July 22, 2009 | North Channel Sentinel
The young 30-something-year-old has spent the last eight months digging the District Clerk's office out of the dust of history and setting it on a course for the future.
Jackson was elected to complete the unexpired term of Charles Bacarisse who stepped down to run unsuccessfully for Harris County judge.
Jackson is garnering attention for his innovative ideas in rehabbing the office.
"When I took office, what we were doing was not efficient," he said. "My job is to not only preserve the documents, but make them available to you, the taxpayer."
Piles of Paper
One of his first tasks was a mountain of paperwork���literally.
"We take in filings everyday and have to secure all of that paperwork for the court system. Each of those filings contains multiple pieces of paper," he said. "We're talking about five million pieces of paper coming into this office each year."
Taking in paper meant someone had to be hired to receive the filings, a place had to be secured to store that paper, and then people had to be hired to maintain that paper in storage.
"What happens to paper over a period of time? It degrades. We have files from as early as the 1900s that is just melting away," he said.
The solution, Jackson said, was to go paperless as much as possible. He instituted an e-filing system for court records with three different backups. The new system costs less to maintain and requires considerably less staff. He hasn't gotten all of his wishes���yet. Courts have not issued a ruling requiring all filings be done electronically, but Jackson has high hopes that it will happen.
Cutting Edge Technology
"We have also introduced some technologies that no one else has in the United States. We're not only setting the standard for Texas, but now for the nation in terms of technological innovation and making documents available for you."
In his early days in office, a filing would take anywhere from 7 to 10 days before it would appear online.
"You couldn't access it during that time, and even then we were only scanning in around 60 percent of what came in. Now if you come in and file a paper copy, it's online within 72 hours."
Jackson said one of the dirty secrets of the office was that in the past, electronic filings submitted by the public would be printed out by the Clerk's Office, rubber stamped with a court record and cause number, and then sent to another department to be rescanned.
"That just wasn't efficient," said Jackson. "We developed the technology to electronically stamp records. That saves time, personnel and it saves money," he said.
Unprecedented Web Access
In August, the District Clerk will roll out the latest innovation in access to historic documents and court filings.
"We surveyed other counties around the nation and when our website comes out, we will be offering a level of access to court information that is unprecedented and unparalleled in the nation."
The new site will allow for free criminal background checks, a benefit to employers from every corner of the market.
"You used to only be able to view half of the page online because they wanted you to pay for the entire page," he said.
Now, the website will allow for free viewing of copies online, and if you want an uncertified copy, it will only cost taxpayers 10 cents. Certified copies are $1.
No Small Potatos
Outside of the technology and innovative storage, Jackson has pared down wasteful spending in other areas.
"We took a huge hit to our budget, roughly about 1.5 million. Yet we are probably the only department to give pay raises and increase the base pay which affected 34 people in my department." The increase is helping with retaining employees.
Jackson also took the carving knife to the San Antonio-based call center.
"We were paying $600,000 per year for eight people there to answer phone calls who had never spent a single day in our office and didn't know what to do." Jackson's answer? He immediately hired 16 retired workers from the District Clerk's Office to spend some time answering phones. "It only costs us $200,000 per year and they know our office, our systems and know how to answer your questions or connect you with the right person."
Another deletion in expenses was a $12,000 bill spent with taxpayer money on bottled water. "That's gone."
In the mail room, Jackson said the prior administration had contracted with an outside vendor to distribute mail.
"We took the four people who the contractor provided, we hired them to work for us doing the same thing, and we cut costs by $150,000."
Jury Room Justice
Every week, Jackson says his office sends out around 17,000 jury summons, but only attracts over 3,000 takers for the job.
"That's only 20 percent and we can do better." Jackson said he wanted to know how he could best thank taxpayers for their jury service and so he made some modest changes.
"We put wireless service in the jury rooms now so prospective jurors can use their laptops, cell phones, etc. to continue to work and stay in touch with their families and friends."
He also takes time out to come down and thank each jury pool for their service.
"You provide the opportunity for someone who finds themselves in the justice system a chance to have a jury of their peers hear their case."
All of the hard work in the first eight months has resulted in huge savings for taxpayers, pay raises for 150 employees, and no elimination of jobs in a tight economy.
The new website is set to launch sometime early in August. Readers can find it at www.hcdistrictclerk.com.
- David Taylor
District Clerk Digitizing History, Court Records
For years, viewing public documents or getting copies of court filings meant taxpayers in Harris County had to hop in their car, drive downtown, pay an exorbitant parking fee, pay for the copies, then fight traffic back to their home or office. Fast forward to Nov. 18, 2008 and the swearing in ceremony of new Harris County District Clerk Loren Jackson and the county took a huge step forward in technology.The young 30-something-year-old has spent the last eight months digging the District Clerk's office out of the dust of history and setting it on a course for the future.
Jackson was elected to complete the unexpired term of Charles Bacarisse who stepped down to run unsuccessfully for Harris County judge.
Jackson is garnering attention for his innovative ideas in rehabbing the office.
"When I took office, what we were doing was not efficient," he said. "My job is to not only preserve the documents, but make them available to you, the taxpayer."
Piles of Paper
One of his first tasks was a mountain of paperwork���literally.
"We take in filings everyday and have to secure all of that paperwork for the court system. Each of those filings contains multiple pieces of paper," he said. "We're talking about five million pieces of paper coming into this office each year."
Taking in paper meant someone had to be hired to receive the filings, a place had to be secured to store that paper, and then people had to be hired to maintain that paper in storage.
"What happens to paper over a period of time? It degrades. We have files from as early as the 1900s that is just melting away," he said.
The solution, Jackson said, was to go paperless as much as possible. He instituted an e-filing system for court records with three different backups. The new system costs less to maintain and requires considerably less staff. He hasn't gotten all of his wishes���yet. Courts have not issued a ruling requiring all filings be done electronically, but Jackson has high hopes that it will happen.
Cutting Edge Technology
"We have also introduced some technologies that no one else has in the United States. We're not only setting the standard for Texas, but now for the nation in terms of technological innovation and making documents available for you."
In his early days in office, a filing would take anywhere from 7 to 10 days before it would appear online.
"You couldn't access it during that time, and even then we were only scanning in around 60 percent of what came in. Now if you come in and file a paper copy, it's online within 72 hours."
Jackson said one of the dirty secrets of the office was that in the past, electronic filings submitted by the public would be printed out by the Clerk's Office, rubber stamped with a court record and cause number, and then sent to another department to be rescanned.
"That just wasn't efficient," said Jackson. "We developed the technology to electronically stamp records. That saves time, personnel and it saves money," he said.
Unprecedented Web Access
In August, the District Clerk will roll out the latest innovation in access to historic documents and court filings.
"We surveyed other counties around the nation and when our website comes out, we will be offering a level of access to court information that is unprecedented and unparalleled in the nation."
The new site will allow for free criminal background checks, a benefit to employers from every corner of the market.
"You used to only be able to view half of the page online because they wanted you to pay for the entire page," he said.
Now, the website will allow for free viewing of copies online, and if you want an uncertified copy, it will only cost taxpayers 10 cents. Certified copies are $1.
No Small Potatos
Outside of the technology and innovative storage, Jackson has pared down wasteful spending in other areas.
"We took a huge hit to our budget, roughly about 1.5 million. Yet we are probably the only department to give pay raises and increase the base pay which affected 34 people in my department." The increase is helping with retaining employees.
Jackson also took the carving knife to the San Antonio-based call center.
"We were paying $600,000 per year for eight people there to answer phone calls who had never spent a single day in our office and didn't know what to do." Jackson's answer? He immediately hired 16 retired workers from the District Clerk's Office to spend some time answering phones. "It only costs us $200,000 per year and they know our office, our systems and know how to answer your questions or connect you with the right person."
Another deletion in expenses was a $12,000 bill spent with taxpayer money on bottled water. "That's gone."
In the mail room, Jackson said the prior administration had contracted with an outside vendor to distribute mail.
"We took the four people who the contractor provided, we hired them to work for us doing the same thing, and we cut costs by $150,000."
Jury Room Justice
Every week, Jackson says his office sends out around 17,000 jury summons, but only attracts over 3,000 takers for the job.
"That's only 20 percent and we can do better." Jackson said he wanted to know how he could best thank taxpayers for their jury service and so he made some modest changes.
"We put wireless service in the jury rooms now so prospective jurors can use their laptops, cell phones, etc. to continue to work and stay in touch with their families and friends."
He also takes time out to come down and thank each jury pool for their service.
"You provide the opportunity for someone who finds themselves in the justice system a chance to have a jury of their peers hear their case."
All of the hard work in the first eight months has resulted in huge savings for taxpayers, pay raises for 150 employees, and no elimination of jobs in a tight economy.
The new website is set to launch sometime early in August. Readers can find it at www.hcdistrictclerk.com.
- David Taylor
Pol. Adv. Paid for by the Loren Jackson Campaign, Brad Beers, Treasurer. Copyright © 2009 Loren Jackson. All rights reserved.
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You can now follow Loren Jackson and his campaign for re-election using Social Media!
