Circuit Clerk Responsible For Case Management

RACHEL DICKERSON/MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS The McDonald County Circuit Clerk's staff are, left to right, Jessica Bergen, Lori Sellers, Athena Thacker, Jennifer Mikeska, Stephanie Sweeten, Tanya Lewis, Debby Daniels, Monica Willyard, not pictured, Courtney Bohannon and Laura Williams.

RACHEL DICKERSON/MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS The McDonald County Circuit Clerk's staff are, left to right, Jessica Bergen, Lori Sellers, Athena Thacker, Jennifer Mikeska, Stephanie Sweeten, Tanya Lewis, Debby Daniels, Monica Willyard, not pictured, Courtney Bohannon and Laura Williams.

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Circuit Clerk Jennifer Mikeska is responsible for every case that goes through Circuit Court.

"We are responsible for the management of every case ... from a seatbelt ticket to a murder case," she said. "We also do divorces, imminent domain cases, personal injury suits, small claims, restraining orders -- anything that has to do with that case from the filing of it to the disposition and post-disposition. Taking payments, accepting any documents that's filed, reviewing them and making sure they're signed and date stamped. We also do warrants, subpoenas, summonses.

"We went on e-filing in 2013. That has helped us out a lot."

Now attorneys can file motions after 5 p.m., she said. They do not have to buy as much paper as in the past or send as much mail now that they are e-filing, she said.

Employees in the Circuit Clerk's office are cross-trained.

"We have one clerk that mainly does probate, another that mainly does criminal, another that does smaller cases -- anything under $25,000, another that does traffic, another that does domestic, another that does lawsuits over $25,000, but they are all cross-trained," she said.

"We try to be customer-oriented. We try to focus on how we can offer the best assistance to the public. Everyone ought to have equal access to justice. If we send them away, we try to send them away with some kind of choice that might help them."

The most frustrating thing for her staff is that people don't understand what the office does.

"People don't understand what our role is. Maybe the wrong parent has the child and won't give it back. You can't immediately go before a judge. You have to file something. The other party has to be notified that you filed something. It's frustrating because we want to help everybody. There's a process you have to go through.

"We help anybody that comes to the window. If we can't help them we tell them where to go. We encourage them to go to the website and look at the cases."

She noted they help a lot of different cultures and a lot of people do not speak English. They utilize the Language Line program that they call and get a translator on the phone, she said. However, for the courts, more translators are needed. Mikeska said she wishes if people can speak English and another language fluently that they would call the Office of State Court Administration at 888-541-4894 and become a certified translator.

General News on 10/12/2017