MINUTES Staff The Chair called the meeting to order. The minutes of the June 23, 2000 meeting were approved Interactive Television Pilot Project Update Ted Gladden discussed the current project in the South Central Judicial District (SCJD). The system is in and operational. Current efforts are being concentrated on ways to expand the usage of the system. Ted also provided a handout from the Presiding Judges Meeting regarding future plans for the interactive television project, which proposes two future pilot phases: One in the Southeast Judicial District, between the State Hospital/Regional Correctional Facility and the Stutsman County Courthouse, to test the applicability of ITV to conduct selected hearings for patients held at the state hospital. Another proposed phase would be a project to connect the new Cass County jail by ITV to the Cass County Courthouse to explore the feasibility of it being used for in-custody initial appearances, bond hearings, and other in-custody proceedings. The handout presented by Ted will be included in the distribution of these minutes. NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED BY THE COMMITTEE PCSS and UCIS integration The consultant delivered an initial outline of their final report which is lacking substantial detail in some areas. Within the next week, those details will be filled in and a second draft report will be circulated on or about October 2, 2000. The PCSS/UCIS Committee and the consultants will be meeting in Fargo on October 6th to review and discuss the report and next steps. NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED BY THE COMMITTEE Grand Forks - UCIS Migration to the Judicial AS400 Kurt informed the Committee that a tentative decision to move Grand Fork's UCIS installation from the county AS400 in Grand Forks to the judicial AS400 in Bismarck. However, before work is started, he will be meeting with members of Grand Forks County government and the Northeast Central Judicial District to ensure everyone is in agreement with the process and the expected outcomes. NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED BY THE COMMITTEE Municipalities and UCIS Kurt updated the Committee on efforts to consolidate and integrate UCIS for the four municipalities using the system. Within six weeks, modifications to UCIS will be complete that will allow the four municipalities to use UCIS on the judicial AS400. This will simplify support of UCIS by eliminating the need to install and support UCIS on those four municipal AS400 computers. It will allow data sharing among and between those municipalities and the district courts. Other government entities such as the Department of Transportation (DOT) will also benefit because administrative traffic citations from those municipalities will be transferred to DOT along with the district court citations that are currently being transferred. Dickinson will also begin using UCIS once the integration efforts are complete. Grafton has requested and will be given access to UCIS once these efforts are complete. NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED BY THE COMMITTEE Digital Audio Recording Update Judge Schmalenberger discussed current efforts regarding the digital audio recording project in the Southwest Judicial District (SWJD). Recently, network technology personnel from the vendor (BCB), the Executive Branch's Information Technology Department (ITD) and the Judicial Branch tested every aspect of the network to identify the problems the system has been having. The tests proved that the problems were not network related. The vendor then sent another technology professional to review the hardware and software configurations of the system. All the software was reinstalled, yet the problems persisted. Current theory is that the computers used as voice processors are inadequate. The SWJD is waiting for BCB to send new computers (voice processors) to Dickinson. BCB has committed to staying in Dickinson "until the system is working." NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED BY THE COMMITTEE Remaining Biennium Projects. Kurt relayed plans for projects to be completed this biennium. They include: 1) Data Warehousing initiatives: Setting up a copy of the UCIS database which would be updated nightly and would be used to allow public access to the system. Also, statistical reporting and court calendars would be generated from the data warehouse. 2) Jury software: A new jury software/jury management system will be purchased and installed. The new system should allow for centralized administration and reporting as well as easier and centralized support. NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED BY THE COMMITTEE Budget Preparation Status Kurt mentioned that the IT Budget is increased significantly over last biennium. Some of this increase is due to reporting changes: telephone expenses and legal research contracts, such as WESTLAW, are now included in the IT budget. Kurt also noted that the values in the budget are varied from what was included in the IT Plan in January. This is due to several factors such as re-prioritization of initiatives, current budget expenditures, etc. Judge Schmalenberger encouraged Committee members to become familiar with the budget to help support it when questions are asked. He also encouraged anyone with questions to ask Kurt to clarify them. NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED BY THE COMMITTEE Upcoming Meeting dates Dates for Committee meetings in 2001 have been set. They are: March 23, 2001 in Bismarck June 15, 2001 in Fargo September 14, in Bismarck December 14, 2001 in Fargo Note: The June and December meetings will be in Fargo. Committee Membership - Terms ending December 31, 2000 The Chair will contact the four members whose terms are expiring at the end of 2000 to ask if they are willing to serve another term. The chair will submit a letter to the Chief Justice regarding reappointment of the appropriate members. For the Good of the Order Kurt mentioned that Tanya Roth, the Technical Support Specialist for the help desk, has resigned effective September 29, 2000. Judge Leclerc asked about the pending e-mail conversion in Fargo and if existing addresses would continue to work. Kurt responded that Fargo is expected to be done in mid to late October and that the both the old and new addresses will work until they are "turned off", which is expected to be sometime near the end of 2001. Justice Sandstrom asked if anyone had knowledge of how to make MS Word format documents consistently, without regard to specific computers or fonts. Some transcripts being submitted are inconsistent, based on the word processor in which they were created. Justice Sandstrom has written a macro for WordPerfect which adds line numbers and standardized formatting, but has not found such an alternative for MS Word.. Ted Gladden mentioned a project which he will be starting. Working with victim advocacy groups, the project would allow for electronic filing of petitions with the courts and electronic distribution of those orders to appropriate law enforcement agencies. Ted Smith mentioned that the dates for Court Technology Conference 7 are August 14-16, 2001, at the Baltimore Convention Center. Information is available on the National Center for State Court's Web site or from www.ctc7.net The meeting adjourned. Attachment to Minutes TO: Council of Presiding Judges FROM: Ted Gladden SUBJECT: ITV - The Next Step The purpose of this memorandum is to provide background information on the status of the pilot project being conducted in the South Central judicial district and outline a strategy for the next step in testing the use of interactive television for a variety of types of judicial proceedings. The installation in the South Central judicial district tying together courts in Burleigh, Mercer, McLean, and Morton counties is underway. Equipment has been installed and has been operational for over two months. We are at the first state of gaining experience in the opportunities ITV can present in terms of enhancing services to rural courts. A formal evaluation of the process will not be completed until the end of this calendar year with data being available for the 2001 legislative assembly. However, as we move forward we need to think in terms of the next step for testing the use of interactive television for providing services by a limited number of judges and judicial personnel throughout the courts of the state. The current pilot project will test the viability of use of ITV between chambered counties and selected rural court locations. One aspect that will be reviewed as part of this pilot project is the viability of expanded services into non-chambered counties. It is too early to determine if this equipment can be used in a cost-effective way for non-chambered counties, thus the purpose of this memorandum to outline a second pilot project that would commence during the current biennium. After visiting with the chair of the Technology Committee, Judge Schmalenberger, and Judge Paulson of the Southeast judicial district, I am suggesting a second pilot be developed later during this current biennium, if funds are available, to test the use of ITV between the State Hospital/Regional Correctional Facility in Jamestown and the courthouse in Jamestown. Presently, up to ten cases per week are heard involving patients from the State Hospital. These hearings necessitate the transportation of patients and medical professionals to the courthouse. The purpose of a pilot project would be to test the applicability of ITV to conduct selected hearings for patients held at the State Hospital. A second facet of the project would be to explore the utilization of this equipment for selected court appearances of inmates being held at the facility in Jamestown without having to transport them to the courthouse. If this project is approved as a second pilot, a third phase for consideration next biennium would be to tie the new Cass County jail by ITV to the Cass County courthouse to explore the feasibility of it being used for in-custody initial appearances, bond hearings, and other in-custody proceedings that will require inmates be transported to the courtroom. TG/cs
COURT TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE
September 22, 2000
Members Present
Judge Allan Schmalenberger, Chair
Ted Gladden
Faye McIntyre
Judge David Nelson
Justice Dale Sandstrom
Ted Smith
Members Present via Conference Call
Rebecca Absey
Judge Lawrence Leclerc
Kurt T. Schmidt