Williamson County commissioners approve COVID money for staff to handle jury trial backlog
Williamson County commissioners have approved spending more than $500,000 in federal COVID-19 relief funds to hire three more people to deal with a backlog in jury trials caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
More staff also is needed to handle a new method the county uses to select people for juries, said District Clerk Lisa David.
The commissioners approved $559,637 on Tuesday to pay salaries for two district court clerk specialists and one district court coordinator for the rest of this year and in 2023 and 2024. The county and district courts have a backlog of 109 jury trials to conduct by the end of this year, said David.
The backlog is more than twice the number of jury trials the county had in 2019, the year before the pandemic hit the area. In that year the county had a total of 45 jury trials, court data showed.
READ: Williamson commissioners approve COVID-19 funds for mental health issues, back-up generators
Before the pandemic started, the county would summon about 800 people every Monday to a jury room at the Williamson County Justice Center, said David. The people who met the necessary qualifications would then be sent to the courts that needed a jury that day, she said.
When the pandemic started in March 2020, it wasn't safe for large groups of people to gather. The county used new technology to allow people to fill out questionnaires online to see whether they qualified to be on a jury, David said.
The new method requires more work from staff because clerks now receive 40 to 50 calls per day from people who don't know how to fill out a question on the questionnaire or don't have a computer, she said. Clerks are also busy sending out emails since the system has gone online, David said.
The work for staff also has increased because the backlog of jury trials is causing judges to ask for jurors not only on Mondays but also on other days, David said. When jurors arrive at the justice center, she said, clerks are needed to escort them to the courtrooms.
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The money that the Commissioners Court approved spending on three new positions to handle jury trials comes from the $114.5 million the county was approved to receive last spring through the American Recovery Act.
The commissioners in August approved spending $16.8 million in American Recovery Act money for mental health services and breast cancer screenings.
The commissioners in December also approved spending about $1.1 million of the federal money, including funds for backup generators, new court positions to help with mental health issues, a new adult probation office in Liberty Hill and remodeling for a drop-in center to divert people with mental illness from jail.
The money that the county received from the American Recovery Act is in addition to the $93 million it was given through the federal CARES Act when the pandemic began. Much of that money went to coronavirus-related expenses for schools and small businesses.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Williamson County approves COVID money to handle jury trial backlog
