COUNTY CLERK ANNOUNCES NEW STAFF MEMBERS – Kleberg County Clerk Leo H. Alarcon has announced two new staff members to his office. Pictured from left to right are new office manager Janis Forke Simons, Alarcon and new chief deputy Jose A. Betancourt, Jr. Jose A. Betancourt, Jr. has been appointed by Leo H. Alarcon as the new Chief Deputy of the Kleberg County Clerk’s office. A selection committee unanimously recommended Betancourt after a thorough interview process.

Alarcon said he advertised for the position and composed a committee to assist him in making a decision.

“We set a schedule for reviewing the applications submitted and after a fair, open deliberation process, the committee made the decision to recommend Betancourt, who had fiduciary experience,” Alarcon said.

Alarcon said that his office was without a chief deputy for about four months and made the decision to start advertising this past summer.

“It is very important for one who is entrusted with duties on behalf of another to have the highest level of good faith, loyalty and diligence when it comes to the fiduciary responsibility of a public office,” Alarcon said.

Betancourt was the founding vice president of the Sigma Alpha Pi Honor Society at Texas A&M University- Kingsville. He graduated with a Business Administration degree in Finance from Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

Betancourt, although born in Corpus Christi, was raised in Hebbronville and graduated from Hebbronville High School in 2002. While in high school, Betancourt was a member of the National Honor Society, the Junior Engineering Technical Society, UIL, and he was the VICA president and a member of the baseball team for the Longhorns.

Betancourt also received the Caller-Times South Texas Distinguished Achievement Scholar award for 2002.

One of the statutory duties of the county clerk is to administer all countywide, state and federal elections, including all general and special elections and early voting for primary elections.

In Kleberg County, the county clerk is the chief elections official and one of the responsibilities of the chief deputy is to supervise the election process.

Alarcon said that out of all 12 applicants selected to be interviewed, all had college degrees but not one had elections experience.

Alarcon was the first elections official in Kleberg County to handle the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) which presented a new challenge for all election officials throughout the country.

“HAVA came on the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election and was created so that states could upgrade their elections technology in hopes of preventing similar problems like the one that occurred in Florida,” Alarcon said.

Betancourt is thoroughly being trained by Alarcon to learn the course of action in elections.

“The elections process cannot be learned at any one school or workshop,” Alarcon explained.

“It takes years for one to become highly skilled at this process especially because it is not done on a day-to-day basis.”

The Kleberg County Chief Deputy generally handled all bookkeeping duties for the office, but was recently changed to be handled by the office manager, a new position created by Alarcon.

Janis Forke Simons was named to the position of office manager and comes with many years of business and management knowledge. Her family owned an office supply store locally where she gained many years of bookkeeping experience.

Simons will be handling all bookkeeping activities for the office and will be assisted by Betancourt.

Most recently, Simons was the administrative assistant for Coldwell Banker Homestead Properties and handled property record activities.

Simons has a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&I University and graduated summa cum laude. While at Texas A&I, Simons was a member of Alpha Chi Honor Society, Kappa Omicron Honor Society and was a presidential ambassador.

She is a 1974 graduate of H. M. King High School.