Saturday, March 28, 2009

AREAS OF CONCERN 6: MICROFILMING CLOSED CASES

Unfortunately there is nothing new to report here (as in all the other Areas of Concern so far). The last time the old / closed cases were microfilmed was sometime around 2002. Since then Barbra Johnson has not made any effort to continue with this task. For a while she had one of her staff doing the microfilming, then it was sent to the county microfilming department. But nothing has been done in many years.

It seems that she really does try to make things as difficult as possible for the public to come into her office and look up anything. What about her campaign cry of “CUSTOMER SERVICE IS MY NUMBER ONE PRIORITY!” ? ? ?

1) First you have the fact that after 9 years, the court records are still not on line.

2) Old / closed cases are not microfilmed which (if she isn’t going to put records on line) would at least help out the public a little by having older cases microfilmed.

3) Where do you find a particular file? Well, let’s see first try where it SHOULD be in the actual file shelves. If that doesn’t work, check one of the many, many boxes of files that aren’t filed because there isn’t enough room for them (oh wait, didn’t she agree to a smaller office when she moved from the 3rd floor [where she was already bursting at the seams] to the 1st floor?) or her staff is working on them. If a file isn’t in any of those locations, I guess you could ask one of her staff to help in which case they will either A) find it on someone’s desk, or B) have to take you over to the Hedges building across the street where they keep the older files. Can anyone say MASSIVE MISMANAGEMENT! ! ! I have been in the Clerk of Court offices in Lorain, Huron, Ottawa, Lucas, Wood, Sandusky, and Seneca counties and I have NEVER ever seen a Clerk of Courts office in such disarray and managed so poorly.

To you the voter I ask: Does this look like she is doing the job that she was elected by YOU THE VOTERS AND TAX PAYERS of Erie County to do?

COMING NEXT WEEK: BARB JOHNSON'S FIRST QUARTERLY REPORT CARD! !

RECORDS ON LINE: OHIO'S 88 COUNTIES: PART 3

As I mentioned in Part 1 & Part 2 in this series, over the next several weeks, we will take a look at all 88 Ohio counties in alphabetical order to see which counties have records on line and which do not. We will do this in a 5 part series. The first 4 parts will be a listing of the counties, 22 at a time, and the last part will be an analysis of all this information.

Also, there are three websites that provide some good information on Ohio County Clerk of Courts:
Ohio Clerk of Courts Assoc.
Government Court Records.com
Ohio Clerk of Courts on line records

I have put these sites links in the sidebar.

Some of the information on the counties was obtained here.

Here is the third set of 22 counties: Licking County – Pike County:

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Licking (in Newark, Oh)
http://www.lcounty.com/
POPULATION: 145,491
AREA: 686.50 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS http://www.lcounty.com/clerkofcourts/default.aspx

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Logan (in Bellefontaine, OH)
http://www.co.logan.oh.us/
POPULATION: 46,005
AREA: 458.44 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS http://www.co.logan.oh.us/clerkofcourts/index.html

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Lorain (no web site found) (Elyria, OH)
POPULATION: 284,664
AREA: 492.50 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.loraincounty.com/clerk/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Lucas (in Toledo, OH)
http://www.co.lucas.oh.us/
POPULATION: 455,054
AREA: 340.46 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS:
http://co.lucas.oh.us/index.asp?nid=-404&badlink=/clerk/onlinerecords.asp

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Madison (in London, OH)
http://www.co.madison.oh.us/
POPULATION: 40,213
AREA: 465.44 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS http://www.co.madison.oh.us/10185/index.html

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Mahoning (in Youngstown, OH)
http://www.mahoningcountyoh.gov/
POPULATION: 257,555
AREA: 415.25 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS http://www.mahoningcountyoh.gov/DepartmentsAgencies/Departments/ClerkofCourts/tabid/810/Default.aspx

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Marion (Marion, OH)
http://mcoprx.co.marion.oh.us/
POPULATION: 66,217
AREA: 403.84 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS http://mcoprx.co.marion.oh.us/clerk/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Medina (in Medina, OH)
http://www.co.medina.oh.us/
POPULATION: 151,095
AREA: 421.55 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.co.medina.oh.us/clerk/clrkhome.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Meigs (in Pomeroy, OH)
No website found
POPULATION: 23,072
AREA: 429.42 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: No website found

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Mercer (in Celina, OH)
http://www.mercercountyohio.org/
POPULATION: 40,924
AREA: 463.87 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.mercercountyohio.org/clerk/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Miami (in Troy, OH)
http://www.co.miami.oh.us/
POPULATION: 98,868
AREA: 407.04 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS http://co.miami.oh.us/A55969/mcounty.nsf/All/Clerk

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Monroe (in Woodsfield, OH)
No web site found
POPULATION: 15,180
AREA: 455.54
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: No web site found

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Montgomery (in Dayton, OH)
http://www.co.montgomery.oh.us/
POPULATION: 559,062
AREA: 461.68 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.clerk.co.montgomery.oh.us/index.cfm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Morgan (in McConnelsville, OH)
http://www.morgancounty-oh.gov/
POPULATION: 14,897
AREA: 417.66 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: No web site found

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Morrow (in Mount Gilead, OH)
http://www.morrowcounty.info/
POPULATION: 31,628
AREA: 406.22 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.morrowcounty.info/clerkofcourt.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Muskingum (in Zanesville, OH)
http://www.muskingumcounty.org/
POPULATION: 84,585
AREA: 664.63 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS http://www.muskingumcounty.org/clerkofcourts.shtm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Noble (in Caldwell, OH)
No Web site found
POPULATION: 14,058
AREA: 399.00 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS http://www.passportlocations.net/Ohio/Caldwell/NobleCountyClerkofCourts.html

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Ottawa
http://www.co.ottawa.oh.us/
POPULATION: 40,985
AREA: 501.91 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.ottawacocpcourt.com/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Paulding (in Paulding, OH)
No web site foune
POPULATION: 20,293
AREA: 416.26 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS http://www.pauldingcountycourt.com/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Perry (in New Lexington, OH)
http://www.perrycountyohiocofc.com/Govnment.htm
POPULATION: 34,078
AREA: 409.78 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: No web site found

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Pickaway (in Circleville, OH)
http://www.pickaway.org/
POPULATION: 52,727
AREA: 501.91 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS http://www.pickaway.org/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Pike (in Waverly, OH)
No Web site found
POPULATION: 27,695
AREA: 441.49 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS http://www.town-court.com/getTownCourt.php?courtID=3684


Remember, after we have listed all 88 counties, we will compile a more in depth list of statistics so that you can easily see how all this stacks up compared to Erie County.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

CUYAHOGA COUNTY SHERIFF RESIGNS

I just received this from another reader: Cuyahoga County Sheriff Gerald McFaul resigns effective April 1 for "Health Reasons." Is this an April Fools Joke? Really, after all the heat this guy has been under especially by the Cleveland Plain Dealer and he resigns for "health reasons." Yeah, right, and my great, great, great grandfather was just found alive and walking down Columbus Ave. in front of the court house! Go here to see the entire Plain Dealer article, and here to see the previous Plain Dealer article.

Now if we could just get Barb Johnson to resign and safe us tax payers millions of dollars, we would be a little better off in this county. Although this blog is a good start, the Sandusky Register needs to put the heat on Johnson to either: A) get her to start doing her job; the job she was elected to do to run / manage that office; or B) get her to resign so the democrates can at least put someone else in there to clean up her enormous mess! ! But then maybe no one wants the task of cleaning up her enormous mess....well, Steve Schaeffer did, but the voters didn't seem to want him to clean up the mess, even though he had one heck of a good plan in place to do so.

Well, perhaps after 4 years, if the Sandusky Register doesn't do anything about it, hopefully enough people will be logging onto this site to put enough pressure on her not to run again.

The hits on this site keep going up every week! ! Word is getting out. Be sure to tell your friends and family about this site.

Remember, an educated voter is the best kind of voter.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

ANOTHER COUNTY OFFICIAL WHO DOESN'T LIKE TO WORK

A reader sent this Cleveland Plain Dealer article to me recently.

Apparently Cuyahoga Sheriff Gerald McFaul doesn't like to work for his tax payers either. Barb Johnson was this way before the election; rarely in the office. However since the election she has been in the office more often than before the election. The only problem is even though now that she is in the office much more frequently, her work is still not getting done (getting records on line, collecting the over $700,000 in outstanding fines and fees owed to the court, addressing the shortage in her staff, etc.). What DOES she do with all her time when she is in the office?

So before the November 2008 election she was rarely in the office and therefore she didn't get her work done. Now since the November 2008 election she is in the office more often, but still doesn't get her work done. So, really, what's the difference?

But hey, unlike Sheriff McFaul, at least now she is IN the office just about everyday...still not getting any work done, but she's in.....sort of.......

RECORDS ON LINE: OHIO'S 88 COUNTIES: PART 2

As I mentioned in the previous article in this series, over the next several weeks, we will take a look at all 88 Ohio counties in alphabetical order to see which counties have records on line and which do not. We will do this in a 5 part series. The first 4 parts will be a listing of the counties, 22 at a time, and the last part will be an analysis of all this information.

Also, there are three websites that provide some good information on Ohio County Clerk of Courts:
Ohio Clerk of Courts Assoc.
Government Court Records.com
Ohio Clerk of Courts on line records

I have put these website links in the sidebar.

Here are the second set of 22 counties: Fairfield County – Lawrence County:

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Fairfield (in Lancaster, OH)
http://www.co.fairfield.oh.us/
POPULATION: 122.759
AREA: 505.11 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.fairfieldcountyclerk.com/statewide.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Fayette (in Washington Court House, OH)
http://www.fayette-co-oh.com/
POPULATION: 28,433
AREA: 406.58 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.fayette-co-oh.com/Clerkoct/index.html

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Franklin (in Columbus, OH)
http://www.co.franklin.oh.us/fc/
POPULATION: 1,068,978
AREA: 539.87 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.co.franklin.oh.us/clerk/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Fulton (in Wauseon, OH)
http://www.fultoncountyoh.com/
POPULATION: 42,084
AREA: 406.78 Sq. mi.
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.fultoncountyoh.com/elected_officials/clerk_of_courts/clerk_of_courts.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Gallia (in Gallipolis, OH)
http://www.gallianet.net/Gallia/index.htm
POPULATION: 31,069
AREA: 468.78 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.gallianet.net/Gallia/clerk_of_courts.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Geauga (in Chardon, OH)
http://www.co.geauga.oh.us/
POPULATION: 90,895
AREA: 403.66 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.co.geauga.oh.us/departments/common_pleas/Geauga-Clerk.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Greene (in Xenia, OH)
http://www.co.greene.oh.us/
POPULATION: 147,886
AREA: 414.88 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS http://www.co.greene.oh.us/COC/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Guernsey (in Cambridge, OH)
http://www.guernseycounty.org/
POPULATION: 40,792
AREA: 521.90 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS http://www.guernseycounty.org/agencies/clerkofcourts.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Hamilton (in Cincinnati, OH)
http://www.hamilton-co.org/hc/default.asp
POPULATION: 845,303
AREA: 407.36 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS http://www.courtclerk.org/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Hancock (in Findlay, OH)
http://www.co.hancock.oh.us/
POPULATION: 71,295
AREA: 531.35 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS http://co.hancock.oh.us/clerk/default.aspx

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Hardin (in Kenton, OH)
http://www.hardincountyoh.com/
POPULATION: 31,945
AREA: 470.29 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.hardincourts.com/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Harrison (in Cadiz, OH)
http://www.harrisoncountyohio.org/community/government/elected_official.htm
POPULATION: 15,856
AREA: 403.53 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: No web site

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Henry (in Napoleon, OH)
http://www.henrycountyohio.com/
POPULATION: 29, 210
AREA: 416.50 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.henrycountyohio.com/clerk.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Highland (in Hillsboro, OH)
http://www.highlandcountyohio.com/htm/countyservices.htm
POPULATION: 40,875
AREA: 553.28 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: No web site

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Hocking (in Logan, OH)
http://www.co.hocking.oh.us/
POPULATION: 28,241
AREA: 422.75 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS http://www.co.hocking.oh.us/clerk/index.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Holmes (in Millersburg, OH)
http://www.holmescounty.com/gov/
POPULATION: 38,943
AREA: 422.99 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: No web site

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Huron (No Web Site found) (in Norwalk, OH)
POPULATION: 59,847
AREA: 492.69 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.huroncountyclerk.com/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Jackson (in Jackson, OH)
No Web site found
POPULATION: 32,641
AREA: 420.28 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: No web site

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Jefferson (in Steubenville, OH)
http://www.jeffersoncountyoh.com/cgi-bin/template.pl?
POPULATION: 73,894
AREA: 409.61 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS http://www.jeffersoncountyoh.com/cgi-bin/template.pl?/courts/clerk.html

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Knox (in Mount Vernon, OH)
http://co.knox.oh.us/
POPULATION: 54,500
AREA: 527.12 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS http://co.knox.oh.us/offices/coc/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Lake (in Painesville, OH)
http://luna.lakecountyohio.gov/
POPULATION: 227,511
AREA: 228.21 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.lakecountyohio.gov/Default.aspx?alias=www.lakecountyohio.gov/coc

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Lawrence (in Ironton, OH)
No web site found
POPULATION: 32,319
AREA: 454.96 sq mi
COC CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS www.lawrencecountyclkofcrt.org


Remember, after we have listed all 88 counties, we will compile a more in depth list of statistics so that you can easily see how all this stacks up compared to Erie County.

AREAS OF CONCERN 5: ADDRESSING OFFICE UNDERSTAFFING

In the SR “Live Q & A” on-line forum on October 28, 2008 a reader asked the following question: If elected or reelected, will you make any changes with the current staff? Johnson’s simple answer was, “Yes, additions!”

Her opponents answer was much more detailed: “I will not terminate any member of the present staff, however the staff will be reorganized into more manageable units. After reviewing position descriptions, a discussion with each employee will be held to determine their strong points and weak points and capabilities. Once I obtain that information I will also determine what training or retraining requirements must be accomplished for individuals or as a group.”

In the same SR article, a reader asks, “Q: Do you think the way the clerk of courts office is currently set up you have enough employees to do all the work?”

Johnson’s response: “No, I feel that we do not have enough employees. Professionally, I must continue to try to do more with less. In these times of shrinking resources, I am challenged to find better ways of doing things in the office. We are also looking at things that we must eliminate altogether.” After some fluff / flower talk she continues, “Erie County added an additional judge and related staff, which multiplied our workload. My challenge is to find new ways to work and expand my ability to lead with less.”

Well, she was correct in saying that she must, “continue to do more with less” and that she is, “challenged to find better ways of doing this in the office.” She was also correct in saying that with the addition of a fourth judge, her workload has multiplied.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it looks like there won’t be any additions; she can’t even hire people to replace the ones that have recently retired.

Within the past year, there have been 4 staff members in the COC office that have retired.

Mrs. Johnson knew well in advance that these employees were retiring. Common sense would tell you that she would have hired new employees to take the retirees place, and that she would have hired them a month or 2 BEFORE said employees retired so that the veterans (retirees) could train the rookies (new employees). Well, out of 4 retirees, she has hired 2 replacements. She never did hire a third or fourth person to replace two of the retirees. And now the county is looking at ALL county offices to cut their budgets by 10%, so I guess hiring a third and fourth person to help in the already strapped office is a no-go. She even had permission to hire two new people to replace the 2 retirees in December 2008 (well after said people retired), but she never acted on it. If she had acted on it, then she would not be in this mess now. But that is typical Johnson procrastinating behavior, “I’ll do it when I get around to it.” The only problem is she never gets the “Round Tuit.”

One more thing; rumor has it that Johnson had a meeting with county commissioners sometime the week of February 2. She tried to argue how she needed more personnel. However, she came to the meeting completely unprepared. As a result, she got nothing from the commissioners - except to cut her budget by 10%.

It looks like the County Commissioners are ganging up on Johnson or don’t care what she has to say. But then on the other hand, she always comes to meetings unprepared and, in my observations, she doesn’t seem to do anything to help her staff or to “fight” for them as it were. She usually just takes whatever the commissioners say to her, then cowers and says weakly, “OK, what ever you commissioners say, I will do.”

According to this March 20, 2009 SR article, “Erie County commissioners propose early retirement, rehiring as part-time employees” the commissioners would like to cut the workers time even further. If the commissioners get their way, those poor ladies in that office will NEVER EVER see the light at the end of the tunnel! ! From the looks of that office now with files strewn all over the place, there is no hope in sight. It is very frustrating to go into that office to look up specific case files and not be able to find them. This happens all the time.

But then Johnson didn’t run on the campaign slogan of “Hope and Change” (who was that anyway?) because she knew that there wouldn’t be any change and definitely no hope what so ever. I would like to ask the girls in that office, why would you take an early retirement and come back to work in THAT office? As an “outsider,” I can see that the stress level in that office is unbelievable, and to see their boss walk around not giving a damn is just inhumane on Johnson’s part ! ! !

Again, if she would just think “outside the box,” just a tiny bit, (which she has proven time and time again that she is incapable of doing, or she just doesn’t give a damn) she would see a few little tricks to help her staff without having to hire more people. Such things as purchasing productivity software and hardware, including the proper amount of scanners (she only has one scanner for the entire office, and that one is antiquated) would help her current staff tremendously.

Also, an automated telephone answering system would also help tremendously. And then there is also the “RECORDS ON LINE” that (in my opinion) will never get done as long as she is at the helm. These things could be bought and the county would save thousands of dollars because they would not have to pay salary or benefits to these items like they would have to pay to a human being. These would all reduce the amount of time that her staff now must devote to serving the public. After all, wasn’t her campaign cry “CUSTOMER SERVICE!” ? ? ? She just forgot to interject the word “Good” or “Quality” first. I’ll admit, she does have customer service (I think there is some) but it’s poor at best and it is no fault of her staff!

She seems to be in the office a lot more than before the 2008 election, but nothing is getting done. If she is in the office more, what is she doing? Because ladies and gentlemen, NOTHING is changing in that office! And there needs to be a TON of changes in that office to allow it to operate much more efficiently than she is running it, and to bring it into the 21st century. What is she doing with her time in that office?

To you the voter I ask: Does this look like she is doing the job that she was elected by YOU THE VOTERS AND TAX PAYERS of Erie County to do?

See the SR article here.


Next weeks article in this series will be on microfilming closed cases (and I’m afraid that this will be a very short article because from my observations, it looks as if nothing has been done in this area...again).

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

NEW AREA WEBSITE

A new website for the area has been started. This site will be of real interest to those living in the city of Huron. The purpose of this site is (as quoted from their site):

"The November 2009 Election will provide Huron Voters with an opportunity to elect 5 of 7 Councilmembers. The purpose of this blog is to generate interest in this election, encourage a wide selection of candidates, and provide a forum for discussion of this important election."

The site address is: http://www.huron2009.blogspot.com/

This site link has been added to our sidebar.

So far, that makes 3 web sites that deal with local issues in this area (Firelands 411is also in the sidebar). This is great because it will be a resource for people to read and which then will allow them to make a well thought out and educated vote come election time.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

AREAS OF CONCERN 4: COLLECTION ON ESTIMATED $700,000 IN OUTSTANDING COURT COSTS & FINES

Area of Concern number 4 that was brought up during the campaign in November 2008 was the collection on the estimated $700,000 in outstanding court costs and fines.

Well, that’s what she admitted to in this Sandusky Register article

However, the number could realistically be in the millions. This is money that the county will never see because Johnson either will not or doesn’t know how to collect on those funds. And, these funds have been accumulating over the past 20 years!

Her opponent, Steve Schaeffer stated how he would have collected those fees. In the Sandusky Register on line Q & A from Oct. 29, 2008 here, a reader posed the following question, If elected what will be your number one priority as Clerk of Courts and specifically how will you go about accomplishing that goal?

Schaeffer’s response was, “Sorry but my number one goal is to improve overall operations of the office and that requires several steps: a. To collect the $700,00 plus in delinquent accounts to give back to the county treasury and state programs using a private collection agency which has been authorized by the State of Ohio since 2002 but the present Clerk has not moved on it…”

Johnson’s response was about “Web Service” as she puts it (which she has not addressed either. See “Areas of Concern: Getting Records on Line: Parts 1-4 in this series on this blog, and the above SR web link) and the rest was flowery – powder puff garbage. She NEVER in the campaign addressed this issue. If we are talking $700,000 to millions of dollars, this is SCARY! !

Also of note is the Morning Journal article on October 30, 2008 where this was brought to the public’s attention here.

To you the voter I ask: Does this look like she is doing the job that she was elected by YOU THE VOTERS AND TAX PAYERS of Erie County to do?

Friday, March 13, 2009

RECORDS ON LINE: OHIO'S 88 COUNTIES: PART 1

Over the next several weeks, we will take a look at all 88 Ohio counties in alphabetical order to see which counties have records on line and which do not. We will do this in a 5 part series. The first 4 parts will be a listing of the counties, 22 at a time, and the last part will be an analysis of all this information.

Also, there are three websites that provide some good information on Ohio County Clerk of Courts:
Ohio Clerk of Courts Assoc. http://www.occaohio.com/default.aspx
Government Court Records.com: http://govcourtsrecords.com/
Ohio Clerk of Courts on line records: http://www.fairfieldcountyclerk.com/statewide.htm

I have put these sites links in the sidebar.

Here are the first 22 counties: Adams County – Erie County:

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Adams (in West Union, OH)
County not on line, but some info here: http://adamscountyoh.com/
POPULATION: 27,330
AREA: 583.91 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: not on line

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Allen (in Lima, OH)
http://www.co.allen.oh.us/
POPULATION: 108,473
AREA: 404.43 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS: http://www.co.allen.oh.us/clerkofcourts/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Ashland (in Ashland, OH)
http://www.ashlandcounty.org/
POPULATION: 52,523
AREA: 424.37 Sq. mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.ashlandcounty.org/clerkofcourts/index.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Ashtabula (in Jefferson, OH)
http://www.co.ashtabula.oh.us/
POPULATION: 102,728
AREA: 702.44 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.co.ashtabula.oh.us/AshCtyWebR53.nsf/Clerk%20of%20Courts!OpenFrameSet

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Athens (in Athens, OH)
http://www.athenscountygovernment.com/
POPULATION: 62,223
AREA: 506.76 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.athenscountygovernment.com/coc/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Auglaize (in Wapakoneta, OH)
http://www.auglaizecounty.org/
POPULATION: 46,611
AREA: 401.25 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.auglaizecounty.org/Clerk_of_Courts/Index.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Belmont (in St. Clairsville, OH)
http://www.belmontcountyohio.org/
POPULATION: 70,226
AREA: 537.35 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.belmontcountycoc.com/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Brown (in Georgetown, OH)
http://www.browncountyohio.gov/
POPULATION: 42,285
AREA: 491.76 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.browncountyohio.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30&Itemid=3

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Butler (in Hamilton, OH)
http://www.butlercountyohio.org/index0.cfm
POPULATION: 332,807
AREA: 467.27 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.butlercountyclerk.org/pa/pa.urd/pamw6500-display

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Carroll (in Carrollton, OH)
http://www.carrollcountyohio.us/familychildrenfirst.html
POPULATION: 28,836
AREA: 394.67 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.carrollcountyohio.us/courts/clerkofcourts.html

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Champaign (in Urbana, OH)
http://www.co.champaign.oh.us/index.html
POPULATION: 38,890
AREA: 428.56 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: No Web site

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Clark (in Springfield, OH)
http://www.clarkcountyohio.gov/
POPULATION: 144,742
AREA: 399.86 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.clarkcountyohio.gov/Clerk/index.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Clermont (in Batavia, OH)
http://www.clermontcountyohio.gov/
POPULATION: 177,977
AREA: 451.99 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.clermontclerk.org/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Clinton (in Wilmington, OH)
http://www.co.clinton.oh.us/
POPULATION: 40,543
AREA: 410.88 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://co.clinton.oh.us/clerk_of_courts

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Columbiana (in Lisbon, OH)
http://www.columbianacounty.org/
POPULATION: 112,075
AREA: 532.46 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.ccclerk.org/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Coshocton (in Coshocton, OH)
http://www.coshoctoncounty.net/agents.php
POPULATION: 36,655
AREA: 564.07 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.coshoctoncounty.net/agency/coc/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Crawford (in Bucyrus, OH)
http://www.crawford-co.org/
POPULATION: 46,966
AREA: 402.11 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.crawford-co.org/Clerk/default.html

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Cuyahoga (in Cleveland, OH)
http://www.cuyahogacounty.us/
POPULATION: 1,393,978
AREA: 458.49 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS:
http://coc.cuyahogacounty.us/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Darke (in Greenville, OH)
http://www.co.darke.oh.us/elected.htm
POPULATION: 53,309
AREA: 599.80 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: Not on line

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Defiance (in Defiance, OH)
http://www.defiance-county.com/
POPULATION: 39,500
AREA: 411.16 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.defiance-county.com/clerkofcourts/index.html

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Delaware (in Delaware, OH)
http://www.co.delaware.oh.us/
POPULATION: 110.106
AREA: 442.41 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.co.delaware.oh.us/clerk/index.asp

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Erie (in Sandusky, OH)
http://www.erie-county-ohio.net/
POPULATION: 79,551
AREA: 254.88 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.erie-county-ohio.net/clerkofcourts/default.htm

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

New American Tea Party

This is a little off-topic. However there is a national movement gaining momentum that is "a coalition of citizens and organizations concerned about the recent trend of fiscal recklessness in government."

If you are raging mad about the recent federal government fiscal recklessness, then log on to: http://newamericanteaparty.com/ (also in the sidebar).

We the tax payers need to hold our elected officials accountable whether it is at the city, county, state, or federal level. Even though the Erie County Clerk of Courts elected position is just a "lowly county" position, I'm doing my part to expose the waste and total lack of mismanagement in this county office which is literally throwing our tax money away an initial estimate to be in the millions of dollars over the past 20 years.

What are you doing to address these issues in government? Plan to do SOMETHING. Don't just sit back and bitch about how bad things are and that they are getting worse; take action by picking an area to take up YOUR "American Tea Party."

This Remove Barb Johnson site is one of our local "American Tea Parties." Hopefully more will spring up.

Perhaps we can all start by sending our elected officials a tea bag in the mail. I think they'll get the message.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

AREAS OF CONCERN 3: SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS & FINANCIAL ACCOUNT NUMBERS REMOVED FROM CASE FILES

Area of Concern number 3 that was brought up during the campaign in November 2008 was how people’s Social Security Numbers and Financial Account Numbers need to be removed from case files in order to prevent identity theft.

Since Barbara Johnson’s re-election in November and since her re-swearing-in in January of this year, there has been NO change in getting SSN and financial account numbers removed from the hard copy case files.

Now, over the past several months, I have asked several COC and other court employees about this. Some responded with comments such as, “You expected more from Johnson?” “Come on, that would take some ‘action’ on her part and we all know that she isn’t about taking ‘action’ on anything,” “You really think she (Johnson) will do anything about that?” A few people (who might be trying to cover for her lousy managing skills) said along the line of, “She can’t do anything at this time because there is a bill pending in the Ohio General Assembly. If this bill passes, THEN she can remove that information.”

Well, I did searches on several Ohio House & Ohio Senate websites to find such a bill, and found nothing. If anyone finds such information, please contact the editor or post your findings in the comment section below so that I can put it up on this website for all to see and I’ll stand corrected.

To you the voter I ask: Does this look like she is doing the job that she was elected by YOU THE VOTERS AND TAX PAYERS of Erie County to do?

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

SPREAD THE WORD

Our stat tracker counter has registered more than the usual number of "hits" to this site in the last 4 days. The word is getting out! ! !

Tell the people you know about this site so that they too can become educated voters and make an "intelligent" vote when voting for Clerk of Courts in 2012. Log back onto this site at least once a week for new articles and information. Stay informed.

WEB UPDATE

No, this has nothing to do with records on line, but we were in an article on the Firelands 411 blog yesterday, so we would like to thank the editors of Firelands 411 for that plug.

Someone on that blog left the following comment:

"Mr. Sandusky said...
Sure she is a nice lady. However, do you think she is actually doing her job and improving the office, or just doing what she has to and collecting her paycheck?

Being a nice lady does not qualify you for the job, unless that job is a greeter at Wal-Mart."



Mr. Sandusky makes a good point in that: 1) Yes, she is collecting her paycheck; and 2) Being a nice lady does not qualify you for the job...

However, Mr. Sandusky says that, "she is just doing what she has to," to collect her paycheck. However, I would respectfully disagree with Mr. Sandusky's statement, because over the past 20 years, Mrs. Johnson has NOT been doing what she has to in order to collect her paycheck. As a matter of fact, she has done NOTHING for that office in over 20 years. That office did not become a shambles over night; it took years of doing nothing for it to get the way it is today. We will have more on this in a future article.

We haven't even touched the top of this iceberg yet. We will continue to have 1-2 articles a week to educate you in Johnson's total and absolute mismanagement of that office. So, stay tuned folks it keeps getting better and better, or should I say, it keeps getting more and more unbelievable .

Sunday, March 1, 2009

AREAS OF CONCERN 2: GETTING RECORDS ON LINE: PART 4: OTHER COUNTIES

We took 20 Northern Ohio Counties (out of 88 Ohio Counties) and looked at their Clerk of Court websites. Out of those 20 Northern Ohio Counties, 2 did not have records on line – Erie County and Henry County. The population of Erie County is 79,551 while Henry County’s population is much lower at 29,210. All other Northern Ohio counties had their records on line with populations ranging from 1,393,978 (Cuyahoga County) down to 42,084 (Fulton County).

Here is a result of our web search: (Y= Yes records are on line; N= No, records are not on line).

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Ashland
http://www.ashlandcounty.org/
POPULATION: 52,523
AREA: 424.37 Sq. mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.ashlandcounty.org/clerkofcourts/index.htm


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Crawford
http://www.crawford-co.org/
POPULATION: 46,966
AREA: 402.11 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.crawford-co.org/Clerk/default.html


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Cuyahoga
http://www.cuyahogacounty.us/
POPULATION: 1,393,978
AREA: 458.49 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS:
http://coc.cuyahogacounty.us/


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Erie
http://www.erie-county-ohio.net/
POPULATION: 79,551
AREA: 254.88 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.erie-county-ohio.net/clerkofcourts/default.htm


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Fulton
http://www.fultoncountyoh.com/
POPULATION: 42,084
AREA: 406.78 Sq. mi.
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.fultoncountyoh.com/elected_officials/clerk_of_courts/clerk_of_courts.htm


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Geauga
http://www.co.geauga.oh.us/
POPULATION: 90,895
AREA: 403.66 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.co.geauga.oh.us/departments/common_pleas/Geauga-Clerk.htm


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Henry
http://www.henrycountyohio.com/
POPULATION: 29, 210
AREA: 416.50 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.henrycountyohio.com/clerk.htm


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Huron (No Web Site found)
POPULATION: 59,847
AREA: 492.69 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.huroncountyclerk.com/


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Lake
http://luna.lakecountyohio.gov/
POPULATION: 227,511
AREA: 228.21 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.lakecountyohio.gov/Default.aspx?alias=www.lakecountyohio.gov/coc


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Lorain (no web site found)
POPULATION: 284,664
AREA: 492.50 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.loraincounty.com/clerk/


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Lucas
http://www.co.lucas.oh.us/
POPULATION: 455,054
AREA: 340.46
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS:
http://co.lucas.oh.us/index.asp?nid=-404&badlink=/clerk/onlinerecords.asp


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Medina
http://www.co.medina.oh.us/
POPULATION: 151,095
AREA: 421.55 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.co.medina.oh.us/clerk/clrkhome.htm


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Ottawa
http://www.co.ottawa.oh.us/
POPULATION: 40,985
AREA: 501.91 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.ottawacocpcourt.com/


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Portage
http://www.co.portage.oh.us/
POPULATION: 152,061
AREA: 492.39 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.co.portage.oh.us/clerkofcourts.htm


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Richland
http://www.richlandcountyoh.us/index.htm
POPULATION: 128,852
AREA: 496.88 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.richlandcountyoh.us/coc.htm


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Sandusky
http://www.sandusky-county.org/
POPULATION: 61,792
AREA: 409.18 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS
http://www.sandusky-county.org/Clerk/Clerk_of_Courts/default.asp


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Seneca
http://www.senecaco.org/
POPULATION: 58,683
AREA: 550.59 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS
http://www.senecaco.org/clerk/default.html


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Summit
http://www.co.summit.oh.us/
POPULATION: 542,899
AREA: 412.72 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.cpclerk.co.summit.oh.us/welcome.asp


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Wayne
http://www.wayneohio.org/
POPULATION: 111,564
AREA: 555.36 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.wayneohio.org/clerkofcourts/index.php


COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Wood
http://www.co.wood.oh.us/
POPULATION: 121,065
AREA: 617.32 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
WEB ADDRESS
http://clerkofcourt.co.wood.oh.us/


We hope to eventually have all the counties listed here to prove the Johnson supporters were wrong during the election by saying that there were many Ohio Counties that do not have records on line. So far out of 20 Northern Ohio counties, 2 do not have their records on line. The count will continue.

With this article, past articles and future articles, it is obvious that Johnson is not doing her job.

To you the voter I ask: Does this look like she is doing the job that she was elected by YOU THE VOTERS AND TAX PAYERS of Erie County to do?