Court website makes difference to staff in only six months
Lead Summary
By
Brandy Chandler-brandychandler@gmail.com
Since the Highland County Common Pleas Court's website launched in March the site has received more than 350,000 hits, which is cutting down on foot traffic and phone calls to the court and clerk of courts offices, ultimately freeing up employees for other work.
When the site, www.hccpc.org, launched in March, Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss said that he hoped it would cut down on people calling or stopping in to the court and Highland County Clerk of Courts office to inquire about the public court records. With materials such as case information, court dockets and calendars, jury information and court announcements available online, area residents and attorneys can look up the information themselves.
The site has been steadily increasing in the number of hits, according to Coss. Through September there have been 26,256 visits, with 267,981 files viewed and 354,862 hits. Visits to the site are steadily increasing each month, according to web statics. In March, there were 4,198 visits. In August - the last full month recorded - there were 5,300 visits with 67,660 hits.
"Both the clerk's staff and my staff have noted that there has been a significant decrease in the number of telephone calls and people walking into the office to ask about cases," Coss said. "While it is impossible to quantify, there is no doubt in my mind that the website is saving a significant amount of time for staff in the clerk's office and the court, which is enabling them to be more efficient and productive."
Highland County Clerk of Courts Ike Hodson said that his staff is free to take care of other issues, and that they are able to more efficiently serve the people who do make inquiries by phone or in person.
"Once of the big ways that it has changed the way we work is that it has really cut down on the number of calls we receive," Hodson said. "Every time someone calls, we try to preface it with, 'Do you know we have a website now?' It has really made a huge difference."
However, Hodson said that the office is always glad to help out anyone seeking information, but by directing them to the site, people can see much of what they're looking for themselves.
Not all information for the court is available online. For instance, filings in cases are listed, along some case information, but the actual documents are only available at the courthouse.
Hodson said that when people need to contact his office, they are often better prepared because they have already been to the site, and can ask specific questions.
"Often prior to a call they will have looked at the website, and when they see that maybe they need a little bit more information, they have a case number when they call us, and that helps a lot," Hodson said. "It has made a huge impact. Anytime that you can take away those time-consuming things, like answering questions on the phone, it automatically frees up the staff to do other things that need done. It has helped a lot. We're current and caught up, and moving forward."
The cost of the development and launch of the website was paid for through the court's special projects fund.
Since the Highland County Common Pleas Court's website launched in March, the site has received more than 350,000 hits, which is cutting down on foot traffic and phone calls to the court and clerk of courts offices, ultimately freeing up employees for other work.
When the site, www.hccpc.org, launched in March, Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss said that he hoped it would cut down on people calling or stopping in to the court and Highland County Clerk of Courts office to inquire about the public court records. With materials such as case information, court dockets and calendars, jury information and court announcements available online, area residents and attorneys can look up the information themselves.
The site has been steadily increasing in the number of hits, according to Coss. Through September there have been 26,256 visits, with 267,981 files viewed and 354,862 hits. Visits to the site are steadily increasing each month, according to web statistics. In March, there were 4,198 visits. In August - the last full month recorded - there were 5,300 visits with 67,660 hits.
"Both the clerk's staff and my staff have noted that there has been a significant decrease in the number of telephone calls and people walking into the office to ask about cases," Coss said. "While it is impossible to quantify, there is no doubt in my mind that the website is saving a significant amount of time for staff in the clerk's office and the court, which is enabling them to be more efficient and productive."
Highland County Clerk of Courts Ike Hodson said that his staff is free to take care of other issues, and that they are able to more efficiently serve the people who do make inquiries by phone or in person.
"Once of the big ways that it has changed the way we work is that it has really cut down on the number of calls we receive," Hodson said. "Every time someone calls, we try to preface it with, 'Do you know we have a website now?' It has really made a huge difference."
However, Hodson said that the office is always glad to help out anyone seeking information, but by directing them to the site, people can see much of what they're looking for themselves.
Not all information for the court is available online. For instance, filings in cases are listed, along some case information, but the actual documents are only available at the courthouse.
Hodson said that when people need to contact his office, they are often better prepared because they have already been to the site, and can ask specific questions.
"Often prior to a call they will have looked at the website, and when they see that maybe they need a little bit more information, they have a case number when they call us, and that helps a lot," Hodson said. "It has made a huge impact. Anytime that you can take away those time-consuming things, like answering questions on the phone, it automatically frees up the staff to do other things that need done. It has helped a lot. We're current and caught up, and moving forward."
The cost of the development and launch of the website was paid for through the court's special projects fund.
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