The Youngstown Municipal Court is located in
City Hall on 26 Phelps Street. The current Clerk of Court, Sarah
Brown-Clark, took office in January, 2000. Previously, she was
a professor at Youngstown State University. Her innovative ideas
and forward thinking are modernizing all aspects of operation
both rapidly and smoothly.
The following are words from the desk of Sarah Brown-Clark:
On January 1, 2000, I assumed the position
of Youngstown Municipal Clerk of Court after being duly elected
on November 2, 1999. In the past year, I hired twelve additional
staff, eight of which have college degrees. The remaining four
new employees have extensive experience in Government, Education
and Collections. Currently, the Clerk of Court Office employs
thirty Deputy Clerks. The experienced staff that was retained
by my new administration has a combined total of over one hundred
and fifty years of experience in the Municipal Clerk of Court
office. Their experience, willingness to train new staff and willingness
to embrace change contributed greatly to the success of the past
year.
In keeping with my commitment to maximize
the operations of the Municipal Clerk of Court office, I immediately
requested a Performance Audit by the Auditor of the State of Ohio,
Mr. Jim Petro. In the course of the actual performance of the
audit, my Administrative Staff and I immediately began implementation
of the auditor recommendations. In so doing, we have made great
strides in our effort to improve the efficiency and the morale
of the office. In the next year, we will continue to review the
Performance Audit and phase in additional changes.
Upgrading the office technology has
been a priority item on my agenda. With the assistance of my Administrative
Team, I initiated this process by soliciting the input of Mr.
James Mendel, an employee of the Ohio Supreme Court, who was involved
in developing the initial contract language for computer installation.
With the assistance of Mr. Mendel and the City Law Department,
we have addressed many of the technology issues that impeded the
maximum use of technology. We have purchased additional computers
to allow for each employee to have a personal computer; we have
upgraded existing programs and installed new software; we are
developing a web page for the Youngstown Municipal Clerk of Court
Office and lastly, we are preparing to network our office computers
and to introduce on-line services.
The issue of Outstanding Fines and
Costs was addressed by creating the position of Financial Collection
Officer/Deputy Clerk. Since June 2000, we have been aggressively
addressing the problem of delinquent fines and costs and have
significantly improved our collection rate.
In compliance with Ohio Revised Code,
the Clerk of Court Office has two divisions, Criminal/Traffic
and Civil. In addition, we have two departments, Information Systems
and Bookkeeping. Supervisors from each area comprise the Administrative
Team that meets regularly to advise me in matters related to the
daily operation of the office.
It is my opinion that professional
development is an important part of an efficient operation and
I have attended several conferences related to the operations
of the Municipal Clerk of Court office. In addition, I have sent
employees to conferences related to their particular assignments
in an effort to assist them in upgrading their skills.
In summary, this has been an exciting
and challenging year and I look forward to continued improvement
of this office and continued service to the community. The staff
of the Youngstown Municipal Clerk of Court office is committed
to providing cost-effective, efficient service to the Municipal
Judges and Court Staff as well as creating a user-friendly environment
for the public.
