St. Johns County Clerk of Court and Comptroller Brandon Patty chatted with The Citizen recently about an unexpected deployment, returning to family life, and a range of other topics.
What was your initial reaction after learning that you would be deployed?
This was an involuntary deployment, so we didn’t know it was coming. It was a surprise. The difficult part was telling the kids, they’re 10, 4 and 2. Explaining being in the Navy and what that means, letting them know that daddy was going to be away for awhile. You say your goodbyes and you’re out the door and that’s it. You try to stay in touch as best you can, we have the technology now to stay connected but the time difference made that difficult.
You were in the Middle East at a particularly volatile time.
I was serving as an intelligence planner, and the mission was to confront and defeat ISIS. You had a lot happening with Iran and Hamas and Hezbollah, there was a feeling of fragility and heightened tension. You couldn’t help but be impacted by those circumstances.
What was your day-to-day experience like?
In Kuwait we were on a base, it’s really like any other domestic military base. Cafeteria, gym, a department store for basic needs, sharing showers. But when you pushed out into Iraq you’re only eating MREs, you’re not showering all that frequently. It’s certainly different than life at home.
You were gone for seven months without seeing your family. How do you incorporate yourself into domestic life after an extended absence?
You have to accept that life goes on for your family when you’re gone. My wife was just starting a new business at the time, a boutique here in St. Johns, and she had to care for the kids and juggle a lot of responsibilities. They establish new routines while you’re gone, so you have to reintegrate into their lives. You can’t just come home like a bull in a China shop, you have to do so gradually. But my wife did a phenomenal job.
In layman’s terms, what is the role of the St. Johns County clerk of the court and comptroller?
We handle a lot of responsibilities, but I would say that one of our primary roles is to ensure the public trust in the operations of our local county government. We ensure that checks and balances are being complied with. More specifically, for the courts, we issue jury summonses, we collect child support payments, we work with the judiciary to make sure that decisions are carried out. We also work with the county board of commissioners — keeping minutes, paying bills, managing that budget. And we help to manage the county’s investments.
It’s a particularly polarized time on the BCC, with debates over growth and development raging at almost every meeting. Does that present a challenge for your office?
We let the county commission handle the policy side and the public issues that come before it. We stay focused on our mission that’s delineated in our constitution. So we’re able to stay above the fray to a certain extent.
You’ve lived in St. Johns County for a decade now. Is it growing too fast?
The county is transitioning from being a smaller county to a larger county. There is a lot of growth taking place, and that is going to present challenges across the board. From our office’s perspective, there’s a bigger workload. There is more activity in the courts. You have to maintain the personnel to keep up with demands from the increased number of residents. It’s a tightrope. You have to maintain your budget but at the same time answer to the public’s needs. When you’re one of the lowest funded counties in Florida, it’s a challenge.
How important is maintaining communication with the public?
I think residents have to have a level of trust that certain functions are going to be competently maintained by local government so they can live their lives. But you have to communicate what your office does. Social media can help with that, but you just try to be open and receptive. Here’s an example. People are tired — I’m tired — of automated menus when they call for service. So we created a call center. When St. Johns residents call for information, they get a real person. We’ve taken 80,000 calls from April until now.
You’re originally from Tallahassee but went to college in Washington D.C. Are you still a Noles fan? What do the Pattys do on a sunny summer day?
I joke that the best part of my deployment was that I missed FSU’s football season. But yes, I root for the Noles. As for our favorite places, we love the Alligator Farm, the Jax Zoo, we love a good park. The festivals. We’re really blessed here in St. Johns County. Beyond that, I’m honestly focused on my work commitment to the voters here. It’s an important office.
