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Michael Spurgeon
BY CHARLES GARRATT • STAFF WRITER
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WARM SPRINGS - Michael "Mike" Spurgeon points to his basement window in the courthouse and says he'd like to move up.
Spurgeon works in social services at the courthouse and is making a run for the main floor office of clerk of the circuit court. While he has no specific experience working in the clerk's office, he sees the job as being "like a CEO, responsible for the 800 codified duties" of the office.
He feels his more than two decades of experience at "managing, leading, team building" are an advantage over knowing the individual task of the clerk's office. Spurgeon classifies himself as a "situational leader."
"It depends on the situation how I handle things," he said. He takes a laissez faire approach when possible, teaching people what they need to know and then letting them do the job. But he can become "authoritarian if the situation requires," he said.
Spurgeon said his career in the military and his years in social services since he retired have given him the opportunity to learn how to deal with people around the world as a supervisor and manager.
"I know how to effectively deal with people," he said. In addition, through his experience he has learned to document and do things by the book both of which he thinks will serve him well if elected.
Without experience in the legal system or the clerk's office, Spurgeon stresses his range of job experience and supervisory experience as qualifying him for the clerk's office.
In the Air Force he was the non-commissioned officer in charge of up to 10 employees in a work center. Before he retired, he supervised more than 100 military and civilian employees at multiple work centers, he said.
Spurgeon is generally familiar with the duties of the clerk's office including probate of wills, filing deeds and recoding important documents. In addition he knows the office sells hunting and fishing licenses. "They do a bunch of different things up there," he said.
Spurgeon said the new clerk has the right to choose deputies when he or she enters office. Since the "clerk is re sponsible for everything that happens in the office," Spurgeon said, he would evaluate each person's performance before making a decision to keep or replace one of the current deputies.
He admits everyone has weaknesses and says his lack of formal accounting training may be a weakness as clerk. Spurgeon does know about fiscal accountability, he said, and feels he could learn the accounting necessary to prepare budgets and maintain the office.
As for the makeup of the court system, Spurgeon did not know what circuit court district Bath is in nor did he know most of the counties contained in the district. Judge (Humes) Franklin is the chief judge Spurgeon knew, but he did not know the names of the other judges in the circuit.
"Basically the clerk is more or less controlled by the Supreme Court," Spurgeon said. The Code of Virginia spells out the duties of the clerk and the Supreme Court overseas the clerk's office, according to Spurgeon.
Spurgeon is the chief of the Hot Springs Rescue Squad and he said people have asked him if he would continue to run calls if elected clerk. "Most of us (volunteers) are mature enough to know when we can leave (our job) and can't," Spurgeon explained.
Local employers have been understanding about volunteers, said Spurgeon. As clerk, Spurgeon would be both employer and employee as far as leaving the office to run an emergency call. "I do not plan to quit the squad nor stop running calls," he said.
Spurgeon sees the clerk's job as an opportunity for him to step up to a new challenge while continuing to serve the residents of the county in a different position. "I like to help people, that is not going to change," he said.
About the candidate Michael "Mike" Spurgeon, 53 BCHS 1972, AS electronic technology Community College of the Air Force Retired Air Force E-8, 10 years Bath County Social Services, eligibility worker Lives in Thomastown. Chief, Hot Springs Rescue Squad, authorized lay preacher Shenandoah Presbytery, American Legion, VFW, Disabled American Veterans, member Hot Springs Presbyterian Church.
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