something arises when we have family members or heirs that are having issues with settling a matter, whether that be property or money or or jewelry, household items, etc.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: And those those situations we don't take lightly because we know that is an important matter to them and they have to have their time to have their hearings and prove their cases and and and deal with those matters that are very important to them.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean we we understand that when we make a decision in a state case about something that needs to go to someone or or you know as far as uh property or or money, that we're following the law, most importantly, and that we understand that it's not just the people that are in front of us that we're gonna have an effect on, but it's the people in their extended families that will certainly have an impact on the decisions that we make.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: Another area that I know a lot of local businesses will interact with uh the clerk of court on notary commissioning, some document services, as you see technology continue to evolve within the industry, how do you and your staff intend to continue to be able to provide those services, yet do so in a way that's technologically uh available to you uh to to again improve speed and efficiency?
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: And we we know that there are um avenues uh of as far as e-wheels are concerned coming through, kind of touched on our last subject and and and electronic notary.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we we can certainly do our part in in swearing people to affidavits or or complaints or petitions or whatever they intend to file if we need to.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then certainly the um our register of deeds has those capabilities as well.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know, that they they have the for situations like absolute divorces that don't require um any type of custody hearings or property dis uh disputes, and it's just a simple, what we call simple divorce, um sometimes they are just filing on their own behalf, and they just need someone to say that that's who they are, and we can we can handle those, and then the registered deeds has done a really good job of cooperating with us and getting in and getting some things done on that matters on those situations.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: So um we know those things are coming down the pipe, and we know there's a lot of electronic uh signatures and what we do right now, um, and we're kind of looking forward to to seeing where that goes going forward.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my final prepare question for you really deals with the way that you staff your office yourself.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, as we have seen across um all manners of business in the community, staffing is hard to come by, especially staffing with some of the training and technical expertise that that your office must consider as you're hiring employees.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: What is your goal for the staffing of the court system, so to speak, to make sure that you can continue to deliver the services that Wataga County residents and businesses are looking for?
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: The most important part of that is is cross-training your staff.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just having a division where um you have specialties with a handful of people here and a handful of people there and a handful of people over there.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to have people who know a little bit about everything.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: And as something with um equarts that came out um last July um when it rolled into Wataga County and 13 other counties in northwest North Carolina, that you you had to basically you were forced to do that.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: And but we were always prepared for those situations.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: So if we have you know certain people who have to be out for sicknesses or vacations or things that matter, we're gonna have people who who know how to handle and have backups to those those those situations.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we're always prepared, whatever day it is, to to handle that.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, well, that does it for the prepared questions.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: Any final comments that you'd like to make or anything that we didn't cover along the way?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there is plenty we could have covered.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um our what we do is uh is vast, and um every day is a different day, and that's why I love doing what I do, is because it's not the same thing every single day.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's always something new that can come up, and so um looking forward to continue doing that.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um thanks for having me, DJ.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: All right, thank you, Charles.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: Best of luck with the campaign.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: That concludes this special edition of Mind Your Business.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: Subscribers of our podcast will see these full archives for each of our individual candidate interviews, as well as the full archives of our in-person forum, broken down by race, all available on your podcast platform of choice, a benefit of being a subscriber.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: You can also visit BoonCamber.com for a link to our Mind Your Business archives, and we'll have a post on our main page with full access to these archives as well.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks to the staff and volunteers of the Boon Area and Blowing Rock Chambers of Commerce for making this forum possible.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for your interest in our local elections, and we encourage you to cast your ballot and have your voice heard in this 2026 general election.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm David Jackson.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: So long, everybody.