Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Rob McGraw

Butler County Clerk of Courts Lisa Lotz loves the county courthouse.

A painting depicting a mill in her hometown, Bonnie Brook, is one of the historic scenes that adorn the inside of the dome in the courthouse that is attached to the Butler County Government Center.

“I always said I wanted to work in the White House. Instead I worked in the courthouse,” Lotz said Friday.

When she retires in January, she will wrap a career spanning 44 years of working in the courthouse, where her first office was positioned, and government center, where her current office is located.

Her career began in 1982 when she got a job working as the secretary for another newly hired employee — assistant district attorney Timothy McCune, who went on to become the district attorney and is now a two-term Common Pleas Court judge. He served as the clerk’s office solicitor before he was elected district attorney. McCune also is retiring when his term expires in January.

Lotz recalls 1982 as a pivotal year in the county judicial system because the number of judges increased from one to three that year.

Six years later, she was hired as the second deputy in the clerk’s office. She said people encouraged her to run for election for clerk of courts to replace her boss, John Wise, who retired before his term expired. She won, and took office in 1994.

The clerk’s office was “on the front porch of the old courthouse,” she said, until January 2021 when it was relocated to the government center.

One of her first acts in office was getting approval from the county commissioners to buy the first computer system to file and store documents her office keeps, which include criminal and juvenile court records. Some of the documents date to the early years of the county that were saved from the fire that destroyed the original courthouse in 1912, Lotz said.

Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Rob McGraw

Butler was one of the fist counties to computerize its clerk of court office, Lotz said. Before the first computer, updating a court document with new information was labor intensive and time consuming, Lotz recalled.

When a court order was issued, staff would have to find the correct docket book, find and remove the page for that case, type the order on the page, put the page back in the book and return the book to its correct location.

Lotz said the computer system was crucial because of perpetual increases in the number of documents her office records. In 2000, the county moved from fifth to fourth class status due to population growth — and the population continues to grow.

Lisa Lotz, clerk of courts, shows off old county commissioner meeting minutes. These were stored on the fifth floor of the government center at that time. Butler Eagle File Photo

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In addition to court documents, the clerk’s office keeps records from the miscellaneous division. Those records include a road docket containing publicly adopted roads, a docket containing information from municipalities and school districts, and documents relating to district judges, constables, private detectives as well as fugitives, she said.

“As fast as the county was growing, we would have been buried in paperwork,” Lotz said.

Criminal court record keeping has grown in complexity and volume over the last few years because of state laws that allow or require records to be sealed and expunged, she said.

Under the Clean Slate Law, people convicted of felonies and misdemeanors can file a petition to have those records sales after a number of years and summary convictions are automatically sealed after five years.

The criminal record for a person found not guilty or whose charges were withdrawn is automatically expunged, under another law.

Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Friday, March 14, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Rob McGraw

Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Friday, March 14, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Rob McGraw

Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Friday, March 14, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Rob McGraw

Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Friday, March 14, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Rob McGraw

Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Friday, March 14, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Rob McGraw

Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Friday, March 14, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Rob McGraw

Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Friday, March 14, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Rob McGraw

Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Friday, March 14, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Rob McGraw

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  Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Friday, March 14, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

  Rob McGraw
• 

  Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Friday, March 14, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

  Rob McGraw
• 

  Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Friday, March 14, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

  Rob McGraw
• 

  Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Friday, March 14, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

  Rob McGraw
• 

  Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Friday, March 14, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

  Rob McGraw
• 

  Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Friday, March 14, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

  Rob McGraw
• 

  Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Friday, March 14, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

  Rob McGraw
• 

  Lisa Lotz, the Clerk of Courts for Butler County, will be retiring the end of this year. Friday, March 14, 2025. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

  Rob McGraw

“That added greatly to records and filing work,” Lotz said. “We’re always keeping pace with legislation that impacts courts.”

Lotz has a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Slippery Rock University and is a member of Pennsylvania State Association of Prothonotaries and Clerks of Courts Association. She serves on various association committees including a computer technical governance committee and received its Honoree of the Year Award in 2023.

“We’re record keepers,” Lotz said about the clerk’s office. “We’re keepers of the original record. It’s not glamorous, but its necessary.”

Before she leaves office, she said her goal is to complete a directory that guides staff to the locations of all court documents including the oldest one, which is a handwritten road docket from 1804 that is stored with other old documents in Iron Mountain.

She said takes her job seriously, did the best she could and is grateful to the voters who supported her all these years.

“I’ve been coming here for 44 years of my life. My car has autopilot. I love working at the courthouse,” Lotz said.

She said her retirement plans include hiking, traveling spending time with her family and enjoying “my cup of coffee or tea at a leisurely pace.”

As for the future of her position, that will be determined in the upcoming election.

Tammy D. Thibadeau has filed her petition to run for the Republican nomination for the clerk of courts in the upcoming primary election, and Micheal De Nee has done so for the Democratic nomination.