Minutes
Present
|
The minutes of October 18, 2002 were approved.
Update on Criminal Bail Bond to Child Support Arrears
Becky Absey discussed the Criminal Bail Bond to Child Support Arrears pilot project in Grand Forks. The pilot project time frame is December 23, 2002 thru December 31, 2003. Time spent by staff and the dollar amount of criminal bail bond applied to child support arrears are being tracked to determine the positive impact to try and get some sense of the cost and benefit.
Release of Information from FACSES
The need to have a policy with regard to what information, if any, the clerks’ office can give out from FACSES was discussed. Deb Simenson will have this topic put on the agenda of the next meeting of the Clerks of Court Personnel/SDU Personnel Committee.
The clerks’ office prints out and sends the FACSES ledger card to the requestor for the IV-D case and for the case originating in another county. Val Weaver and Wally Kowitz will get this information back to Rose Trones.
Travel Coordination
Susan Sisk discussed the importance of sharing travel whenever possible. This is a huge cost savings to the State Judiciary.
Budget
Susan Sisk discussed indigent defense concerns and advised each district to put together their projection of what will be spent on indigent defense thru the end of the biennium. This is to be submitted to Susan Sisk by April 1, 2003.
Fiscal
Dion Ulrich advised districts to get their juror payments to the State Court Administrator’s office, per case, as soon as the trial is completed. This provides good public relations with the jurors. The juror payment turn around time once it gets to the SCAO is less than two days dependant on the time of day they receive it.
Greg Wallace will be attending Burleigh’s meeting next week with regard to the automated jury payments to assist them with the flow of this process.
Dion Ulrich advised the districts to get their Guardian at Litem bills in as soon as possible. The bill travels to several entities for approval and finally payment; UND, Juvenile Court, Trial Court Administrator, and then on to the State Court Administrator’s office. We need to look at this process to shorten it up. Staff was advised to monitor the process to find ways to speed up the process. One suggestion was to date and initial the bill when signing off on it.
The committee agreed to the following criteria to bulk order the case file folders for the year, 2004. Each district is to notify Dion Ulrich as soon as possible the number of file folders they will need by case division.
Case File Folder Criteria:
1.File thickness to be the same as the System & Services file folder.
2.The pre-numbered labels will be attached to the file folder by the vendor. The pre-numbered labels will include the bar coding, and the county number.
3.Each file folder will have two clasps attached, by the vendor, to the inside of the file folder.
4.Each case division will start with the number one (1) at the beginning of each year.
5.The colors of the case file folders, by case division, are as follows:
The traffic file folders, dividers, and out cards are not part of the bulk order. Each clerk’s office will order these as needed.
Each district is to notify Dion Ulrich as soon as possible the number of small claims packets they will need for the year 2004. Jim Ganje asked that the small claims packets not be ordered until they are updated to reflect the legislative updates. Jim will also ensure that the small claims forms on the web are also updated to reflect the legislative updates. If the public uses the small claims forms on the web, the clerk’s office must accept them, as they have been made available on the web for the public to use.
Web Update
Jim Ganje advised the committee that forms for use by pro se litigants in selected court proceedings (simple divorce with no children and modification and enforcement of child visitation) will soon be available for comment. Note that the divorce forms have different criteria and are different documents from the Divorce Packet documents used for summary proceedings under Rule 8.5 of the Rules of Court.
Pro Se Litigants
Jim Ganje advised the committee that a policy generally describing the level of assistance the clerks may provide when working with Pro Se litigants was submitted to the Supreme Court. Shortly, it will be sent out for comment and is expected to be effective mid-summer. The policy also directs that supporting written material be developed to assist clerks in working with pro se litigants.
N.D. Sup. Ct Administrative Rule 48 - Policy to Promote Self-Improvement of Judicial Officers - Effective March 1, 2003
Jim Ganje handed out Adm. Rule 48 discussed that the rule accomplishes establishing a mandatory judicial improvement program that assists each judge in improving judicial performance and conduct in order to enhance the effective and efficient performance of judicial duties.
Jim also discussed the procedural end of the process, whereas the trial court administrator’s are responsible for sending the surveys provided for in the rule. The surveys are to be returned to an independent entity that is yet to be determined.
Records Retention
Ted Gladden is working on a committee to address the destruction of files and to automate the tracking of the destruction of files in UCIS. Kurt Schmidt will work with this working group. Carla Kolling referenced the committee to the letter from Becky Lingle, State Records Management Administrator.
Legislative Updates
Susan Sisk discussed of how other states have been handling their budget concerns with hiring freezes, position eliminations, and other related areas to provide a realistic view and understanding of our State Judiciary’s budget’s concerns.
It is expected that effective August 1, 2003, social security numbers in the clerk’s office will be considered CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION and cannot be disclosed to the public.
Senate Bill 2394 - Voter Reform Act. This bill will mandate February 1st as the deadline to submit poll books’ information to the Secretary of State. This will greatly help the clerk’s office to complete the jury master list.
House Bill 1088 - Court Administration Fees. This amended bill would establish mandatory administration fees to be added to criminal cases based on the particular penalty classification.
Bankruptcy Discharges
Jim Ganje asked clerks to submit bankruptcy discharges questions to him or Carla Kolling as soon as possible to be part of a segment during the clerks conference on how clerks deal with discharges..
Clerks of Court/SDU Committee
Ted Gladden disbursed minutes of the Clerks of Court/SDU meeting and advised the committee of the existence of this committee along with their future goals. Deb Simenson noted that the minutes have since been updated and they will be sent out shortly. Forward any additional concerns to Deb Simenson or Ted Gladden for future committee meetings.
Spring Docket Currency - Due April 1, 2003
Ted Gladden advised committee that spring docket currency is due April 1, 2003.
UCIS Automatic Ticklers
Becky Absey conveyed judges concerns with regard to the UCIS Automatic Ticklers not coinciding properly with the flow of the civil case; date of filing vs. date of service. Ted Gladden asked that Becky Absey’s district put together a proposal for the next Court Operations Committee meeting that meets approximately 45 days down the road.
Motions
Ted Gladden will send out a letter to inform districts to contact the local district (email) the status of the case so that the events and ticklers are properly entered to UCIS.
Other:
Mental Health Forms
The mental health forms will be updated reflecting the updates from the legislative session. If you have any requests of your own to update the mental health forms submit them to Ted Gladden as soon as possible.
Probate Forms
The probate forms were last updated in 1997. The forms will be updated.
AS-400 Mail Messaging System
Kurt Schmidt informed the committee on how the AS-400 Mail Messaging System works and how your message can easily be sent to someone other than who you sent it to. Be careful using it!
Protection Orders
The protection order pilot project is to take place in Burleigh County April 1, 2003, and is expected to go out to the larger counties starting May, 2003.
Child Support Calculators
The child support calculators are completed and are on the web site. Kurt Schmidt sent an email seeking your comments.
UCIS
Kurt Schmidt informed the committee that by the end of April, 2003, all the counties will be on UCIS.