Gerard Rickhoff has served as Bexar County Clerk for 13 years, since being first elected to the position in 1994. Prior to taking office, he taught Special Education in the San Antonio area. Mr. Rickhoff received a degree in Political Science from St. Louis University and earned his teaching certification from St. Mary’s University. Mr. Rickhoff is the father of three boys: Nicolas, Steven, and Gerard, and comes from a family with a tradition of local government service. His father was a District Judge in Missouri, his older brother has served in the Texas judiciary as both as Appellate and Probate Court Judge, and two other brothers serve in law enforcement in San Antonio and Washington, D.C.

  As the County Clerk, Mr. Rickhoff is responsible for maintaining the records of Commissioners' Court, County Probate Courts, and County Civil Courts at Law, and is charged with recording all public records, including real property records, state and federal tax liens; vital statistics records such as marriage licenses, assumed names and uniform commercial code records. In his role as County Clerk he also serves on numerous county committees including Records Management Committee and the Bail Bond Board. Mr. Rickhoff is a nationally certified elections administrator, and is presently serving as Vice Chair of the Bexar County Elections Commission.

  Mr. Rickhoff sees his primary mission as serving the interests of the entire community by enabling good government through the innovative use of technology. An example of his commitment to that mission has been the implementation of a “paperless office” initiative in the County Clerk’s office. This initiative seeks to reduce and in some cases eliminate the use of paper in the filing and storage of official documents and public records. The key components of this initiative are the scanning and electronic imaging of all new and existing documents and the creation of an electronic filing system that allows the public to file records and documents without having to come to the courthouse. This allows for more efficient, cost-effective operations, insures preservation of all records, and enables increased access to information.

  Understanding that information is only valuable if it can be used by those who need it, Mr. Rickhoff has utilized technology to provide the public with unprecedented levels of access to the county’s records. Working in conjunction with their vendor, Landata Technologies, the County Clerk provides all of its records online, free of charge through its website. The site also provides title and data companies with an FTP site for bulk downloading of records to update their title plants. Since the start of the free online database, over 19.5 million documents have been viewed through the website, and over 280,000 are viewed each month.

  The efforts undertaken by Mr. Rickhoff have produced impressive results. He estimates that by the end of 2009 more than 50% of all records filed with the county will be filed electronically, and that the costs savings from technology solutions will surpass $650,000 over the next five years.