Primary Department: District Clerk
Primary Department Head/Elected Official: Marilyn Burgess, District Clerk
Secondary Department: District Courts
Secondary Department Head/Elected Official: Richard Woods, Court Administrator
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Financial Authorization
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A - Not a grant item
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request for approval of 13 positions effective April 5, 2025, and for the additional budget of $724,891.20 in FY2025 for the positions and necessary equipment.
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Background and Discussion:
The District Clerk's Office is requesting approval for 12 additional full-time Assistant Court Clerks for the Civil District Courts Division and one full-time Outreach Community Liaison. The funding for the remaining 12 pay periods in Fiscal Year 2025 is $724,891.20, which includes one-time non-labor cost of $223,980.00 for equipment. The estimated total for recurring labor for 12-months is $1,085,307.60.
The Civil Division has 24 statutory courts and is the only Court Division in Harris County without at least one dedicated Assistant Court Clerk. The positions of dedicated Assistant Clerks were taken away from the Civil Courts during the 2008 financial crises when Harris County experienced Countywide hiring freezes and budget cuts in order to maintain office operations. Currently two civil courts share an assistant clerk. This is an imperfect system because the assistant clerk has to work for two judges with different procedures, two lead clerks with different procedures, and are at many times called to cover other courts if another assistant...
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