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Highlands Today

Bill Would Divide Court Clerk's Duties

Jasmina Meyer, Highlands Today

Deputy Clerk Rose Dilling from the Circuit Civil department finds a file for a customer in the Central Filing office at the Highlands County Courthouse on Wednesday in Sebring.

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By GARY PINNELL

Highlands Today

Published: March 5, 2009

SEBRING - If Mike Swaine wants to record a document, he walks across Commerce Street, from his attorney's office to Highlands County Courthouse.

But if Ellyn Bogdanoff's bill passes the Legislature, Swaine isn't sure what will happen.

"Will I file that in Bartow?" That's where the 10th Judicial Circuit is headquartered.

Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, has filed HB 1121, which would transfer the court duties from the 67 clerks of the circuit court to the chief judge and the court administrator.

"It doesn't make much sense to me. I'm assuming this lady (Bogdanoff) has a problem with the clerk in her county," Swaine speculated. "We get excellent service here. I started when Earl Rich was the clerk, then Luke Brooker and now Bob Germaine, and we've never had a problem."

Actually, said Germaine, who was elected clerk of courts in November 2008, it's not about service, it's about money.

"They're wanting to get more of those fees," Germaine guessed.

This fiscal year, the 67 clerks of court will collect some $966 million in fines, filing fees and other revenues. About $593 million is kept by the clerks for their own budgets.

"We're collecting about $2.7 million on the court side," Germaine said Tuesday. "We're spending $2.3 million, so we'll turn back about $400,000." The excess goes to the state.

However, the state has a $5 billion budget hole, and the Legislature is trying to find ways to plug it. In most mergers, jobs are combined and money is saved. Highlands County employs 79 clerks. Hillsborough County employs 585 clerks. Statewide, there are thousands of jobs.

"If you combined those functions," Hillsborough County Chief Judge Manuel Mendez - who supports the legislation - told the Tampa Tribune, "I would imagine there would be some loss of jobs."

State Rep. Denise Grimsley, R-Lake Placid, isn't sure whether she'll vote for Bogdanoff's bill.

"I have not read the language," Grimsley said Tuesday. "I do think it's incumbent upon the Legislature - particularly in the current economic situation - to look at all avenues of efficiency and transparency. That could possibly mean altering the status quo."

Both Swaine and Germaine are also concerned about transparency.

"If the court administrator is in Bartow, it's going to be more difficult to see what's going on," the attorney said.

Swaine isn't even sure who hires the circuit court administrator in Bartow, but he knows Germaine personally. "I don't see anything wrong with the system we have. It is transparent. If something is going wrong, I go in and check on it."

"I answer to the citizens," Germaine said. "If I don't do my job here, they're going to throw me out. If you answer to the public, that's who you take care of. The district administrator (Germaine's counterpart in Bartow) he works for the chief judge."

The chief judge of the 10th Judicial Circuit is David Langford, whose office also is in Bartow. He supports the bill.

"There was a meeting in Tallahassee in February, and they polled the chief judges, and all 20 supported it," Langford said.

If the bill passes, Germaine thinks the clerks of courts would be left with the civil duties of the office.

"I guess I would be the comptroller of the county. Plus a few things, like issuing marriage licenses, tax deeds, Teen Court." In Highlands County, the clerk of courts operates out of two buildings, the courthouse and the Government Center. Germaine thought he would remain in control of the duties the 40 clerks perform in the Government Center.

It's his job, Germaine said, to tell judges, "No."

Each month, during jury trial week, Germaine sits down with the judges and asks how many trials they expect to have.

"They say they're going to have 15. And I say, now look, you know you usually have about four. So how many jurors are they going to need? They say they're going to need 120. I bring in 50. My job is to make sure the citizens don't have to sit here, waiting all day. My job is to make sure they're going to be used."

Germaine has addressed a letter to Grimsley, State Rep. Baxter Troutman, who represents Avon Park, and State Sen. J.D. Alexander, who represents Polk and Highlands counties.

One of the constitutional oversight duties of the clerk of courts is to check and balance the county commissioners and the judges, Germaine wrote.

"This is a very dangerous road to travel as it gives the courts much more power than they were intended to have," Germaine wrote. "If this bill were to pass, the judges or their employees would be able to file court cases, hear and try court cases, call jurors, assign cases, collect fines, fees and forfeitures for all cases, collect evidence in cases, and would be responsible for the proper retention (and destruction) of all court cases."

The clerk of courts couldn't financially audit the judges, Germaine warned. "This would eliminate any oversight, dramatically weaken current internal controls, and would present a very high-risk environment."

Judge Langford disagreed. "There are only three branches of government, the executive, the legislative and the judicial."

"They're not a fourth branch of government," Menendez told the Tribune.

Back to Swaine's question, would the 10th Judicial Circuit keep an office in the Highlands County Courthouse, where citizens could file papers and attorneys could schedule cases?

Langford said that would still happen here.

"If they are going to have an office here, how are they going to save money?" Germaine countered. "They're not going to slow down the work. They're still going to have the traffic tickets coming in. They're still going to have the foreclosures coming in."

Highlands Today senior reporter Gary Pinnell can be reached at 863-386-5828 or gpinnell@highlandstoday.com

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