Appellate judge seeks help for clerk of courts

Fourth District Court of Appeals Judge Roger Kline spoke out on behalf of Highland County Clerk of Courts Paulette Donley at Wednesday’s meeting of the Highland County Board of Commissioners.

   Kline, who was accompanied by court administrator Aaron McHenry, expressed concerns over insufficient staffing at the clerk’s office,

specifically as it relates to appeals cases.

   “We’ve got a problem and we need some suggestions,” Kline told commissioners Shane Wilkin, Gary Heaton and Tom Horst. “The problem is our work (for the Court of Appeals) is not getting processed. Help! Attorneys

are complaining.

   “We’re here to listen,” the judge said.

   Wilkin responded that “every dime we have coming in is allocated. We don’t have any contingency money.”

   Wilkin said with another 3,500 people scheduled to run out of unemployment benefits this fall, the county could see more financial

problems later in the year.

   “You don’t have anybody you could spare, do you?” Wilkin asked Kline.

   Horst added that Community Action “is taking care of 35 percent of our populace. We don’t have any money. Paulette knows this. Every office except the prosecutor has had layoffs and they’ve been cut, too.”

   “We’ve laid off 12 deputies; department heads are not happy with us,” Wilkin said. “We haven’t given raises in three years. All of our estimated revenue is allocated. I wish I had better news.”

   Heaton suggested the court pursue possible grants to fund a part-time position in the clerk’s office.

   Donley said, “I’m trying to be frugal with the limited funds I have. I’d like to have one person, with the knowledge, to work on Court of Appeals cases. With grand jury indictments up and the capital murder case, foreclosures increasing, running two offices (including the title office), it’s just not possible.”

   Heaton asked Kline if he’d discussed the situation with Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss.

   “He really doesn’t have a proposal to solve this crisis,” Kline said.

   Heaton wrapped up the discussion by asking for a fixed expense proposal, approximately four hours per week at $8.50 per hour, with the office to seek assistance from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office or the Ohio Supreme

Court.

Judge Kline submitted the following letter to the board:

"As you know, Ms. Donley is the Clerk of Courts for both the Highland County Court of Appeals and the Highland County Court of Common Pleas.

See R.C. 2303.03. Over the years, Ms. Donley has carried out her duties as our clerk without any troubles. However, because of the

financial problems of Highland County, Ms. Donley has had to make enormous sacrifices so that she now only has a bare-bones staff to

carry out her many duties. Because of a lack of staff, over the last 18 months "timeliness" issues of processing our work have caused

significant problems for our staff and court. More recently, we are receiving complaints from parties or their attorneys expressing

concerns about how their cases are moving through the system.

"After speaking with Ms. Donley last week, we came up with the following proposal. Currently, there is an employee in the clerk's

office who is responsible for scanning every document received by the clerk's office into the clerk's computer system. Ms. Donley suggested

having this person dedicate up to, but no more than, ten hours per week to only processing the work of the court of appeals. This switch

would require the hiring of another person to take over the document scanning. Ms. Donley thought she could hire someone at a rate of $8.50

to $9.00 an hour. While we understand that your county budget is very tight, the fact is our basic needs are not being met. We have to do something to fix the current situation before it gets even worse. We welcome any feedback or other suggestions you may have"

   • In other action, commissioners opened three bids for exterior painting and renovations at the Highland County Courthouse. Bids were received from Quality Masonry Company, NR Lee Renovations and Daniels Construction. NR Lee Renovations submitted the lowest overall bid. No action was taken.

   Commissioners approved the following resolutions, all by 3-0 votes:

   • The authorization of a modification to the General Fund budget as follows: from Miscellaneous Transfers to Miscellaneous, Salary-Indigent Stenographer, in the amount of $120.

   • The authorization of a modification to the General Fund budget (TEC) as follows: from TEC, Contracts & Services, to TEC, Contracts & Repairs, in the amount of $500.

   • The authorization of a modification to the Highland County Board of Developmental Disabilities budget as follows: from Contracts & Services to eFMAP, in the amount of $30,000.

   • The rescinding of Resolution No. 10-79 passed on March 3, 2010, to be replaced with Resolution No. 10-132 passed on April 28, 2010. The Pre-Trial Supervision budget did not have adequate funds for an appropriation when Resolution No. 10-79 was passed.

   • The authorization of a new line-item in the Pre-Trial Supervision budget and an appropriation as follows: create a new line-item to be known as 0461-T23-T08.060, Equipment, and appropriate $3,000 to the new line.

• The appointment of Michael E. Rector, former commissioner, to serve as the Highland County representative on the Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission (OVRDC) Loan Review Committee representing the community non-profit development corporation area of expertise. 

   The LRC member is responsible for the review, recommendation, and approval of loans through the Revolving Loan Fund programs for disposition by the OVRDC. This appointment replaces Dan Cowdrey, effective immediately, and will expire on May 1, 2011, pursuant to Section 7.01 of OVRDC By-Laws.