The Marion County Court system is taking another step towards becoming paperless. Circuit Clerk Ronda Yates says Chief Circuit Judge Gene Schwarm has agreed to allow $30,000 in court automation fees collected by the circuit clerk's office to be used to install a system that will allow the paperless filing of charges in the State's Attorney's office.
State's Attorney Matt Wilzbach says the system will save a considerable amount of time, paperwork, and travel between the two offices. "All the charges are already in the system. I just add to the particular facts, date, defendant's information, hit a button, and Ronda's office has got it. They can just print it off right there and they can put it in the court file, and eventually they won't even go to a paper court file. It can go to the judge's terminal on the bench.
Yates says the program is another piece of the system that could eventually do away with paper files. "The integrated court's judicial program brings all offices together within the court system and integrates the state's attorney with the circuit clerk and the probation already has the program. So it will allow electronic filing between the state's attorney and myself. It will be a lot more efficient, it will be more efficient for our recording mechanisms", said Yates.
Yates says there are already pilot projects in other parts of the state that are taking additional steps towards a totally paperless system. - http://goo.gl/249vE
