SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane County Superior Court Clerk’s Office is caught up with backlogged case files.
The Spokane County Commissioners allowed the clerk’s office to hire two more employees for six months to help them catch up on filing. The office needed the extra help after switching to electronic filing in November 2018. This meant electronically filing old cases, along with the new ones coming in every day.
Chief Clerk Tim Fitzgerald said the office got behind by about five days. This had a ripple effect on the justice process.
The two clerks were hired to focus on filing protection orders. This allowed the other clerks to catch up and file new cases. After only three months with the additional help, the clerk's office is now all caught up.
This is the second time Spokane County commissioners approved funding for additional employees to help an office catch up. They also helped the prosecutor's office catch up on property crime cases.
Fitzgerald said he plans to ask county commissioners to make the new clerk positions permanent to keep them from falling behind again. The same goes for the prosecutor's office, which has also benefited from hiring two more employees.