By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
If you need to have something done at the District Court office at the Houston County Courthouse, don’t schedule it for Tuesday morning anymore. As of March 4, the court services office will be closed from 8 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. The half-day closure is due to state cutbacks.
Court Administrator Darlene Kuhlers announced the half-day closure during the Feb. 26 county board meeting.
“For now, we were told we only had cut close down for a half day. If the state’s budget problems get worse, we might be forced to close more hours,” Kuhlers told the board.
On July 1, 2004 all District Court employees working in the court house became state employees. Houston County is part of the Third Judicial District.
The Third Judicial District, which is comprised of Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca and Winona counties recently announced its intention to lay off employees, consolidate court administrator positions, leave vacant positions unfilled, make changes in operations, and reduce public service hours due to budget shortfalls. Third District Administration projects a deficit up to $300,000 for its current fiscal year ending June 30. A $1.1 million budget deficit is projected for fiscal year 2009, which concludes on June 30, 2009.
Some of the changes that will impact the public are:
•Scheduling of court appearances and judicial decisions may be delayed as a result of a reduction in legal research positions.
•Effective March 1, walk-in counter and telephone services will be curtailed one morning each week. Services affected include the ability to pay traffic tickets or make fine payments in person, request copies of court files, or receive updates on the status of cases via telephone between the hours of 8 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Court hearings and trials will not be affected by walk-in counter closures.
•Conciliation court hearings will be scheduled less frequently to provide judges and staff with the ability to focus on case types with mandated/statutorily required timelines.
•Jury terms will be extended to minimize staff time spent summoning and orienting new jurors. Members of the public called for jury duty will be required to be available for jury service for up to twice as long as current jury terms beginning May 1.
•Case processing timelines will be extended. As a result, members of the public are likely to experience delays in having documents filed, scheduling court dates, and obtaining documents and other court information.
•Effective March 1, court administrators will no longer perform marriage ceremonies during business hours. Members of the public seeking marriage solemnization services will be required to do so after business hours or by alternate means.
•In the past, the Court Administrator’s office used to contact persons if they had received a ticket and failed to appear to pay the fine, or if they had a delinquent balance. That will not happen in the future. “Folks are going to have to be on their toes,” she cautioned. “If they don’t show up when they are supposed to, or have a delinquent fine, their driver’s license will be suspended, the outstanding balance will be sent to a collection agency, or a bench warrant may be issued.”
Kulhers noted that approximately 10 percent of the 200-some employees will be cut from the existing workforce in the Third District. Many will be taking early retirements, to pare the workforce down. As of last week, 14 have taken early retirements, including one person working in Houston County.
“People are jumping ship. This isn’t a real stable situation,” Kulhers said. “It’s kind of a depressing place to work at right now. I wish we were still county employees, but we’re not.”
The anticipated shortfall was created when the Third Judicial District did not receive enough funding to cover current service levels. Some of the new money appropriated by the Legislature to the state’s trial courts for the Fiscal Year 2008-2009 biennium was earmarked for special purposes, making it unavailable to cover increases in basic operating costs.
The Third District handles more than 100,000 cases annually and has 23 sitting judges.
You can contact Charlie Warner at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
 |
