SPRINGFIELD — Jason Bragg has to take care of a broad perspective as Effingham County’s clerk of courts.
He offers with the most recent in know-how on one finish and safeguards centuries-old information on the opposite — and there are many different duties in between.
“I decide up one thing new about this job on a regular basis — whether or not or not it’s a process, a doc or one thing that we sustain with such because the dam guide,” Bragg stated just lately in his Effingham County Courthouse workplace. “It’s my duty to maintain up with all of the dams within the county.”
Bragg was elected clerk final summer time. He succeeded Elizabeth Hursey, who held the place for 36 years earlier than retiring.
Since there have been 5 months left in Hursey’s last four-year time period when she stepped down in August, Bragg instantly ascended to the place. Often, he wouldn’t have began till Jan. 1.
“I had a very good understanding of issues within the workplace and a few issues that really wanted to be completed to make it just a little extra environment friendly proper out of the gate — and we’ve completed these,” Bragg stated. “The (additional 5 months) gave me a chance to see who’s going to be loyal and who may do the job that was required of them.”
Bragg stated to staff departed the workplace after he took it over.
“They left on their very own will,” he stated. “Every little thing else has stayed. The transition has been seamless.
“It’s been rewarding to not have a giant turnover. The workers we’ve has been exceptional.”
The transition was smoothed by Hursey’s continued presence. She now works within the workplace in a part-time function.
“Her data and her being right here is rewarding to me,” Bragg stated.
Bragg took workplace underneath uncommon circumstances. Courtroom proceedings have been curtailed considerably in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. A judicial order was issued that nearly shut courts down.
“We’re nonetheless listening to some instances but it surely’s issues that we’ve to do,” he stated. “Some folks need speedy trials they usually have a proper to speedy trials. In the event that they file a movement for a speedy trial, we attempt to deal with these as greatest we are able to.”
Bragg’s workplace tries to deal with divorces expeditiously, too.
“If any person desires to get divorced, there isn’t a sense in them having to attend a yr. If they’re comfy (continuing), we’re comfy,” Bragg stated. “We sanitize earlier than and after (courtroom classes). The sheriff has bought a (brow thermometer) so it’s a must to get your temperature checked and we do require a masks within the courtroom.”
Bragg believes it is very important hold instances shifting as a lot as attainable as a way to keep away from a overwhelming backlog.
“Courts which have utterly shut down won’t ever get caught up,” he stated. “Shoot! In sooner or later, you might be liable to have 15 or 20 divorces.”
The clerk, who’s answerable for jury administration, stated judges who preside in Effingham County have been versatile. He aided their trigger by securing a know-how improve that permits courts to be performed remotely.
Bragg has added two staff to the clerk’s workplace. He’s planning so as to add yet one more, which might increase the variety of staffers to 12.
“I took a part-time place that we had and made it a full-time place,” Bragg stated. “The part-time place was for the Board of Equalization.”
The clerk’s workplace handles all property tax appeals. It units up hearings and manages the required paperwork.
“In years previous, we’ve had the tune of 700 or 800 appeals,” Bragg stated. “(In 2020), there wasn’t very a lot of an millage price improve so there have been solely about 300 — which was grateful for us as a result of it was lots much less work — so we made {that a} full-time place and that individual will do twin roles. That individual will do Superior (Courtroom), civil and the Board of Equalization.
“Every division takes an individual and a few take two. Our Actual Property Division has two folks.”
The employees within the Actual Property Division deal with deeds, liens, plats and Fi Fas. A Fi Fa is a doc issued for the aim of recording a lien on a debtor’s property. Additionally it is a authorized instrument by which the sheriff could seize the belongings of a debtor.
Bragg stated his workplace has been dealing with roughly 400 visitors tickets per thirty days, prompting him to offer two staff duties tied to State Courtroom.
“One oversees visitors and was oversees prison (instances),” Bragg stated. “The prison (case worker) additionally receives (state) civil (instances), which includes something lower than $5,000.”
Senior Deputy Clerk of Courtroom Anita Colson is working with State Courtroom civil instances.
Bragg stated divorces hold three staff busy, though they help in different areas.
The clerk is streamlining its monetary procedures, together with the way it pays jurors.
“Come the following jury cycle, we’re going to begin doing debit playing cards,” he stated. “There can be no extra checks, no more mailing them out and no extra having to attend (to receives a commission). I can activate the debit playing cards the day of jury, hand them a card and all people may have their $32 after they depart that day.
“That prices about 49 cents per debit card but it surely prices me 50 cents to mail a test, plus the envelopes and paper. It may value 75 or 80 cents per test — perhaps just a little extra.
“Plus, it’s the unsuitable tackle, it’s a must to begin once more. I’d somewhat pay the oldsters whereas they’re right here. If they’re right here for 3 or 4 days, I can simply reload the debit card.”
Bragg can be accountable returning the cash collected for fines and charges to their respective companies.
“We write about 80 checks per thirty days,” he stated. “We plan on attending to the place we are able to do all that electronically quickly. It will likely be a lifesaver to have the ability to click on a button, ship the cash and be completed with it.”
One among Bragg’s urgent considerations is the cramped circumstances within the courthouse.
“We’re all out of house — me, Probate Courtroom, Justice of the Peace Courtroom,” Bragg stated.
The clerk’s workplace doesn’t have sufficient room for all of the desks it wants. One worker is stationed within the lobby the place she scans outdated information in order that they are often digitized.
“We’ve needed to make (the lobby) an workplace and our convention has been made into an workplace,” Bragg stated. “If we’ve too many individuals to return in right here, we’ve to enter the jury deliberation room. I attempted to get one other desk up entrance however there was no method to get one other individual squeezed in up there.
“We have now maximized our house, for positive.”
Bragg acquired permission from the Effingham County Fee to ease a number of the house issues by shifting some information to a safe off-site facility. Some had been stacked in a break room.
Regardless of their comfortable confines, staff can discover information — even the county’s most historic ones — simply. Deeds, warrants, land transactions, copies of the Effingham Herald (the authorized organ), and so forth., are stored in submitting cupboards or sure volumes which can be monitored by safety cameras. Some return to the 1790.
“It’s neat to carry a 100-year-old piece of paper that we are able to put our fingers on in 10 minutes,” Bragg stated.
Remodeling the workplace right into a paperless setting is Bragg’s objective. Deeds from way back to 1967 have been scanned so that folks can view them by way of a pc. Plats from 1995 by means of immediately have been uploaded.
“It’s a large enterprise,” Bragg stated.
“I hope we can be extra paperless than we’ve ever been within the first quarter of 2021,” he continued. “All of our (new) information can be e-filed at that time.”
Bragg, nonetheless, is guaranteeing that Effingham County’s most historic paper information are preserved of their unique type. He’s enlisted the assistance of an organization that can apply a preservative on them earlier than encasing them in plastic.
“It’s going to value us some cash however we’re going to do it,” he stated. “We’ve obtained about 25 books we have to do and it’ll value about $3,500 to $4,500 per every one. Rome wasn’t inbuilt a day so we are going to do just a few books a yr if we have to.
“I wish to have a recreation plan and price range in place for the preservation of paperwork.”
Bragg is presently engaged on a price range proposal that can be submitted to the county fee. He stated the strikes he has made up to now, together with the substitute of some carpet, a small quantity of wall repainting and the extra staff, have been frugal. The brand new desks within the workplace and a pc for every one have been bought by the Georgia Clerks Authority.
“Every little thing I’ve completed within the final 5 months got here at no extra value to the taxpayers,” he stated. “It’s all been inside the price range that was set by Mrs. Elizabeth within the years previous.”
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