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COLUMBIANA, Alabama — Beginning July 1, the Shelby County Circuit Clerk’s Office will be closed during lunch from noon to 1 p.m. because of staffing, Circuit Clerk Mary Harris said.

The clerk’s office is where people go to pay traffic tickets, fines and restitution. The office is responsible for processing court cases, as well as collecting and disbursing thousands of dollars that go toward funding the district attorney’s office, courts, community corrections and the county.

Like other circuit clerk offices in the state, which are funded by the state of Alabama, Harris has been told that, effective Aug. 1, her staff will likely be reduced by as much as 35 percent, which would take her down from 16 to 10 full-time workers.

She says her office has never been staffed at the level it should be, which would be 31 workers, according to a caseload study by the state court system.

She said she decided to start July 1 with the lunchtime closing to get people accustomed to the change.

“I guess what bothers me is I had so much pride in our office being customer service-oriented,” she said.

Harris said she was pleased that, with a full staff, employees could take the time to explain things to people. She said she doesn’t like to rush anyone out the door.

Her pared-down staff will have to prioritize the handling of cases that come to the clerk’s office, Harris said, with cases concerning the safety of the public taking precedence.

‘A real bottleneck’

A bill that passed this year could generate some additional funding for the clerk’s office.

Harris said she can’t make plans on money that might or might not come into her office.

Presiding Shelby County Circuit Judge H.L. “Sonny” Conwill said county officials are going to have to help Harris if her office staff is cut to the levels that are being proposed.

“A real bottleneck” could occur in the court system if Harris’ office is not able to process the cases and perform functions such as getting papers served, Conwill said.

With the help of the state and county, Conwill said he doesn’t expect trials in Shelby County to be affected by state budget cutbacks. However, everything is likely to be affected by cuts in the clerk’s office, he said.

Conwill and Shelby County Manager Alex Dudchock have recommended that an expedited study be done on the operations of the clerk’s office and other court functions in the county to determine what actions need to be taken because of cuts in state funding.

Shelby County District Attorney Robby Owens said Friday that his office has lost about a third of its legal staff because of state cutbacks. He said things would be much worse without the help of the county commission and members of the county’s legislative delegation.

Owens said the funding cutbacks will affect the timeliness of getting criminal matters resolved, but his office “will continue to provide for the needs of our citizens.”

Join the conversation by clicking to comment or email Daniels at mdaniels@bhamnews.com.

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