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As of March 1, the office for the county’s courts system won’t open its doors to the public until 12:30 p.m.
“It’s not saving dollars,” said Darlene Kuhlers, court administrator for Houston County, “but it does give (office) people the opportunity to work without interruption.”
Though the office is in the Houston County Courthouse, it is fully state-funded as part of Minnesota’s 3rd Judicial District, which also includes Fillmore, Winona, Dodge, Freeborn, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Wabasha and Waseca counties.
The district was told in July 2007 it would need to eliminate 20 positions, Kuhlers said.
With some adjustments, that has been reduced to 61/2 positions, she said. Judges opted to share law clerks, open positions were not filled, a half-time position was cut in the district’s main office in Rochester, Minn., and several employees took an early separation package to decrease the number of layoffs, she said.
“The economic future for the state of Minnesota is very bleak,” Kuhlers said. “We’ve got a few more hard years to face.”
Kuhlers’ office has six full-time employees, one part-time and one who worked four days a week but took the early separation package.
The other clerks tried a different tactic. “We were asked to voluntarily take time off without pay,” said clerk Joanne Schuldt. “Up to 10 days. Everyone in this office did, because we figured if it saved one position, it was worth it.”
Kuhlers wasn’t sure it will have the desired effect of “saving a position in Houston County.”
The cutback on open office hours was intended to allow more work to be done with fewer employees, Kuhlers said. The first day the office was closed was more productive, she said.
But that productivity comes at a price, Kuhlers said — the public can expect longer processing times on civil cases such as divorce, custody, personal injury and estate filings, plus delays in small claims court, an extended jury term and fewer mailed notices of court dates.
She’s worried if office doesn’t send those “pay or appear” notices, “you’ve got your one and only court appearance and you’d better stay on top of it.”
In addition, Kuhlers no longer will be able to perform marriages during working hours. Those now will have to be done on her own time.
“It’s just a real sad time,” Kuhlers said. “I was taught we’re here to serve the public. We’re being cut, and some constituent somewhere is not going to get service. We weren’t trained to work this way.”
Ryan Stotts can be reached at (608) 791-8446 or ryan.stotts@lee.net.
