Clerk’s offices feel economic squeeze

CNA photo by TYLER ELLYSON Union County Clerk of Court Marsha Parsons breaks from paperwork to answer a phone in her office Thursday afternoon. State budget cuts forced many area county clerk’s offices, including Union County, to reduce staff.

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Gov. Culver’s 10 percent across-the-board state budget cut is starting to show its effects in county courthouses, creating reduced hours to the public and smaller staffs.

The state judicial branch was forced to cut $5.4 million. This meant eliminating more than 200 positions and reducing the hours of many employees.

In judicial District 5, which has 16 counties including Union, Adair, Adams, Clarke, Ringgold and Taylor, 22 people were laid off, 15.4 positions were eliminated and six employees had hours reduced.

“Our district got hit the hardest because we have the small counties down here,” said Marsha Parsons, Union County clerk of court.

Union, Adams, Ringgold and Taylor counties lost one employee each from the clerks’ offices, and a juvenile court services employee had hours reduced in Union County. The cuts leave counties like Adams, Ringgold and Taylor with just one employee in the clerk of court’s office, and have created a hectic situation for most.

“It’s going to cause more backlog,” said Parsons. “It cuts down on your service to the public.”

According to Parsons, each county’s staff reduction was based on workload statistics, which she feels doesn’t accurately represent the work done in Union County. Because the county is home to entities like Greater Regional Medical Center and Crossroads Mental Health Center, Parsons said her office sees more mental health commitments, and the extra work associated with these commitments isn’t factored in.

She also believes things like crime, substance abuse, small claims and foreclosures are on the rise, and putting additional paperwork on her employees’ desks.

“It’s just a vicious circle of financial problems,” Parsons said. “We just feel that it’s unfair that a lot of our work is not represented in that formula.”

Effects

Compounding the situation is the 10 mandatory furlough days judicial branch workers must take this fiscal year. While court schedules and frequency will remain relatively the same, some dates will have to be rescheduled if they fall on these furlough days — likely creating extra work for office employees the following week.

Parsons said people can expect delays in being helped at the counter or phones being answered and longer time frames before papers get filed, posted on the Internet and mailed to individuals.

“They just won’t have as fast of service as they had before,” she added.

Parsons suggests residents utilize the Web site www.iowacourtsonline.org to pay traffic and criminal fines and check ticket balances and case filings and contact their attorneys with court-related questions to help reduce the workload in clerks of court offices. Another big time consumer is transferring phone calls, Parsons said. If a question is not court-related, Parsons says it should be directed to a county office because they cannot transfer calls to those offices.

“We just need the public’s understanding,” said Parsons. “Losing an employee has been a big loss for us.”

Changes

To help alleviate these problems, all area counties have, or will, reduce the hours the clerk’s office is available to the public, and many counties are sharing employees. For instance, Adair County will help cover Adams and Taylor counties and the clerk of court from Decatur County will also work in Ringgold County as Lucas County’s will in Clarke County.

The reduced hours were scheduled in an effort to give employees uninterrupted work time to process the backlog of mail and filings. Each county clerk’s office will have adjusted hours until at least June 30, 2010.

“I don’t know, without calling in help, that we will be able to keep things to the time standards that are required, quite honestly,” said Parsons.

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Area county clerk’s offices hours

Effective immediately

Adams County: Open to the public 22 hours per week — Mondays and Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m. and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.

Ringgold County: Open to the public 18 hours per week — Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.

Taylor County: Open to the public 20 hours per week — Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m. and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.


Effective Dec. 11

Adair County: Open to the public 34 hours per week — Mondays through Thursdays from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to noon.


Effective Dec. 15

Union County: Open to the public 36 hours per week — Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

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Court furlough days

The following days county clerks of court offices will be closed and court will not be held.

In 2009: Dec. 4, 24 and 31.

In 2010: Jan. 15, Feb. 15, March 12 and 26, April 2, May 28 and June 18.