Successes as Clerk
Melissa’s goals for her first year in office were straightforward, and since taking office July 1, 2016, she has continued to fulfill and exceed her 3 campaign promises:
#1 To bring the office into the 21st century with technology with
- New Improved Website
- Customer-facing monitors for easier records viewing
- New services added to save the public time & expense of manually processing work at the Justice Center & Towers Building
- e-Filing
- e-Certification
- e-Recording
- Credit Card acceptance at all counter service locations
- St. Tammany Parish Assessor Rolls added to the online Land Records search program
- New hardware & software for deputy clerks to increase efficiency
- **COMING IN 2019** St. Tammany is leading the charge and will be the first parish in Louisiana to utilize Odyssey Case Management Software from Tyler Technologies. With this new system, court information will be digitally transmitted to/from other agencies, eliminating duplicate data entry, and will also allow judges to access records from the bench, and review, e-sign and upload documents automatically. The public will be able to exit the courtroom and access court documents – saving time and no longer generating mounds of paper.
#2 To implement cost-saving measures to reduce expenses and overhead by
- Seeking out and utilizing grant opportunities to supply the office with new technology and equipment
- Taking a line-item approach to the budget
- Implementing Request for Proposal procedures to evaluate best pricing with vendors and partners
The Clerk of Court’s office is a fee-for-service agency and does not receive taxpayer funds to operate
#3 To continue to provide a high level of service to the public by
- Improving internal controls to provide better transparency and consistency – which earned the office clean Annual Financial Audits and no findings in the LA Legislative Auditors audit of the 2017 Agreed Upon Procedures
- Working to keep fees below the statute limits and opposing increases
- Implementing an aggressive back scanning project to provide public access to view records online
- Adding “Workflow Status” of Civil & Recording Department’s daily work status to the website
- Improving employee morale with (to name a few)
- Increased training and advanced learning opportunities
- New updated uniforms
- Monthly paid ‘Dress-Down” Days, where employees are invited to dress down for a contribution to a local charity. To date, over $8,000 has been collected and donated to the wonderful organizations of STARC, James Storehouse, and Truth in Nature.
- Encouraging cooperation between the Clerk of Courts’ office and the 22nd Judicial District Court, in both process-improvements and technology, with the goal of improving the overall court system experience in St. Tammany Parish.
Other Recognitions
- Recognized as a Top Workplace 2019 by Nola.com
- Recognized as a Top Workplace 2018 by Nola.com
- Recording Department recognized in 2018 for excellence in e-Recording by CSC
- Passport Department recognized in 2017 for Exceptional Customer Service by the U.S. Department of State (only 6 out of over 7,000 facilities received this recognition)
- STARC Star Award 2017
- Recognized by Lyon Elementary School for supporting their students in S.O.A.R. 2017-2018
