SIDNEY — Progress, that’s exactly what is happening in the Shelby County Clerk of Courts Legal and Title Offices.
“It has been an exciting and busy year and after many hours of planning, research and working together with representatives from the city of Sidney IT Department, Sidney Municipal Court, Shelby County Juvenile and Probate Courts, and Shelby County Common Pleas Court, I am very pleased to announce that we have a new court case management system with CourtView Justice Solutions,” said Clerk of Courts Michele Mumford. “With this new system, we will have the capability of achieving a goal we have had for quite some time, the implementation of e-filing in the legal office. Equally exciting is the progress being made working with the State of Ohio Office of Public Safety in testing and developing the new state-wide Automatic Title Processing System. Case management changes in 2015, and additional applications on the horizon, will allow us to move forward with the advances in technology currently happening in the Legal and Title offices worldwide.”
Her report continues:
Since implementing the new court case management system in December 2015, we have experienced a good transition with minimal interruption in workflows. The public access portal continues to provide access to case, party and docket information and once we obtain the highest level of security available to the document images, they will also be made available. Our redacted documents are being examined so sensitive information is not exposed and when assurances are made that those documents are secured then images will be added to the dockets that are currently accessible through our website at www.co.shelby.oh.us/clerkofcourts. Prior to the Common Pleas Court and Clerk of Courts transition to the new system, the Juvenile and Probate Courts converted to the same system and Sidney Municipal Court will be implementing the system sometime mid spring creating a convenient and unified court experience for all who conduct court business.
Once all courts are up and running, we will all realize the common goal and benefits of electronic filing, or e-filing. Many organizations are “going paperless” for a variety of reasons and courts are no different. Storage of physical documents has become a real problem and can be costly; with e-filing this becomes less and less of a problem. It provides convenience to attorneys, paralegals, researchers and pro se litigants of not leaving the office or home to conduct court business and to court personnel by creating, scheduling and filing documents directly from the courtroom. It is an exciting time for all anticipating e-filing and will begin in early summer, 2016.
The other project causing a buzz the last few years has been the creation of a new automated titling process system. In 2015, enormous strides were made in the evolvement of this system and Shelby County along with representatives from other counties have been active in the testing and development of this new system. Like the legal office, the title office will have several benefits with this new system such as having the ability to swipe drivers’ licenses, reducing errors in recreating information and it provides better search features to aid in retrieving lost titles. This statewide system not only allows for title issuances, but also is used as a valuable resource providing a great deal information with title and documentation images right at ones fingertips.
These systems will bring an advanced level of technology to the Legal and Title offices, which will increase efficiencies, provide greater security, functionality and ease of use in both offices that will allow us to provide better customer service. Many thanks to my staff, the ladies who make great things happen every day.
