Clerk of Court. Hope Blackley, Clerk of Court. Spartanburg County. Message from 2012/2013 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: General Sessions Division...

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1 Spartanburg County Clerk of Court N e w s l e t t e r 2012/2013 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: General Sessions Division...2 Common Pleas Division...3 Accounting Payment Division...4 Child Support Enforcement Division...5 Family Court Division...6 Courthouse Security...6 Scanning Division...7 Award Receipts...8 Special Honor...9 In The Know In Memory Of Clean Up Day Message from Hope Blackley, Clerk of Court I am proud to present our 3rd annual Clerk of Court newsletter. Since the distribution of our last two issues, we are continuing with major improvements and enhancing our services to the public and court system. Some of these new services include: scanning throughout the Clerk s Office in order to provide more services electronically; an updated Circuit Court Case Management System (CMS) monitored/managed by Court Administration which will provide the public with more capabilities for detailed searches on the Public Index; and the implementation and usage of the HECON (copy button) copy system, that other county agencies are utilizing. The Clerk s Office worked with the Spartanburg County Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), Community Partners and Youth Under Supervision for DJJ s statewide community service project on Saturday, September 8, Spartanburg County DJJ youth made the entrance of the Judicial Center and the courtyard their project focus. Any visit to these areas of the Judicial Center would prove that much time and effort were put into this project. I would also like to announce that the Spartanburg County Clerk of Court and Registers of Deeds Office will co-host the 2013 South Carolina Clerks of Court and Registers of Deeds Association Conference in September at the Spartanburg Marriott. We are truly excited to host this conference here in the BEST county in the state. As I continue to serve, my commitment is still to offer the most effective and efficient service to the residents of Spartanburg County. Thank you for allowing me to lead and serve as your Clerk of Court. Sincerely, Spartanburg, South Carolina

2 General Sessions Division Tanya Camp, Supervisor As an effort to ensure the destruction of confidential documents, a shred bin has been placed in the Clerk s main office for all confidential documents and any document that contains any personal information to be shredded on site by Shred Way. Business cards have been provided for each department. For the convenience of the public, on the back of the card case information can be written, such as court dates and case numbers. In the General Sessions Department, as a reference guide for all employees, training manuals were printed for the use of all General Sessions staff members. To provide more convenient customer service, the General Sessions Department is now taking payments and printing receipts for copies within the General Sessions department, when not using the HECON copy button. An Evidence Control Policy was put in place by the Clerk. This policy is for the management and control of the evidence which comes into custody of the Clerk s Office. New shelves were built for the evidence room to provide more space and accessibility of evidence. In addition to entering evidence information on Spillman, we now have the ability to enter evidence information on the new Citrix system. We have an office and work area set up for the Clerk s Office to use while working in the evidence room for better efficiency. Judge Cole has created and implemented a First Appearance Report that can be filed and will serve as the appearance of the defendant and attorney during the first appearance. This form can be found at Clerk of Court. On August 28, 2012, the final CMS conversion was completed, and we are now using the new Citrix System. We are happy to announce that with this upgrade, the public now has the ability to do more detailed searches on the Public Index. With the new enhanced features the public has access to the same information plus a whole lot more! The Clerk of Court Department has installed the HECON Copy System in the file room and on the public computers. If you have previously purchased a HECON button (copy button) from the Administrative Building or Probate Court that button can be used in our office. HECON buttons can be purchased in the Clerk s Office for a fee of $6.00. The Honorable J. Mark Hayes, II will be the Chief Administrative Judge for General Sessions beginning January, New employees & transfers to General Sessions are: Marsha Long, Rhonda Roemhild, Justin Wheeler* *Denotes employee is a transfer from one division to another within the Clerk s Office 2 New coats and ties were purchased for all the bailiffs in August 2012.

3 Common Pleas Division Pat Gotautas, Supervisor Scanning has become a very valuable tool for our division, which includes our system updated by Court Administration. One major change that has occurred is that all attorney information now has to be amended or added by Court Administration. We are no longer able to make changes to the attorney information. Attorneys need to contact to make any corrections or additions. Becoming a Host County for the State s Case Management System (CMS) has brought about a change in how the Common Pleas Non-Jury Docket (CPNJD) is set. The CPNJD can now be found with the Jury Docket on the Judicial Rosters website, www. spartanburgcounty.org/court rosters. With these changes the CPNJD Coordinator will also be able to place motions on open non-published dockets allowing the attorneys to schedule their time effectively. January will bring another exciting change. Non-Jury Back-Up Dockets for the jury terms will be set. This will help clean up old cases and move more recent motions along. These changes will be helpful to all the parties involved in the Common Pleas Court. The Honorable Roger L. Couch will be the Chief Administrative Judge for Common Pleas beginning in January, New employees & transfers to Common Pleas are: Maribel Martinez* and Alexzandra Miller *Denotes employee is a transfer from one division to another within the Clerk s Office. FOOD FOR THOUGHT There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. - Colin Powell 3

4 Accounting Payments Division CJ Jackson, Supervisor 4 Help us serve you better!! Sign up for Direct Deposit. Custodial parents can have their child support and alimony payments deposited directly into their personal bank accounts. Visit Spartanburg County website at Click on Clerk of Court link and scroll down to the middle of the page and print the Direct Deposit Authorization form. Complete this form and mail it to the Payments Office with a copy of your ID and a voided check or letter from your banking institution. Currently there are 10,758 custodial parents who receive court-ordered child support within Spartanburg County. Fifteen percent of them utilize our direct deposit service. This service has dramatically decreased the number of stolen and lost checks. To use Electronic Fund Transfers, employers can elect to wire child support payments to the Clerk of Court for their employees who have been ordered to make payments through the court. Simply contact the Payments Office for our depository information and then contact your bank to send us your payments electronically. Make Payments on-line. Payers of child support can make payments on-line through Bill Pay. Simply contact your bank and request to setup your Bill Pay account today. Pay with a credit/debit card. We accept VISA, MasterCard, Discover credit cards and debit cards. Come to the Payment Office with your ID and we will process your payment and post it to your account that day. Each credit/debit card payment is subject to a $1 fee plus a 1.7% service charge. Mail in your payments. We are still accepting payments through the mail payable to the Clerk of Court at P.O. Box 3483, Spartanburg, SC 29304; or the drop box located outside the Judicial Center. Remember to put your full name and Case ID on each check. Walk in. Walk-ins are always welcomed. Remember to always bring your identification and your case ID number or indictment number when making payments. Coming Soon. The Payments Office is excited about the upcoming conversion to the Child Support Enforcement System (CSES), tentatively scheduled for August This will be a statewide system that will strengthen relationships between Social Service Agencies and the Clerk of Court Offices. The system will help provide quicker and more accurate information on child support matters. Payments and issues will be handled by a centralized agency promoting consistency and solidarity throughout the State of South Carolina. It will also allow for easy information exchanges between states. New employees & transfers to the Payments Division are: Cornedia CJ Jackson and Rhonda Tate *Denotes employee is a transfer from one division to another within the Clerk s Office.

5 Child Support Enforcement Division Tracy Williams, Supervisor Tracy Williams was appointed as supervisor in Child Support Enforcement (CSE). She has been employed with the Spartanburg County Clerk of Court Office since June 28, CSE made changes to increase the efficiency of our court process. We now have a court room runner to ensure that paperwork is moved more quickly, as well as a station in the hallway to reduce the amount of time required for the sign-in process. In December 2012, the South Carolina Department of Social Service/Child Support Enforcement Division took over the negotiation process for the rule to show cause hearings. We are continuing to review the process to discover ways to improve the way things are done. We continue to work toward improving procedures to make the Clerk of Court Child Support Enforcement Office more efficient. New employees & transfers to Child Support Enforcement Division are: Teausha Moore Twanzetta Anderson* Wylanda Clark *Denotes employee is a transfer from one division to another within the Clerk s Office. CSE is now using a new affidavit form to pay through the court, Form SCCA 454, for cases where payments are made directly, and where it has been ordered that if a defendant is late, they can file an affidavit with the court. This form can be located on the following website, The conversion to the State Child Support Enforcement System (CSES) is moving forward. The projected date of conversion is August We are working diligently to clean up old cases so that when the conversion takes place, cases will be accurate. We are very excited about the changes that will take place with conversion. We have interns that volunteer with us and they are a great help. Teausha Moore volunteered as an intern before becoming a full time employee. We appreciate all the help the interns have done for us! 5

6 Family Court Division Cindi Whitenight, Supervisor Spartanburg County is scheduled to go live with the Family Court Case Management System in August The Family Court Case Management Systems (FCCMS) will enable the Clerk s Office to communicate better with Child Support Enforcement Offices statewide. Also, it will enable the docket to scan files in and out for court. Once the system is set up, it will automatically post files to the docket and the case. This system will inform us if we have an Order of Protection for an attorney or if we have already scheduled an attorney at the same day and time. We are looking forward to implementing this new system so that we can be more efficient. Court Administration has implemented a new packet for pro se litigants. The packets are on the judicial web-site at They are for child support decreases and increases. In January 2013, Judge Usha J. Bridges will be the Family Court Chief Administrative Judge for the 2013 year. All continuances and attorney protection letters for both Spartanburg and Cherokee Counties that require the Administrative Judge s approval must be sent to Judge Bridges office for consideration. These requests may be sent by to ubridgessc@sccourts.org, or by mail to PO Box 8036, Gaffney, SC or by fax to (864) If a request for continuance is approved, the original continuance order must be sent to Judge Bridges office either by mail or hand delivery. Please note no continuances will be considered if sent to Ann or Deborah at the Spartanburg County Judicial Center unless they are sent to the presiding Judge the week of the hearing. All other continuance requests directed to Judge Bridges, as the Administrative Judge, if sent to the Spartanburg County Judicial Center, will not be considered and will be viewed as No Notification to the Court. Please note: Attorney Protections: If a protection has been granted for an attorney to be away from court, the court will not grant a continuance for that attorney if he/ she is retained on a case with a court date set during the attorney s protection dates. Courthouse Security 6 The Security Division of the Sheriff s Office is here to provide security for the employees, Judicial Staff and visitors of the Spartanburg County Judicial Center. In June 2012, Sergeant Ben Lyles was appointed as Security Manager of Spartanburg County Judicial Center. Sergeant Lyles has been with Spartanburg County Sheriff s Office for 29 years. During this time he has worked in the Warrant Division, as an Investigator, and the Court Division where he provided security for Judge Cole. Ms. Blackley and the Security Committee have created an Emergency, Response, Evacuation and Security Plan (ERES) for the Judicial Center. This plan is not intended as an all inclusive safety program, but rather to provide guidelines for the evacuation of the Spartanburg County Judicial Center should an emergency occur.

7 Scanning Division The primary purpose of the Scanning Department is to provide an electronic back-up to all original paperwork created within a file to be viewed via computer. Once all documents are scanned, access will be granted for public viewing while the original documents are safely stored away at Total Records Management (TRIM). The Scanning Department is working diligently to increase the amount of information in the OnBase program. Scanning is underway! On October 3, 2012, we began scanning into OnBase. OnBase is the new document management system software that allows you to electronically capture, store and manage literally every document received by the Clerk of Court. Currently this system is being used for Family Court and Child Support Enforcement. Trivia 1. In 1975, Gerald Ford appointed which future President to be director of the CIA? 2. What is the name of the classification of crime which is less serious than a felony? 3. What is the basic, general difference between libel and slander? 4. What is the legal term of a voluntary written statement made under oath? 5. Which 2 people signed the US Constitution on 9/17/1787, and later became US Presidents? 6. In what month in 1990 did Iraq invade Kuwait? Answers on page 11 7

8 Award Recipients It is with great pleasure that the Spartanburg County Courthouse recognizes Tanya Camp as Employee of the Year. Tanya has been a full-time employee of the Clerk of Court s Office since October 2003, and is known for her high standard of performance. She is also known for her great organizational skills and her ability to listen to everyone s concerns. She is a high achiever and handles herself in a professional manner during stressful times. We are grateful to have her as a Spartanburg County employee and appreciate all that she does. Debbie Greene and Pat Gotautas of the Clerk of Court s Office both received the Justice E.C. Burnett III Contribution to Law and Justice Award from the Spartanburg County Bar. Debbie is the Jury Docket Coordinator for the Civil Docket. Pat serves as coordinator of the / Non-Jury Cvil Docket as well as the Supervisor for the Civil Division. We are very proud of these two ladies and everything that they do within the Clerk of Court office. The reward of a thing well done is having done it. Ralph Waldo Emerson 8

9 Special Honor: Celebrating 45 Years of Service On November 15, 2012, the Clerk of Court Office had a special celebration for Gail Moffitt to celebrate her 45 years of service with the Clerk s Office. Gail began working with the Spartanburg County Clerk of Court Office on June 12th, 1967 and has been a valuable asset from the very beginning. Gail was promoted to Deputy Clerk in 1978, then to Court Coordinator in She is currently the Assistant Clerk of Court and has held that position since June 22, Gail is known for her loyalty and her heart of service. She has the ability to assist everyone no matter what they may need. We are happy to honor Gail and look forward to many more years of service. Spartanburg County is very lucky to have such a model employee working within the Clerk of Court Office. Thank you Gail for your service! 9

10 In The Know The entire South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice, community partners (including Ms. Blackley) and youth under supervision performed a state wide community service project on Saturday, September 8, This year, the focus was the beautification of the courtyard and the Judicial Center front entrance. Key Control Software was purchased, and a policy was put into place to establish reasonable personal security for the Judicial Center and to ensure the protection of personal and public property through the control management of keys to offices and other secure areas within the Judicial Center. County Counsel approved a 2% pay raise for all county employees and 2 positions were unfrozen and have been filled within the Clerk of Court Office. The Clerk s Office was fortunate enough to have the help of several volunteers/interns throughout the year. On behalf of Hope Blackley and her staff we would like to say, Thank You to Alexzandra Miller, Mary Ann Riley, Marlene Saad, Kein Lewis, Shomek Gibson, Stormie Hayes and Ciarra Thorne for your time and help. IN MEMORY OF... We had two former bailiffs pass away this year. We would like to honor them for their service to the Clerk of Court Office and to Spartanburg County. Mr. David Big Time Nesbitt, Sr. August 11, 2012 Herbert H. Daddy Mack Mack January 30, 1935 September 29,

11 Clean Up Day Thanks to all those that helped! Trivia Answers 1. George Bush 2. Misdemeanor 3. Libel is written, Slander is spoken 4. Affidavit 5. George Washington and James Madison 6. August 11

12 M. Hope Blackley Clerk of Court, Spartanburg County Post Office Box 3483 Spartanburg, SC Contact Information Physical Address: 180 Magnolia Street Spartanburg, SC Civil/General Sessions: Family Court: Child Support Enforcement: Jury Coordinator: General Sessions Docket: Civil Jury Docket: Civil Non-Jury Docket: I would like to hear from you! For comments, please me at clerksoffice@spartanburgcounty.org *Notice: Not produced at tax payer s expense.