[StBernard] Clerk of Court follow up

[Westley Annis]

With a healthy surplus acknowledged, this should be avoided. As well,
immediately after the Clerk's Office was up and running, charges were
enacted to the poor who was still within getting help from the Red Cross,
FEMA, and desperate who needed records as proofs, etc. 

How is it that copies couldn't been given to the poor people who could
barely make it in life, yet had to pay for emergency documentation? No
excuses here, because the people is paramount and the parish is second in
importance during a catastrophe as such. This made many angry as well. Those
who were better off should always understand the plight of the poor. 

Strange, but it's an oddity that a "fax machine" became a necessary
commodity during the storm (for even the working poor),  If this piece of
equipment is vital to the poor, how is it that it's not a necessary, very
important office object for an office as important as the Clerk of Court's
office, since they're certainly not out of operation cash?

--jer--



-----------------------------------------------------
Laurie,

A lot of people don't truly know what goes on at the Clerk's office unless
you deal with them on a continuous basis.  After the storm, it became
apparent just how important it is to "computerize" our records.  Obviously,
the records cannot be relocated quickly; therefore, electronically
duplicating these records would preserve them.  As for why Ms. Lena wouldn't
accept fax filing, her excuse to me was that she felt that if she accepted a
fax filed pleading and then didn't receive the proper filing fee, she would
still be forced to record the pleading and not be compensated (it was all
about the money).  That is not correct.  The statute that was enacted
prevented that type of behavior.  The statute provides that the filing fee
associated with the fax filing must be received within 5 days.  If the fee
is not received, then the faxed pleading would become moot.  It is mandated
by the state and she is in violation of the law.  The Clerk's office does
have a fax machine, however,
  when you try faxing something to the Clerk's office, it seem to always be
"broken" or "out of paper" etc.  I guess that was her way of getting around
the statute.  BUT, I must say, she has been accepting fax filing for the
last 3 or 4 weeks now.  Hummm?


Wendy