Holiday Inn, Bismarck October 18, 2002
The meeting minutes were approved by the committee with one update as follows: Court Recorders Greg Wallace advised us that the amended policy will require the "Log Notes" to be stored in the clerk's office. Overtime Carla Kolling discussed with committee members the Reporting Overtime Per Policy 113 - Work hours. Effective October 1, 2002, the record keeping for the accumulation of comp time, by an exempt employee, is to be maintained at the local level. Procedures for Asking Questions About Staff Carla Kolling distributed to the committee the Sample Exit Interview Questionnaire. More copies are to be sent out. Everyone is encouraged to use the form. Budget Update Susan Sisk distributed the Status of the General Fund report to give committee members the sense of the economic climate in North Dakota. The standard for the proposed budget is zero growth and no temporary staff. Several areas of the budget were discussed to reduce operating costs. Everyone is encouraged to propose areas where we could bulk order supplies statewide, such as; file folders, small claims packets, copier paper, envelopes, and other related supplies. Ted Gladden advised everyone to stay in touch to ensure accurate and timely action so that we are all part of the solution. Practices will change and we want to reduce the negative impact on the system. We are in a hiring freeze. No reduction in force at this time. Technology and Cellular Phones Policy Kurt Schmidt distributed to the committee the draft of the Cellular Phone Service policy. Kurt discussed the issues with the committee and will write this process up for the Council of Presiding Judges. Kurt Schmidt distributed the web-based child support calculator information. Kurt reported that the last 13 counties will be put on UCIS after January 1, 2003 and prior to the end of 2003. Kurt reported that they do not have staff dedicated to forms on line, but advised the committee that they may find the travel expense voucher on line. You will still need to get it signed and mailed in. To ensure that the UCIS Court Calendar is accurate, monitoring will take place to ensure that the scheduling in UCIS is completed through the case. The judges need to get credit for the work they do. Kurt reminded everyone that by law, surplus equipment must be deposited with property. Kurt also reported the structure of the network firewall will change. The city and county will be behind one firewall and the state will be behind another firewall. Problems will occur. Morton County will be the pilot site. One county will be done at a time. Advance warning when this will take place in your county will be given. This project is expected to be completed within the next six to nine months. Fargo, Cass County is still scheduled to be converted to UCIS, November 12, 2002. Administrative Traffic The administrative traffic cases are to be cleaned up statewide that are pulling to the UCIS Case Aging Report. Each county will print and clean up their records. If they aren't cleaned up within ten days they will be closed by Kurt Schmidt's office. The administrative traffic case disposition is to be submitted to DOT within 10 days of disposition. Criminal Judgment/Sentencing Forms Ted Gladden reported that the UCIS criminal judgment/sentencing forms and appropriate UCIS modifications will be rolled out as soon as possible. The members were advised to wait until after the install to submit criminal judgment/sentencing forms requests. Filing Fees for Subsequent Filings Jim Ganje advised members to use the North Dakota Court Fee Schedule as much as possible to determine when and when not to charge fees. A few gray areas were discussed and it was felt that the concerns should be taken to the Trial Court Operations Committee. Polly Reule will prepare a draft to be reviewed and considered. Payment for Certified Copies of Judgments The group referenced the letter submitted to Doug Johnson from Donavin Grenz regarding Cass County. Dorothy Howard will take care of the matter. Misdemeanor Case Management Kathy Narlock and Becky Absey reported the procedures used for the case management of the misdemeanor case as referenced in the handouts. Ted Gladden asked members to look at the procedures, take what fits, and try to implement them. Motions/Trial Ended Monitoring It was noted that everyone is using the UCIS Motions/Trial Ended Report. We need to make sure that we are doing this; correct data entry along with printing the report. Note of Issue and Tracking Briefs As per the insert in the agenda procedures were shared with the committee. Ninety days from filing or date filed. Date Filed should be amended from the current policy. ?????? Court Security Monitoring - Stark County Ted Gladden reviewed with the group the procedures used for court security monitoring in Stark County. Members were encouraged to check with their district as to their court security procedures and document them. Child Support Time Reporting Ted Gladden reviewed with the group the child support time reporting information and the requirement of getting your time entered on a daily basis. Other: Jury Greg Wallace reviewed with the group the amended jury wheel plan effective March 1, 2002 to start the with the new jury wheel. Final approval is yet needed, but we are assured that it will go through. Greg reviewed with the group the electronic transfer of drivers and voters. Greg is to be contacted as soon as possible for computer lists from counties. DOT has changed the way they do addresses so we will now have more current addresses and a better jury list. Committee Memberships Clerks and their deputies are advised to join whatever association they wish on the local or national level. Staffing Standards Policy Proposal The intent of the policy is not to be a reduction in force policy and is the result of eight new personnel requests for the next biennium requiring a staffing standards policy to be in place. The intent is to have staffing standards to fill vacancies based on needs. The clerks offices statewide are viewed as an office unit (92 clerks) and the district offices statewide are viewed as an office unit. The WAPC staffing standard is considered the staffing standard for the clerks offices. The clerk's office will be maintained as a separate unit. Greg Wallace has the juvenile court offices standard that is considered the staffing standard for juvenile court. The weighted caseload study for the judges is considered the staffing standard for the judges. No study, as of yet, has been done for the calendar clerks/district offices to set a staffing standard. The intent is not to move filled positions. The intent is to move empty positions. The staffing standards policy proposal will be formalized and presented to the Council of Presiding Judges. Transcripts Greg Wallace and Jim Ganje advised the group that transcripts are the property of the state when they are filed with the court. Therefore, the clerk's office may make copies of the transcripts when requested by the public/attorneys. The clerk cannot refuse to make copies. Jury Payroll Greg Wallace will send out written jury payroll procedures to be implemented by November 1, 2002. Jury software access will be given to the trial court administrative people by November 1, 2002. Juror payment turnaround time in the state court administrative office is two days. It was discussed to designate the clerks to approve the juror payments. Susan Sisk will review. Jury Standards Committee Greg Wallace and Ted Gladden distributed the Change in Jury Selection Plan documents submitted by Judge Medd, Jury Standards Committee to the committee. The clerk is to be mindful of Section K of this plan, which provides that a juror should only have to maintain an availability status of being called TWO times, appearing at the courthouse ONE time or serving on one trial. This will require clerks who have traditionally had a longer term of availability for jurors to need more jurors throughout the two year cycle. Legislative Session Jim Ganje advised the group of Judge Hagerty's legislative web updates. Areas of clerk interest will be included. Meeting Schedule for 2003: |