We are emailing all users of our Judicial Website, http://judicial.clerk.leon.fl.us, to advise of some changes that need your immediate attention.

As reported in previous newsletters, the Florida Supreme Court in March 2014 issued AOSC14-19, an administrative order that defined many new requirements for clerks in its provision of electronic court records and additional requirements on you as a user.  Clerks statewide assembled a task force to address the legal, technological, and policy issues to ensure a consistent implementation of the order.  The task force, working with the courts, identified problems/issues with the original order and the Court responded by amending the order twice, most recently in June of 2015 with AOSC15-18.   

Soon we will begin the testing period as defined by the order. In the intervening months since the order was released, we have been making modifications to our systems to comply and we continue to work toward implementation. One of the new requirements that applies to you is a notarized registered user agreement.

While attorneys in the past have completed only an online application, now a written, signed, and notarized agreement is required. Attorneys, registered users and parties who wish to view court records will complete one form, while agencies, companies, law firms, and commercial bulk purchasers who wish to establish a "gatekeeper" who is in charge of user accounts will have a different process and a different set of forms:  A form in which the entity head assigns a gatekeeper (must be notarized); a supplemental form in which the entity removes and assigns a new gatekeeper (not required to be notarized); a form in which the appointed gatekeeper provides the names of entity employees to add or delete (not required to be notarized); and individual registered user forms (must be notarized) for each entity employee who want to be able to view court records.

The forms have only recently been approved and will be accessible on the Judicial Website within the next week.  Please visit the Judicial Website soon to start your application process.  You will need to complete the forms on the site, print them, have them notarized, scan them, and email them; if you have recently completed and submitted a notarized form to retain viewing privileges, you are not required to submit another form. Ideally, we would like to receive all application forms within the next month; once we begin our testing period, the order requires termination of viewing privileges until a notarized form is received from each user.  The email address for returning the notarized forms is clerk_judicial@leoncountyfl.gov.  

Additionally, you will notice changes as to how users are set up based upon the matrix attached to the administrative order. If you are an attorney, your bar number will allow you to have attorney of record access on your cases; staff without bar numbers will have only registered user rights.  Finally, you may observe changes in your viewing rights to certain case types or documents. Attorneys of record will not experience any change but other users will have more restricted viewing rights as we review all of our images and redact sensitive information.

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to implement the order while continuing to provide you with the information and customer service to which you are accustomed. Even though our ability to implement the order and set up accounts expeditiously will be affected by a state budget shortfall for clerks statewide (see story below), we will keep you posted about our progress on this important initiative.

Let us know if you have questions or concerns by contacting Gypsy Bailey at 850-577-4011 or gbailey@leoncountyfl.gov.

Back to the Top 

The doors close permanently on Friday, June 26, at 5 p.m. at the Clerk & Comptroller's Official Records Division at 313 S. Calhoun Street. On Monday morning,  

June 29, the entire office will relocate to the Northeast Branch office at 1276 Metropolitan Boulevard, Suite 101. Two Official Records employees will, however, move to the county courthouse to offer all Official Records services except for passport applications. We would very much like to offer passport services at both locations, but Federal restrictions prevent us from offering these services at more than one location.

The Official Records Division performs many functions in addition to passport services, including recording public records, assisting in public records searches, issuing marriage licenses, performing marriage ceremonies, and accepting Leon County domestic partnership registrations. Our inability to offer passport services at our Northeast Branch has been the source of some confusion with citizens. Consolidation of our services into the Northeast Branch will eliminate this confusion and improve our efficiency.

A few other conveniences for the citizens choosing to do business at the Northeast Branch include better parking, no downtown traffic/congestion, street level, and no waiting on elevators.

Back to the Top  

Current Issue

The Legislature finalized the state budget this week and in so doing cut this year's budget for clerks statewide by $18 million; next year's budget will be cut by $22 million (about 5 percent). Court filing fees, court costs and fines are the revenues that flow into the Clerk's Trust Fund to fund clerks' budgets. Those revenues have been declining for the past 6 years. Historically, the largest source of revenues came from traffic citations and these have declined statewide very appreciably. However, workload overall for clerks has continued to increase, even though revenues have declined. The Legislature has recognized that workload in the court system is increasing and has provided a 15 percent funding increase to the courts and our other court partners in next year's budget.

Why should you care?

Clerks, unlike most other governmental agencies, offer no discretionary services. Our court-related duties and responsibilities are established by court rules or Florida Statutes. There are no capital projects to cut, only personnel. Therefore, cuts in personnel mean fewer people to process  your cases and answer the telephones.  There will be longer wait times for service. Clerks have no choice but to be in the courtroom during all sessions of court. Prioritizing our services as required means the reduction in personnel will greatly affect the quality of services we provide to you and the citizens of Leon County.

The Florida Clerks of Court Operations Corporation (CCOC) Finance and Budget Committee will meet on Monday, June 22, to distribute those cuts among the 67 clerks' offices. Budgets for next year will be reviewed in July and recommended cuts for next year will be established then.     

Leon County's clerk budget has declined for the past 6 years and, with these cuts, will be below where my budget was 10 years ago. Since then we have added several new judges and hearing officers, enhanced services, assumed payment of related costs that were previously funded by the State (for example, paying all jury costs), and dealt with rising healthcare costs.

When we find out the magnitude of the cuts locally, we will be putting together a plan to adjust our expenditures. This will, of course, affect services.  Which services and to what degree these services will be affected is not known at this time.    

As you can see from the lead article on implementation of AOSC14-19, we continue to incur additional costs of complying with new administrative orders and changes to statutes. We have cut our budget to the point that there is nothing left to cut. Our employees have gone without raises, and turnover in our office is rising. I'm not asking you to do anything at this time except be aware of our struggles and be patient as we strive to provide you with quality services.  

If you have any questions, please give me a call.