I was asked to do a presentation at the Ohio Judicial Conference’s Court Technology Conference about Delaware County’s e-filing system. The request was from the former chairman of the Court Technology Committee and who currently serves as a visiting judge. While serving as a visiting judge for Delaware County, he had used and was impressed with our e-filing system.
For those of you who may not be familiar with e-filing, it is short for electronic filing. It is a way to file court documents at the Clerk of Court’s Office through the internet. When you use e-filling, you do not have to drive to the clerk’s office, walk in, and file physical papers.
So, after I agreed to do the presentation, the first thing I did was contact Delaware County Clerk of Courts Natalie Fravel and Delaware County’s IT department, which is part of Auditor George Kaitsa’s office. Both of their offices, along with the court, were instrumental in the creation, maintenance and improvement of our e-filing system.
Before I asked if they were willing to assist with the presentation, I was confident the answer was going to be yes. I am thankful for the working relations I have with both Clerk Fravel and Auditor Kaitsa.
I know this is not unique to my office. Judge Hejmanowski, along with Clerk Fravel and Recorder Melissa Jordan, created the Good Deeds Program. The program is designed to assists Delaware County residents with avoiding the probate process, which can save time and money. This is only one example of the many ways the county offices work together to benefit the people of Delaware County.
I will always remember another example of working together with other county officials. After I was elected to be judge but prior to becoming a judge, I had the unique opportunity to prepare a budget for the then newly unified Domestic Relations Court. So, I was tasked with creating a budget and doing a budget presentation to the county commissioners before I became a judge.
As the Domestic Relations Court had not been formed yet, I had no staff to work with and there was no previous year budget. It took a lot of work and many, many meetings, but we were able to work together to create the first budget for the Domestic Relations Court.
Anyway, back to the e-filing presentation. I am happy to report that everyone was indeed willing to assist with the presentation. This included Natalie Favel and Jennifer Tubaugh from the Clerk of Court’s Office and Jason Montgomery and Clayton Maggs from the Auditor’s Office.
Our presentation discussed the many benefits of our e-filing system, both from the court user’s perspective and from the court’s perspective. We also discussed the software we use and how to best roll out an e-filing system to the public and to attorneys.
On a side note, that day as a pretty busy day for me. It was the first time I had to do two different presentations at two different statewide conferences. I was fortunate both of the conferences were held in Delaware County and both near Polaris, one was at the Quest Center and the other was at the Nationwide Conference Center.
Our e-filing presentation was well-received. We answered a lot of questions and addressed some concerns about e-filing. I am glad we received favorable evaluations from attendees about our presentation.
I am thankful for the good working relationships I have with other county officeholders. These good working relationships create better services that are beneficial to the people of Delaware County.
Randall D. Fuller is judge of the Domestic Relations Division of the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas. Judge Fuller is a lifelong resident of Delaware County.
