CLERK OF COURT WATCH: Erie County, Ohio

WHERE DOES ALL THE MONEY GO?

2011-11-06T15:19:00.042-05:00

Today's Sandusky Register had 2 excellent articles about the mess of the Erie County Clerk of Courts under the mis-management of former Clerk, Barb Johnson. The "$3MILLION DOLLAR MYSTERY" was on the front page and continued on A6 and the article "CLERK OF COURTS ALSO ENTITLED TO FUNDS" was found on page A6.

While we never wrote about "long-running system of negligence" (because we focused on the many other negligence that Johnson was doing to her office), with the $3 Million dollars in a STAR Ohio investment interest-bearing account, we did write about the money that is owed to the clerk's office that have never been collected. You can see that article in the part 4 of the 11 part series "Areas of Concern" here "COLLECTION ON ESTIMATED $700,000 IN OUTSTANDING COURT COSTS & FINES."

This alone, yet another of Johnson's "astonishing negligence," will indeed be a "Monuental Task" to clean up. Coupled with our other "11 Areas of Concern," which we have written extensively about in the past (see the left side bar for links to those articles), will be a TREMENDOUS burden on the new Clerk of Courts, Luvada Wilson. However, we feel that Wilson is not only up to the job, but also is more than capable of doing the job! Afterall, she has been instrumental in helping Judge Tone clean up the former Judge Anne Maschari's mess, and she has an impeccable work record (she actually shows up to work every day - hummm what a novel idea!). Even though this Johnson mess is a "Mt. Everest" compared to Maschari's "Ice Berg" mess, Wilson has the experience and knowledge to get the job done.....she just won't be able to get any sleep what-so-ever for the next 15-18 years!

In all seriousness, Wilson is the man (or should we say woman) for the job. And if she digs in and gets dirty right off the bat and shows significant progress, then we think she is someone we could endorse as a serious candidate for the job when she runs in 2012.

JOHNSON DIES BEFORE RETIREMENT

2011-10-31T20:33:00.002-04:00

Erie County Clerk of Courts Barabara Johnson has died. She was to retire on October 31, but passed away yesterday (Sunday, October 20).

Johnson had been battling health problems for 3-4 years. At this time, it is not known if she passed away at her home, the hospital, or a nursing home (which she had been in a year ago).

Read the SR article here.

To read Johnson's obituary, click here.

One of the bloggers on the SR website said it best:

Sam Adams (Oct. 31, 2011 @ 2:31 PM): "Mrs. Johnson was hopelessly inept at her job long before any claims of an illness, serious or otherwise.

Her poor job performance, however, in no way suggests that she was a bad person or that her friends and family aren't grieving today. I have never pretended I'd be less than thrilled to see her leave office. I am not remotely glad, however, that she's died. Condolences to all who will miss her."

EXCELLENT OP ED IN THE SR

2011-10-30T14:31:00.000-04:00

Today's Sandusky Register had an EXCELLENT op ed titled, "Johnson Exit Gives Dems Chance at Redemption."

In the piece, they say how the Erie County Dems can redeem themselves for over the past 22 years of ignoring her, "missteps and an abysmal failure to modernize or automate court records and procedures."

The op ed piece also stated how Luvada Wilson, the current person to fultill a 30 day term, would be an excellent choice to fill in the interim position.

We agree. For the Erie County Dems to make any other choice would be to show that they don't really give a crap about Erie County.

Let's see if they do the right thing.

NEW TEMPORARY CLERK

2011-10-28T14:31:00.000-04:00

Erie County Commissioners have selected a new temporary clerk to fullfill a 30 day term for Barb Johnson who recently retired as the Erie County Clerk of Courts. Her retirement (or resignation) begins October 31.

Luvada Wilson will serve a 30 day term. And if the Erie County Democratic Part Executive Committee (ECDPEC) had any brains, they will keep this women in this position to fulfill the remainder of Johnson's term which ends January 2013. Wilson has a law degree from the University of Toledo, and was the law clerk from 2006-present for Judge Tygh Tone. She was instrumental in helping Judge Tone clean up the mess that Judge Anne Maschari left behind (much like Barb Johnson's mess, except worse) when she was voted out of office in 2006.

Wilson has a great record and is up to the job. She also has an EXCELLENT work ethic and work history (she is un the job EVERY day).

Wilson also plans to run for the Erie County Clerk of Courts in the 2012 election. She has a year to prove herself, and we think she will do a great job at doing just that!

Good luck Luvada Wilson; and, "go get 'em tiger! !"

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

2011-10-22T10:21:00.000-04:00

We apologize for any inconvienance in the late postings of recent articles. We have been recently experiencing technical difficulties which we are trying to work out. Your patience in this matter is greatly appreciated.

BARB JOHNSON TO RESIGN - FINALLY! ! ! !

2011-10-21T10:47:00.000-04:00

Erie County Clerk of Courts Barbara Johnson told county officials that she will retire effective October 31.

See the Sandusky Register Story here.http://www.sanduskyregister.com/sandusky/news/2011/oct/20/erie-county-clerk-courts-resigns

Now let's hope the democrates choose wisely in their selection of Johnson's successor. This is a chance for the Erie County Democratic Party to redeem themselves after YEARS of supporting a botched and shambled office! The Erie County Commissioners will select someone to fullfill a 30 day term. During that 30 day term, the Erie County Democratic Party's Executive Committee (ECDPEC) will vote to determine who will fulfill the rest of Johnson's term.

We'll see if whoever the ECDPEC will earn their $53,000 per year salary any better than Johnson who was rarely (if ever) in the office.

This resignation (or retirement) should have happened YEARS ago (around 15 years ago) instead of today. If she would have done that, then the office would not be in the complete state of chaos that it is today. Well, we guess it's better late than never.....but it sure seems like never.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to Barbara Johnson for retiring and putting an end to this mess. Perhaps know, we will be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

QUARTERLY REPORT CARD: SUMMER 2011

2011-10-04T15:23:00.000-04:00

Below you will find Barb Johnson's grade card for her job performance for the period of July - September 2011.

ITEM GRADE

1. Attendance = 0

2. Records on line = 0

3. SSN & financial account numbers removed from hard copy case files = 0

4. Collection on estimated $700.000 in outstanding court costs and fines = 0

5. Address office understaffing = 0

6. Microfilming closed cases = 0

7. Improve customer relation skills of the staff = 0

8. Have case files properly filed away = 0

9. Monitoring program to keep cases from being illegally removed from the office = 0

10. Send staff to continuing Ed workshops to keep them on top of ORC changes = 0

11. Automated Phone System = 0

12. Over all Grade = 0 = F

Grade scale: 12=A+; 11=A; 10=A-; 9=B+; 8=B; 7=B-; 6=C+; 5=C; 4=C-3=D+; 2=D; 1=D-; 0=F

What else can we say that hasn't already been said?

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything.

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?

QUARTERLY REPORT CARD: SPRING 2011

2011-07-03T11:42:00.000-04:00

Below you will find Barb Johnson's grade card for her job performance for the period of April - June 2011.

ITEM GRADE

1. Attendance = 0

2. Records on line = 0

3. SSN & financial account numbers removed from hard copy case files = 0

4. Collection on estimated $700.000 in outstanding court costs and fines = 0

5. Address office understaffing = 0

6. Microfilming closed cases = 0

7. Improve customer relation skills of the staff = 0

8. Have case files properly filed away = 0

9. Monitoring program to keep cases from being illegally removed from the office = 0

10. Send staff to continuing Ed workshops to keep them on top of ORC changes = 0

11. Automated Phone System = 0

12. Over all Grade = 0 = F

Grade scale: 12=A+; 11=A; 10=A-; 9=B+; 8=B; 7=B-; 6=C+; 5=C; 4=C-3=D+; 2=D; 1=D-; 0=F

We had to give Barb an "F" in everything including attendance. She is not showing up for work enough to even earn a "1" (or "D-"). We know that the reason for her absence is due to her health and we also feel very strongly that due to her health she should retire and let someone else at the helm who can get that office in shape.

Since she has not been able to do any work, and there was a HUGE lack of accountablity on her part, resulted in "0" or "F" in all categories including this quarter for the "Attendance." She still refuses to retire or resign; as a result, putting the office into a further downward sprial.

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything.

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?

JOHNSON MAKES THE PAPER AGAIN! !

2011-05-16T10:17:00.001-04:00

Erie County Clerk of Courts Barbara Johnson has again made the local newspaper. We'll give you 3 guesses why. Nope, it wasn't for some prestigious award. Nope, it wasn't for performing well at her duties. OK, OK, we can't wait any longer, we'll just tell you - it is AGAIN for not doing her job (and that should be of no surprise to people who read this site on a regular basis).

In the Monday, May 16 edition of the Sandusky Register, in the article "County Commissioners Sued" Johnson is criticized for not letting Commissioners and Erie County Administrator Mike Bixler know that the suit had been filed in her office. The suit is over renovations that were made to the Erie County Care Facility.

The article states:

"Yet commissioners were clueless when the lawsuit hit home.

The lawsuit was filed in the Erie County Clerk of Courts office on (Thursday) May 5. The Register put in a public records request last Monday (May 9) to see the court document.

Then - only after the Register told them about the lawsuit - did county officals know they were being sued.

'It would have been a nice courtesy to let us know,' county administrator Mike Bixler said. 'It's like everyone knows.'

The Office isn't controlled by county commissioners. Rather, the often-absent clerk of courts Barb Johnson captains the office and ultimately has the responsibility to inform the county of when it's being sued.

That's usually done by sending a letter in the mail, county officials said.

They received the notice Tuesday, a day after the Register learned of the lawsuit."

It's difficult to believe that the voters voted her in for a 6th term after she has shown her total incompetence, and lack of managerial and lack of leadership skills in the past. Hopefully the 2012 elections will be different. Hopefully the citizens of Erie County will read this site and learn just how unqualified Johnson has been for this job over the past 20-plus years. So if you are reading these articles, pass this website information on to your family and friends. It's important that they learn what their tax money is paying for in the Erie County Clerk of Courts Office.

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything.

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?

QUARTERLY REPORT CARD: WINTER 2011

2011-04-04T10:30:00.002-04:00

Below you will find Barb Johnson's grade card for her job performance for the period of January - March 2011.

ITEM GRADE
1. Attendance 1
2. Records on line 0
3. SSN & financial account numbers removed from hard copy case files 0
4. Collection on estimated $700.000 in outstanding court costs and fines 0
5. Address office understaffing 0
6. Microfilming closed cases 0
7. Improve customer relation skills of the staff 0
8. Have case files properly filed away 0
9. Monitoring program to keep cases from being illegally removed from the office 0
10. Send staff to continuing Ed workshops to keep them on top of ORC changes 0
11. Automated Phone System 0
12. Over all Grade 0.09 = F

Grade scale: 12=A+; 11=A; 10=A-; 9=B+; 8=B; 7=B-; 6=C+; 5=C; 4=C-
3=D+; 2=D; 1=D-; 0=F

Barb has not been in the office from mid-September 2010 - Mid February 2011 (over 90 days and 40 days medical leave). We have confirmed reports that she was out due to health reasons. State law says that she only needs to be in the office one day out of 90.

Over the past 3 months she has only been in the office from Mid-February thru the end of March on a part-time basis. She never explained to anyone the reason for her absence (at least not until she was pressured by the commissioners and the Sandusky Register). Since she has not been able to do any work, and there was a HUGE lack of accountablity on her part, resulted in "0" or "F" in all categories except for the "Attendance" catagory where she received a "1" or "D-. "

Even after all this, she has refused to retire or resign and firmly states that she is still in charge; as a result, putting the office into a further downward sprial.

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything.

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?

COMMENT ON RECENT SR ARTICLE

2011-03-18T06:45:00.001-04:00

In the print edition of yesterday's SR was the article "Johnson: I'm Still Clerk," (3/17/11, page A2). In that article Johnson and the writer of the article (Andy Ouriel) said some things that we need to comment on.

The SR also had a much shorter article in their on-line edition "Clerk of courts back at work."

In that article, Johnson said, "I'm not keeping track of hours. I am coming in as often as I can."

So what she is really saying is that NOTHING has changed from the past 20-plus years: She has NEVER EVER kept track of ANYTHING in that office (most especially her hours - and in some cases some of her employees hours), and as in the past 20-plus years she is coming in as often as she can (see a previous article we wrote "Is Johnson Robbing the Tax Payers?").

The article says, "Erie County commissioners Bill Monaghan and Pat Shenigo meanwhile, said they've attempted to locate Johnson for some time and ask her why she didn't inform anyone of her whereabouts. But in the end, elected officials are their own bosses. They don't have to report to other elected officials."

She may not have to report to other elected officials, but she does have to REPORT TO US, THE TAX PAYER, AND HER BOSS! ! WE, as her boss, HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT THE HELL HAS BEEN GOING ON for the past 5 months. . . . . or even the past 20-plus years! !

Side Note: Erie County commissioner Tom Ferrell is also AWOL many times. Monaghan and Shenigo, while you're at it, why not ask Ferrell where he is most of the time? End Side Note.

Johnson said, "Do I feel when I'm out of the office that I have to inform people where I am and why I'm out? That is not required."

No one cares how you "FEEL" about informing people Barbara, that is part of your job as the head of that department to inform us of where you are, why you're out, and when you plan to return. You have NEVER done that - not even letting your own staff know so that when people come looking for you, they can give an intelligent answer when you plan to be back. You're right Barbara, it is not required, but it is a courtesy to your staff, and your bosses (us, the tax payers that pay your $53,000 salary). Interesting that the word "Courtesy" has the word "Court" in it - she has no courtesy for the court or her bosses.

Another interesting note, since her staff are also Erie County tax payers, they too are her bosses.

The article said, "Johnson refuse to say if the meetings actually took place (between Johnson, Monaghan and former auditor Tom Paul), but both men confirmed they met with Johnson."

Typical Johnson. She is hush, hush about everything. Again, she forgets time, and time again that WE are her boss, and as her boss, we have a right to know ANY AND ALL information about her office.

The article states, "For years questions have lingered about the operations in the clerk of courts office, with multiple county officials expressing concern about management of court records, finances and staffing. The most pressing issue, perhaps, relates to court records being placed online. Almost every Ohio county has made court documents available online, but in Erie County it's entirely unclear if that will ever happen."

We have an ENTIRE website right here on all of those issues. Pick an article (any article) and start reading! From the Eleven "Areas of Concern" to "Records online: Ohio's 88 Counties" to "Articles of Interest" (all in the left side bar). The voters need to start reading and educating themselves to see how incompetent this woman is as our elected official! ! The evidence is overwhelming! !

To the Sandusky Register: we would just like to point out the fact that she said during the 2008 campaign that she would have records online by early 2009 (and we can see that has not happened). Therefore, we are fully confident that as long as she is Clerk, getting records online will never happen.

The article goes on to say that according to Monaghan, "Sufficient funds exist in the clerk of court's budget to hire more employees to focus soley on uploading court documents online. Johnson disagrees. 'We have asked for years to get the money to put the court records (online),' she said. 'The clerk can't just put them on.'"

Barbara, we know you have had that money for the past 2 (or has it been 3) years now. But in typical Barbara Johnson fashion, you have done NOTHING about it. Is it because you don't know how to manage and lead your office (which you have proven time and time again), or is it because you are so overwhelmed by the mess you have created over the past 20-plus years, that you have no clue where to start or how to fix it.

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything.

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?

CLERK OF COURTS BACK TO WORK

2011-03-17T18:01:00.001-04:00

This article is in today's Sandusky Register:
Clerk of courts back at work
http://www.sanduskyregister.com/news/2011/mar/17/johnsonspeaks31711aoxml

As usual, there are some very good comments on the article and some. . . . . . . . . well, we'll just leave it at that.

SANDUSKY REGISTER EDITORIAL

2011-03-13T11:47:00.001-04:00

In today’s Sandusky Register, there appeared an extremely well written editorial by their Editorial Board (Douglas D. Phares, Publisher; Matt Westerhold, Managing Editor; Kathy Lilje, Features Editor; and Mike Schaeffer, Chief Design Editor). This editorial, while not able to be viewed on line unless you are a SR Online Subscriber, was in the Sunday, March 13, 2011 print edition on page D5. The title of the column was “WHERE IS BARB JOHNSON?” and is reprinted below:

“Erie County Clerk of Courts Barb Johnson has been out of the office for months with an unspecified illness.

While we wish her a speedy recovery, we would hope in her absence the department continues to serve county residents. If those duties are not being done effectively and efficiently, and if Johnson remains unavailable to perform the job county voters elected her to do, by law it’s time to move on.

For at least two years, Johnson has had funds available to hire two additional employees who could focus solely on posting court documents on the Internet, according to Erie County commissioner Bill Monaghan.

‘It’s not fair for the citizens of Erie County to not have an idea or a clear picture as to what’s going to happen in (Johnson’s) office,’ Monaghan said about Johnson’s extended absence.

Not fair indeed. While we respect Johnson’s privacy and need to tend to her personal matters, we have to object when it begins to interfere with how county government operates.

Are Erie County taxpayers getting their money’s worth from the Clerk of Courts? As evidence by the lack of progress in developing online records, apparently not. Even more troubling is the thought that other improvements in the department are likely on the back burner as well within the leader-less department. If the department can’t get it online, it’s time to get it in line – and soon.

Is it fair to want to know why Barb Johnson hasn’t been working? Send us a letter: See forum Guidelines on this page.”

Well, there you have it Ladies and Gentlemen. The only thing we would like to add is that she has actually been MIA for the past 20 plus years. We have already posted articles on this website about her lack of attendance, her lack of leadership, and receiving funds to put records on line. Here are a few of those articles we would like to resurrect from the past:

$37,000 TO PUT RECORDS ON LINE

JOHNSON'S ACHIEVEMENTS OVER THE PAST 20 YEARS

IS BARB JOHNSON ROBBING THE TAX PAYERS?

LEADERSHIP: DOES JOHNSON HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?

We hope the SR keeps on top of Johnson for they can help a lot to get her out of office in 2012. We here at Clerk of Court Watch firmly believe that no matter how sick she is, she will run again in 2012. We also believe that the voters will again vote her in office unless the voters are bombarded with this kind of information.

WHERE IS BARB JOHNSON?

2011-03-04T21:48:00.002-05:00

The following article appeared today in the Sandusky Register.

http://www.sanduskyregister.com/news/2011/mar/04/clerkjohnson3411aoxml

Actually, Barb has been MIA since mid September 2010. Mid September through mid February is over 140 days that she has been allowed (90 days according to state law plus the 40 day sick leave). We know about her medical condition. Unfortunately, because of the HIPPA law, we can not disclose that information.

Thanks to Andy Ouriel and the SR for a good article. Hopefully Andy and the SR will keep up the pressure on Barb to let the voters (her employers) know what her intentions are. The citizens deserve at least that from her! I firmly belive that she will never resign (for health or any other reason) because she is too embarassed to hand the office over to someone in the condition that it currently is in (and has been in for the past 20+ years).

On another note, we aren't sure what happened to her recent Quarterly Report Cards. We are looking in to that matter.

QUARTERLY REPORT CARD: FALL 2010

2011-01-04T14:44:00.000-05:00

Below you will find Barb Johnson's grade card for her job performance for the period of October - December 2010.

ITEM GRADE
1. Attendance 0
2. Records on line 0
3. SSN & financial account numbers removed from hard copy case files 0
4. Collection on estimated $700.000 in outstanding court costs and fines 0
5. Address office understaffing 0
6. Microfilming closed cases 0
7. Improve customer relation skills of the staff 0
8. Have case files properly filed away 0
9. Monitoring program to keep cases from being illegally removed from the office 0
10. Send staff to continuing Ed workshops to keep them on top of ORC changes 0
11. Automated Phone System 0
12. Over all Grade 0 = F

Grade scale: 12=A+; 11=A; 10=A-; 9=B+; 8=B; 7=B-; 6=C+; 5=C; 4=C-
3=D+; 2=D; 1=D-; 0=F

Barb has not been in the office since mid-September (over 90 days). We have unconfirmed reports that she is out due to health reasons. State law says that she only needs to be in the office one day out of 90, so only time will tell what will happen. She has filed paper work to extend her abscense due to health reasons.

Because she has not been in the office at all over the past 3 months, she has not been able to do any work, thus resulting in "0" or "F" in all categories.

Stay tuned folks, this could get good.

QUARTERLY REPORT CARD: SUMMER 2010

2010-10-04T11:12:00.001-04:00

Below you will find Barb Johnson's grade card for her job performance for the period of July - September 2010.

ITEM GRADE
1. Attendance 5
2. Records on line 0
3. SSN & financial account numbers removed from hard copy case files 0
4. Collection on estimated $700.000 in outstanding court costs and fines 0
5. Address office understaffing 3
6. Microfilming closed cases 0
7. Improve customer relation skills of the staff 0
8. Have case files properly filed away 0
9. Monitoring program to keep cases from being illegally removed from the office 0
10. Send staff to continuing Ed workshops to keep them on top of ORC changes 0
11. Automated Phone System 0
12. Over all Grade 0.72 = F

Grade scale: 12=A+; 11=A; 10=A-; 9=B+; 8=B; 7=B-; 6=C+; 5=C; 4=C-
3=D+; 2=D; 1=D-; 0=F

There is nothing new to say to expond upon. It's still "same-o'le - same - o'le."

QUARTERLY REPORT CARD: SPRING 2010

2010-07-03T10:00:00.000-04:00

Below you will find Barb Johnson's grade card for her job performance for the period of April - June 2010.

ITEM GRADE
1. Attendance 5
2. Records on line 0
3. SSN & financial account numbers removed from hard copy case files 0
4. Collection on estimated $700.000 in outstanding court costs and fines 0
5. Address office understaffing 3
6. Microfilming closed cases 0
7. Improve customer relation skills of the staff 0
8. Have case files properly filed away 0
9. Monitoring program to keep cases from being illegally removed from the office 0
10. Send staff to continuing Ed workshops to keep them on top of ORC changes 0
11. Automated Phone System 0
12. Over all Grade 0.72 = F

Grade scale: 12=A+; 11=A; 10=A-; 9=B+; 8=B; 7=B-; 6=C+; 5=C; 4=C-
3=D+; 2=D; 1=D-; 0=F

There is nothing new to say to expond upon. It's simply "same-o'le - same - o'le."

QUARTERLY REPORT CARD: WINTER 2010

2010-04-11T17:03:00.002-04:00

Below you will find Barb Johnson's grade card for her job performance for the period of January - March 2010.

ITEM GRADE
1. Attendance 5
2. Records on line 0
3. SSN & financial account numbers removed from hard copy case files 0
4. Collection on estimated $700.000 in outstanding court costs and fines 0
5. Address office understaffing 3
6. Microfilming closed cases 0
7. Improve customer relation skills of the staff 0
8. Have case files properly filed away 0
9. Monitoring program to keep cases from being illegally removed from the office 0
10. Send staff to continuing Ed workshops to keep them on top of ORC changes 0
11. Automated Phone System 0
12. Over all Grade 0.72 = F

Grade scale: 12=A+; 11=A; 10=A-; 9=B+; 8=B; 7=B-; 6=C+; 5=C; 4=C-
3=D+; 2=D; 1=D-; 0=F

As you can see, compared with the previous fall quarter, she has FAILED. Last quarter, her overall grade was a D-. This quarter's overall grade is also a F.

Her attendance has suffered this last quarter (went from a B+ to a C) and stayed the same in her addressing of office understaffing because she has only hired 1 person so far. She is allowed to hire 4.

And, as usual, there is nothing new in the other areas where she received "0." It just goes to show you that our "NOTHING" clerk is, for the most part, still doing "NOTHING" and getting paid by us, the tax payers for doing "NOTHING." I just wish we could get more work out of her for what we are paying her - you know, that $54,000 per year salary.

Now come on, really, would you expect anything more from our “NOTHING” clerk?

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything.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?

ANOTHER SR ARTICLE

2010-04-11T17:00:00.004-04:00

According to the Sandusky Register, it looks as if the Erie County Commissioners are going over Barb Johnson's head to get records on line. See the article here:

In the article, Johnson says, "I have nothing to say right now." That's because the commissioners are going over her head to get this job done. This is a job that she has had 10 years to do. But instead of doing something about it, our "NOTHING" Clerk has decided to do "NOTHING" about the problem, therefore, she has "NOTHING" to say right now.

How ironic.

Our Clerk of Court website already covered this in the following articles:

http://removejohnson.blogspot.com/2009/04/records-on-line-ohios-88-counties-part.html

http://removejohnson.blogspot.com/2009/02/areas-of-concern-part-1-getting-records.html

http://removejohnson.blogspot.com/2009/02/areas-of-concern-getting-records-on.html

http://removejohnson.blogspot.com/2009/02/areas-of-concern-getting-records-on_23.html

http://removejohnson.blogspot.com/2009/03/areas-of-concern-getting-records-on.html

Need we say more?

What will it take for the voters of Erie County to vote her out of office? Collecting her $54,000 a year salary and not doing the job! ! How many of us could get away with that with OUR employers?

Isn't collecting money for services rendered and not doing the service for which one is being paid, robbery?

I'm just asking. Where am I wrong with my thought process?

She hasn't worked at this job for the last 20 years. Why should she start now?

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything. 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?

FORECLOSURES DOWN IN ERIE COUNTY?

2010-03-21T17:00:00.005-04:00

While in the Clerk of Courts office last week, we were able to see the stacks of foreclosures sitting in the office waiting to go to sheriff's sale. There were over 200 foreclosures in the stacks of foreclosures. Now it is our understanding that the recently retired Anita was the main person in that office to have done the foreclosures. She would do 10-15 a week. Now that she has retired, we are told that Barb herself is doing them.

Mr. Porter wrote a letter to the editor of the Sandusky Register and he wrote about the "hard work that Mrs. Johnson" does. You can see our comments on Mr. Porter's letter here. Mr. Porter, we are about to show you yet another example of how Barbara Johnson is NOT doing her job, and is "hardly working" rather than working hard!

Anita retired Dec. 31 and as of this date, she still has not hired anyone to replace her: over two and a half months later. So in the mean time, Barb is doing the foreclosures herself.

The result: After 3 months, there are four (4) properties going up for sheriff's sale in April.

Compare that to the following:
December 15, 2009 - 3 sales
November 17, 2009 - 48 sales
October 20, 2009 - 69 sales
August 4, 2009 - 57 sales
June 23, 2009 - 48 sales
April 28, 2009 - 58 sales

So let's break down the numbers here. For a period of one year (April 2009 - April 2010) there were a total of 283 properties up for Sheriff Sales due to foreclosures. Some of those were canceled for various reasons, but that does not take away from the fact that even the canceled sales had to go through the COC office. This number of 283 properties is low due to the fact that the last 3 months of that one year period, there were only 4 properties in the Sheriff Sales for April 2010.

That number of 283 properties comes out to roughly 23 properties per month and 92 properties over a quarter (3 months). So before Barb Johnson took over handling the foreclosures herself, there were around 92 foreclosures every three months. The past three months with Johnson herself personally handling the foreclosures, there are FOUR (4). A HUGE drop from 92, and stacks of over 200 to go! ! !

Mr. Porter, we ask you (and other Johnson supporters) does this look like she is hard at work? We think not.

To you the voters we ask again: 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?

COMMENTS ON COMMENTS: 9

2010-03-21T15:30:00.002-04:00

We at Clerk of Court Watch need to respond to a Johnson supporter (Albert E. Porter) who wrote a very favorable letter to the editor of the Sandusky Register about Barbara Johnson. You can see the letter here.

First Mr. Porter says, "Recently I've read several letters talking about Mrs. Johnson, Erie County Clerk of Courts, and her handling of the clerk job.

I've learned it is so easy to criticize a person instead of looking at the real problem. The real problem isn't Mrs. Johnson or anybody else can't do anything without the necessary funds. See I have been down there myself and have seen first-hand the hard work Mrs. Johnson and her staff do."

Well, we can at least agree on one thing; her staff does indeed work hard. However, Johnson does not work hard at her job. If she did, her office would not be in the absolutely chaotic state that it is in at this time. It has taken 20 years for that office to get into the mess that it is currently in and that has been during all of Johnson's 6 terms!

Why has the office become so chaotic during Johnson's "tenure?" One of the big reasons is the fact that before the 2008 election, she was rarely in her office and was even overheard telling an employee that she only needs to be in the office 1 day out of 90. And that is exactly what she did! You can not run an office efficiently if you are rarely there. That is one of the reasons why the move from the 2nd and 3rd floors to a smaller space on the 1st floor was such a disaster.

She does not hire in new people to replace ones that retire or leave (even when she has the permission from the Commissioners to do so), she doesn't keep basic office supplies on hand for her staff to use, and then there are the "11 Areas of Concern" articles in our left side-bar. She was elected to lead and manage that office and she has failed miserably in doing so. She is to blame and no one else! The buck stops with her! !

So Mr. Porter, don't try to convince us that she is a hard worker, because the past 20 years she has not proven that. The only thing that she has proven is that she is our "NOTHING" Clerk! As the banner at the top of our website states, "She has done NOTHING over the past 20 plus years, and NOTHING has changed since the 2008 election."

Mr Porter continues: "Now when it comes to Mrs. Johnson personally, I have to look at her character. First she is a born-again Christian, trustworthy, honest, kind and is respectable. Some of us like to point fingers but never even take time to get to know the person."

We have already covered this "Good Christian woman" arguement in this article. Actions speak louder than words Mr. Porter and her "NOTHINGNESS" speaks volumes. As we said in April 2009, "What is in question are her management skills (or lack thereof) which has cost the citizens and tax payers of Erie County hundreds of thousands of dollars over her past 6 terms of over 20 years. This evidence will be gathered during the next 4 years and will be made available to the public for the 2012 election." Just because she is a Christian does not automatically make her a good manager and leader. Frankly, we don't care if she is Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddahist, Wiccan, or Satist. The bottom line is that she is NOT doing her job, period! ! ! !

Here is another point that we can agree on: Yes, she is a good Christian and she is kind. However, even though she would never deliberately take any money from the county (the trustworthy, honest and respectable issues), she has cost the county millions of dollars by not doing her job. So in that respect, she has robbed the tax payers.

Mr Porter concludes, "Mrs. Johnson is a person who will always give you her very best. I will take people with character any day over people with popularity."

Yes, we too will always take people with character over people that are popular. Barbara Johnson's character is not in question as much as her manager and leadership skills are. And those are two BIGGIES needed to run and operate that office.

As far as Mrs. Johnson always giving us her very best. . . . well, we think this entire website disputes that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

COMMENTS ON COMMENTS: 8

2010-02-23T11:22:00.002-05:00

The recent Sandusky Register article “Records a Wreck: Erie County Clerk of Courts Files Overflow Across the Street,” has had some very interesting comments left by readers. We would like to respond to another of those comments. We love it when Johnson supporters try to defend Johnson.

gramma of many homeschoolers wrote on Feb 23, 2010 10:01 AM:

"Had to check different discussions and seems to me like "noncomformist"states ,. . ."

OK Gramma, we don't know what you are even saying here.

"some people must not have any better things to do with their time than express rude remarks even as late as 3 am on all these blogs (You know who you are)"

I haven't come across any "rude" remarks. Many have expressed their anger and outrage at Barb for doing "NOTHING," but I haven't seen any "rude" remarks.

What difference what time of day people post comments?

"I think in the case of Barb Johnson even Rowdy wanted her out of there for years and he was right As far as the mess I think it's called "passing the buck"

Who is "Rowdy?" As far as "passing the buck," yep, Johnson is passing the buck by saying that she doesn't have enough man-power to do the job even though she has had past opportunities (permission from the Commissioners) to hire more people but failed to act on it. Check our article "Addressing Office Understaffing" which is Part 5 under the 11 Areas of Concern. When all is said and done, Barb was put in charge of the Clerk of Courts Office by the voters of Erie County. As the head of that office, "the Buck" stops with her.

"What about a team effort to get things done No matter who's in charge it's everyones obligation to get the job done as in any other place of employment."

Barbara already has an excellent team in place. It's called her office staff. She only needs to formulate a plan, and then execute that plan through her office staff. The problem is, Barbara is so overwhelmed by this mess, she has absolutely no clue where to start. So in her mind, doing "NOTHING" is better that fixing the problem.

"Come on people give the lady a break!"

We have given Barb Johnson a break for the past 20-plus years! How much more of a break does she need? Gramma, break time is LONG over. It's time to get to work and if Johnson can't do the job (which she has proven far beyond a reasonable doubt) then it's time to get someone in that position that can do the job!

STOP WASTING OUR TAX MONEY! ! !

COMMENTS ON COMMENTS: 7

2010-02-22T08:40:00.002-05:00

The recent Sandusky Register article “Records a Wreck: Erie County Clerk of Courts Files Overflow Across the Street,” has had some very interesting comments left by readers. We would like to respond to one of those comments.

Taxpayer wrote on Feb 22, 2010 9:00 AM:
"Let's see. The democrat liberals VOTED Barb Johnson into office.”

In our article “How Did Johnson Win?” we analyzed the 2008 election and how it was that Johnson won. There were many factors that played into her winning in 2008.

“She now BLAMES her performance on the previous Clerk of Courts. Hmm, sounds exactly like the current president.”

I did not notice in this SR article where she blamed the previous Clerk of Courts. As a matter of fact, I know of NO situation or time where Johnson has placed blame on the previous COC. I don’t think she would ever stoop that low. Her only crime is not having any experience, leadership, or managerial skills to do the job that she was elected to do.

“So HOW long has she been in office??”

She is currently serving her 6th term and has been the COC for the past 20-plus years (beginning in 1988).

“How many times will you miserable liberals continue voting her BACK into office??”

Again, read our analysis on the 2008 election mentioned above. However, not enough people knew the horrible job she is doing, so the “complacency voters” just automatically vote for the incumbent instead of doing their homework. It is our hope that this website will educate the voters by 2012 so they know who NOT to vote for!

“This is about the basic concept of PERFORMANCE and being QUALIFIED to do the job. She had PLENTY of TIME to learn the job and IMPROVE the process. All of you GET what you VOTE for…”

We couldn’t agree with you more. As we have mentioned over and over, she is NOT qualified to do this job. The past 20-plus years has proved that. She has had “Plenty of time” to improve her office, but if one is not in the office to improve it, then the office will never improve. That is one of the reasons why we feel she is stealing from the tax payers of Erie County as we talked about in the article “Is Barb Johnson Robbing the Tax Payers?”

COMMENTS ON COMMENTS: 6

2010-02-22T08:17:00.000-05:00

The recent Sandusky Register article “Records a Wreck: Erie County Clerk of Courts Files Overflow Across the Street,” has had some very interesting comments left by readers. We would like to respond to one of those comments.

One of our favorite comments came from “Santownresident.”

Santownresident wrote on Feb 21, 2010 5:12 PM:
"Im not a bleeding heart friend and i could care less if she's to blame or not. I just chose to speculate on the glass being half filled rather than half empty.”

Well Santownresident, you should care and you should care greatly since it is YOUR tax money being wasted. We covered that topic in the article “Is Barb Johnson Robbing the Tax Payers?”
As we mentioned in that article, during her first 20 years in office, she has literally thrown about $2 MILLION dollars out the window. That is $2 MILLION of YOUR money. What a waste!

“Innocent until proven guilty. Who knows how and why it went down other than the folks that work there.”

Santownresident, you don’t need to work there to know that she is “guilty as charged.” One does not need to work there to see that she is NOT doing her job. Just walk into that office and you can see for yourself. Go on the Erie County COC website and see for yourself that she STILL does not have records on line. What are we paying her to do? Our “NOTHING” Clerk only knows how to do one thing, and that is “NOTHING.”

"I think people are quick to paint her as lazy. . .”

No we here at COC Watch do not think she is lazy. She is underqualified, has no experience, has no leadership skills, and has no managerial skills to do the job. As a result, she is overwhelmed by the mess and has no idea or clue how to fix it. Lazy, she is not.

“. . .because.....ok here it comes....(the race card)....she's BLACK! There i said it, yea that's right! lol. "

We’ve been waiting for someone to pull the old “Race Card” out. The Race Card ploy is sooo old and lame now days. Not many people even pay attention to that none-sense anymore. We don’t care what color, race, or sex someone is. If you are not doing the job, then you do not deserve to have it. And Barbara Johnson has proved over the past 20 years that she can not do the job. Here’s a little “inside information” for you Santownresident, if we are successful in getting Barb out of office in 2012, then the next government official we are thinking of “exposing” is a WHITE MALE! ! ! (who will remain nameless at this time). Imagine that! !

People that use the race card only use it because they have been defeated and have no other defense to use. Why don't you or any other Johnson supporter comment on one of the "11 Areas of Concern" where the "Meat and substance" of our arguments are instead of grabbing at strings with the race card? Never mind, I'll answer that for you; it's because you can not argue against the truth and the facts that we have on this site, that's why.

You’ll have to do much better than the old “Race Card” trick with us!

SR GOES AFTER JOHNSON. . . AGAIN !

2010-02-21T14:00:00.001-05:00

Kudos to The Sandusky Register for again going after Barb Johnson and exposed a little more of her incompetence. This time it was in regards to the “Court Records a Wreck.”

Of course we already covered that here Part 8 in the 11 Areas of Concern.

Allow us to comment on a few things from the article.

1) “An online blog is devoted to discussing her job performance and was recently updated with an evaluation giving her an overall grade of “D.”

Actually, in the Quarterly Report Card: Fall 2009, we gave her a “D-” (D-Minus), one step away from total and complete failure which she just might achieve for the Winter Quarter Report Card!

It would have been nice if the SR actually recognized us by name along with the web address for those that might want to read more about this travesty!

2) Johnson said, “We do what we have to do…”

That’s right Barb. Doing “NOTHING” is all you are capable of doing! ! ! If you had been at your job back 5-7 years ago when the county was planning on moving the COC office and had actually DONE YOUR JOB, perhaps you wouldn’t be in this mess now! ! Instead, your lack of leadership and management has caused the COC office to be moved from small office space on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the court house to a SMALLER space on the first floor! ! What WERE you thinking! ? ! ? ! ?

3) “The records include civil, criminal and domestic case files dating back to the 1960’s, though most are from the ‘70s to the late ‘90s. Most stored in cardboard boxes – thousands of boxes containing tens of thousands of records.”

As we mentioned earlier, we covered this here back in August of 2009:

4) “In her 20 years as the county’s clerk of courts, Johnson said she’s never had the man – power to clean up the stacks of records.”

It is her JOB and RESPONSIBILITY to come up with a plan and execute that plan, instead of doing “NOTHING” which is what she does about everything! Oh sure, blame it on lack of man-power. However, as we mentioned in March of 2009 here the lack of manpower is YOUR own doing. Also, we have learned that you have permission to hire 3 more people and so far you have hired ONE! How’s that working out for you Barb?

5) “Few, if any, of the records have been archived or scanned into microfilm. In most cases, the paper records are the county’s only copy.”

We also covered this in March of 2009 here

A fire in the Hedges Building would destroy ALL of those records! That is pathetic and unexcusable! !

6) “Johnson said this has been her only option for records storage in recent years.”

Yes, if you can’t think OUTSIDE the box. . . or maybe if you are so incompetent that you can’t even think INSIDE the box. . . or perhaps she doesn’t even know how to think, period! ! ! ! THINK BARBARA, THINK! ! ! ! ! You can do it, I know you can! You have it in you SOMEWHERE. . . .well. . . . . . . . . . .maybe not. . . . . . . . . . .

7) Johnson said, “It’d be better to have everything in one place.” That’s a given. But this is the next best thing.”

No Barbara, having a clerk who gets paid $54,000 a year AND DOES THEIR JOB, is the best thing we the tax payers (and payers of YOUR salary) should have! ! ! ! There should be no “next best thing!”

Back on October 29, 2008, the SR had an online “Q&A Live: Clerk of Courts candidates answer your questions” and it was published here.

The first question was: What exactly does a Clerk of Court do?

Johnson answered: “The office is called Clerk of Courts. We are the record keepers for the court. In Common Pleas, Civil, Domestic, and Criminal Cases; file liens, receive passport applications, file notary commission . . .”

“We are the record keepers for the court.” That is what she said. And now you know how well she keeps those records!

The second question asked that night was: Can you name 4 qualifications that you have to be the Clerk of Courts?

Johnson answered, “I have worked in all areas of the office; started with titles, legal department, bookkeeper, and became Chief Deputy and Clerk of Courts. I have actually (sic) performed jobs in every area of the Clerks office. This is a job where experience matters, and my background allows me to lead with confidence and the needed expertise.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but I see NO experience with Johnson at the helm of that office. I see NO such leading with confidence, and I absolutely see NO expertise coming from her. She has proven this time after time after time. I don’t know how much more obvious she can make it that she is neither qualified, has no experience, and has no leadership or managerial skills needed to do this job!

As a matter of fact, the incompetence of this woman is absolutely mind-boggling! !

COMING SOON! !

2010-02-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

Coming Soon! Reaction to the recent Sandusky Register article, "Court Records a Wreck."

Stay tuned ladies and gentlemen, this will be good! !

SR GOES AFTER JOHNSON

2010-01-15T06:30:00.000-05:00

Well, it looks as if the Sandusky Register has gone after Johnson about her lack of response on the SR's records request. Check out the SR article here. We already covered this topic in this article where we stated,

"Notice to the Sandusky Register: Do not expect to receive that public records request - EVER. Why? The answer is simple: our "NOTHING" clerk will NEVER, EVER get around to getting that information to you because she is way too busy doing. . . . . . well . . . . . NOTHING . . . . . . . . . . "

Again, our "NOTHING" clerk, who get's paid $54,000 a year to do "NOTHING," is doing "NOTHING." The evidence is just sooooo glaring!

This current act of not doing her job should surprise no one as it has been going on for the past 20+ years. The SR should not sit back and wait for these records to come forth because, like everything else in that office, it just won't happen.

Barb should stop prolonging the agony and just retire IMMEDIATELY! ! Within the past 2 years, there have been a few of her best employees retire. Instead, it should have been Johnson that retired leaving her best employees and a newly appointed COC to clean up her mess!

QUARTERLY REPORT CARD: FALL 2009

2010-01-04T14:26:00.004-05:00

Below you will find Barb Johnson's grade card for her job performance for the period of October - December 2009.

ITEM GRADE
1. Attendance 9
2. Records on line 0
3. SSN & financial account numbers removed from hard copy case files 0
4. Collection on estimated $700.000 in outstanding court costs and fines 0
5. Address office understaffing 4
6. Microfilming closed cases 0
7. Improve customer relation skills of the staff 0
8. Have case files properly filed away 0
9. Monitoring program to keep cases from being illegally removed from the office 0
10. Send staff to continuing Ed workshops to keep them on top of ORC changes 0
11. Automated Phone System 0
12. Over all Grade 1

Grade scale: 12=A+; 11=A; 10=A-; 9=B+; 8=B; 7=B-; 6=C+; 5=C; 4=C-
3=D+; 2=D; 1=D-; 0=F

As you can see, compared with the previous summer quarter, she has stayed the same. Last quarter, her overall grade was a D-. This quarter's overall grade is also a D-. She did have improvement in one area: We gave her a C- in addressing office understaffing because she did hire someone to replace Sandra Brown in the Title Dept. She hired someone with no experience and sent them to another county (we think it was Lorain County) for an extended period of time to be trained. Our question is, who is paying this person while they are being trained in Lorain County? Erie County or Lorain County? Another question is when is she going to hire someone to replace Judy (who retired in Spring of 2008), Yvette (who left in August 2009) and Anita (who retired December 2009)?

However, even though there was one small improvement in one area, and stayed the same with her attendance, there is nothing new in the other areas where she received "0." It just goes to show you that our "NOTHING" clerk is, for the most part, still doing "NOTHING" and getting paid by us, the tax payers for doing "NOTHING." I just wish we could get more work out of her for what we are paying her - you know, that $54,000 per year salary.

Now come on, really, would you expect anything more from our “NOTHING” clerk?

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything.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?

FALL QUARTERLY REPORT CARD COMING IN 1 WEEK

2009-12-28T09:17:00.003-05:00

Barb Johnson's fall quarterly report card will be out in 1 week! Has Johnson's job performanced improved? If so, by how much?

Log in next week and find out.

Developing. . . . . . . . . . .

JOHNSON MENTIONED IN SR ARTICLE

2009-12-26T10:17:00.001-05:00

In this past Wednesday's (Dec. 23) Sandusky Register (page A-2), there was an article titled, "State Has Issues With Erie County Auditing." There really wasn't anything damning in that article. In a nutshell, the article was about how an Ohio Auditor report shows many problems with certain monetary procedures used by certain county departments including Clerk of Courts (Johnson), Treasurer (JoDee Fantozz), and Auditor (Tom Paul) offices.

The state auditor is just trying to prevent anything from happening like what happened in the Clyde-Green Springs schools where the former superintendent stole $300,000 from the school district.

However, there was one interesting sentence in the article, "Johnson has still not responded to a public records request a Register reporter submitted weeks ago. The information being sought: the clerk of court's bank statements, information the county auditor doesn't even have."

Could the Sandusky Register be investigating the estimated $700,000 in outstanding court costs and fines? We here at Clerk of Court Watch think that amount is on the low side. We are willing to bet that the cost is at around $2 million or even more.

Notice to the Sandusky Register: Do not expect to receive that public records request - EVER. Why? The answer is simple: our "NOTHING" clerk will NEVER, EVER get around to getting that information to you because she is way too busy doing. . . . . . well . . . . . NOTHING . . . . . . . . . .

FALL QUARTERLY REPORT CARD COMING IN 4 WEEKS

2009-12-05T13:36:00.002-05:00

The Fall 2009 Quarterly report card is coming in 4 weeks! Be sure to check in to see if Barb Johnson has improved in doing her job as Erie County Clerk of Courts, or is it still the same ole' same ole'.

Be sure to check the side bar under "Quarterly Report Cards" for the Winter 2009, Spring 2009, and Summer 2009 Quarterly Report Cards to compare and see if Johnson is improving in her duties and work ethics to us the tax payers (her employers), or if she continues to go down in a flaming ball of fire!

What will the Fall Quarterly Report Card bring? And yes, we continue to keep a "watchful eye" on her work even though we (for now) are not publishing weekly articles. Is it the same "Nothingness" or is she improving?

Stay tuned!

Developing . . . . . . . . .

THE LAST OF THE WEEKLY ARTICLES

2009-11-14T00:19:00.003-05:00

The article below (“Automated Phone System”) is the last of our weekly articles.

This is our 64th article since January 31, 2009. With about one article per week for the past 10 months, I think we have laid out very well why Barb Johnson is incompetent to have this position, especially for the past 20-plus years. As a matter of fact, we here at COC Watch have done more work in the past 10 months than Barb has done in the past 20-plus years. If Barb should choose to run again in 2012, there is enough factual evidence and information here for the voters to read and understand why she should not be re-elected for a 7th term in office. Enough is enough. Stop wasting our tax dollars and get someone in that office that knows what the hell they are doing. Get us someone in that office who can actually LEAD, WORK, and EARN their $54,000 a year!

This is not to say that we will no longer post any further articles. We will continue to post articles, just not on a weekly basis. We will continue to post her quarterly report card, and anytime something new comes up, we will post that as well. So continue to check back 2-3 times a month to see if there is anything new to read.

We WILL be posting again weekly (if not daily) during the 2012 campaign. THAT should be REALLY interesting.

But maybe we will be lucky, and Barb Johnson will retire soon. . . . .hopefully VERY soon; that would be a GREAT next article to have on this site.

AREAS OF CONCERN 11: AUTOMATED PHONE SYSTEM

2009-11-14T00:01:00.001-05:00

This is the last in the series of “Areas of Concern” which were brought to the fore-front in the November 2008 campaign / election.

The girls that work in the two front desks are overwhelmed by the phone, the public coming in, and doing their other daily tasks. They really don’t get any of their “other daily tasks” done when working at the front desk because the phone rings almost non-stop.

From what I have overheard while in the office, it sounds like MANY of those phone calls could be avoided; it’s just an ill-informed public that calls the COC office because they don’t know who else to call. And many of those calls are for the same thing: 1) Traffic violations for Sandusky Municipal Court; 2) Traffic violations for County Court (in Avery); 3) requests to look up service; 4) requests to look up status on a case; 5) requests to do criminal checks or searches (which the COC does not do anyway); 6) transfers to the appeals division, foreclosure division, criminal division and civil divisions.

An automated phone system would eliminate numbers 1-5 above and automatically transfer the calls to the correct personnel in number 6. This would free up 2 personnel to take care of other tasks in the COC office that need attention. An automated phone system does not cost that much money to implement; it is cheap to do and would save THOUSANDS of hours every year for COC personnel to take care of other things. In an office that is so strapped for personnel, this seems to be a no-brainer.

So what has Barb Johnson done about this since it was brought up during the campaign in 2008 (a year later). . . . . . . . . . . absolutely NOTHING!

Now come on, really, would you expect anything more from our “NOTHING” clerk?

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything.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?

AREAS OF CONCERN 10: SEND STAFF (OR INFORM STAFF) TO CONTINUING ED WORKSHOPS TO KEEP THEM ON TOP OF OHIO REVISED CODE CHANGES

2009-11-07T00:01:00.000-05:00

Under previous Clerks (Mary Eloise Evans and Collette Crouch) the staff in the COC office would occasionally go to workshops where they would be updated in particular laws and procedures pertaining to the COC office. The clerk would also receive information from the State of Ohio that she would pass along to her staff to keep them informed and up to date in said laws and procedures.

Under the “leadership” (cough-cough) of Barb Johnson, this has not taken place. One of Barb Johnson’s greatest gifts (besides being the “NOTHING” clerk) is being the “Non-Communicator.” Well, I guess that goes along with doing “NOTHING.” It has been “years,” as one employee told me about a year ago, since they have been to any workshop or Barb has told them of any communication she has received from the State of Ohio.

Well, when you think about it, for her first 20 years in office, she was rarely in the office, so how could she send her staff to any workshop or forward any other communication that she had received. Now that she is in the office almost daily, she still isn’t doing this. I guess old habits are just hard to break aren’t they Mrs. Johnson.

Don’t you wonder how much back in the 20th century these girls are working? Having not received any of this information from the State of Ohio for years, it makes one wonder how many things they are doing that are either: 1) not necessary, 2) not according to procedure, or 3) not lawful. It isn’t the staff’s fault; they are just going by the information they last learned or received (which was back in the days of Evans and Couch).

Well, if we, the citizens of Erie County are lucky, maybe Johnson too will see the tremendous amount of damage she has done over the past 20-plus years and retire….SOON. We can only hope and pray.

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything.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?

A VETERAN IS RETIRING

2009-10-31T00:01:00.002-04:00

COC Watch found out last week that veteran office worker Anita is retiring at the end of December 2009.

This comes as a stunning blow because Anita has been there for 30 plus years, working in the trenches day in and day out and knows that office inside and out. If anyone has experience in that office it is Anita and not Barb Johnson.

Anita is the supervisor in the Court Dept of the Clerk’s office, but according to a former employee, she must be in title only with absolutely no decision making power what so ever.

Apparently, Johnson has known about Anita’s pending retirement since September. Will she hire someone to take her place soon enough for Anita to train this new person, or will she wait until 6 months, a year, or longer to hire a replacement? Since it has been over 5 months since Title Office Supervisor Sandra Brown abruptly quit and Johnson has not yet replaced Sandra, we here at COC Watch are wagering that it will be AT LEAST 1 YEAR before Johnson replaces Anita.

Perhaps by then the County Commissioners will tell her that she can not hire any replacements because it took her so long to ask for the hiring, so it’s obvious that she doesn’t need that extra worker in the office. This in turn will just add MORE STRESS to the already overworked and overstressed office staff to try and pick up the pieces! ! But do you think that Johnson will get “in the trenches” and help her workers out? HELL NO! ! She is known for her creating havoc and chaos, then leaving the office for her staff to fend for themselves.

Speaking of Sandra Brown’s replacement, COC Watch has received information from an anonymous source that Barb does have resumes from people who have applied for that position. The question we have is, why would Johnson hire someone off the street who doesn’t know the job to be the supervisor of the Title Department? According to our source, there is an employee in the title office now named Peggy who knows that office and how it should be run. Why doesn’t Johnson make Peggy the new supervisor? Why hire someone off the street who doesn’t know how the Title Office works, or operates to be the supervisor?

(Sigh)….It’s just another example of Johnson’s incompetence as Erie County’s Clerk of Courts.

Well we at COC Watch wish Anita a happy retirement; Lord knows she has more than earned it working in those conditions.

Just when you think, “It can’t POSSIBLY get any worse! !” Then it does!

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything.

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?

COC WATCH IN SANDUSKY REGISTER FORUMS

2009-10-24T00:01:00.002-04:00

There was a blogger on the Sandusky Register Forum site that criticized this website and the Firelands 411 website. The Forum thread titled “Firelands411 and the ‘Remove Johnson’ blogs” where the creator of the thread, Oliver Hardy, states On September 27, 2009, that both this blog, and Firelands411 are “dead.” He feels that he was mistreated on the 411 blog, and upset with this blog for not providing more information on “threatening emails” by Elsabeth Baumgartner (which we had eluded to briefly in a previous comment).

His first comment was in reference to the COC article “Areas of Concern 8: Have Case Files Properly Filed Away”
Mr. Hardy’s August 19, 2009 comment was:
“Anonymous said... To ‘The Editor’
I am commenting for the first time here. I am researching the Elsebeth Baumgartner case and other cases. Please provide examples of "threatening emails" to Markus.
Oliver Hardy”

To which COC Watch replied on August 20, 2009:
THE EDITOR said...
Mr. Hardy –

I want to keep this blog on topic. Since this blog is about Barbara Johnson and not Elsebeth Baumgartner I do not want to get into a discussion about Baumgartner. I would love to discuss anything about Johnson. If you are doing research on EB, then I suggest that you google "Elsebeth Baumgartner threatening emails" and I'm sure you'll get a list of what you need there for your research.

If you have any comments and/or questions about Barbara Johnson and the Erie County Clerk of Courts Office, I would be more than happy to address those issues.”

A couple of days later (9/29/09), Mr. Hardy states on the same SR Forum thread:
“I recently checked out the "Remove Johnson" blog and saw four entries by the "Editor" of the blog with no responses from the readers. Nada, zilch, zero responses in almost a month.”

October 6, 2009, we responded to Mr. Hardy’s comments on the SR Forum:
“First, I did not create COC blog necessarily for people to have a discussion on (however if they want to and stay on topic, that is fine). I created the blog to educate the voters of Erie County on how Barb Johnson is not doing her job and needs to be voted out in the next election. It was created to be an information blog, not a discussion blog.

Secondly, the COC blog is far from being "Dead." I judge the success of the blog not by how many people comment on it, but rather how many people log on and read it. According to the "website hit tracker" that I use, July had 575 hits, August had 640 and September 595. That's an average of 602 hits per month and an average of 150 hits per week. That is all with no advertisement of any kind, just word of mouth. To me, that shows a pretty good success and that the blog is not dead, nor even dying.

I would expect (and hope) that the hits will increase overtime (as they continue to do) especially as we near the 2012 election.”

As the editor of this site, I stand by our policy that this sight is about Barb Johnson and is not meant to be a forum for Elsabeth Baumgartner or anyone else. It is about Barb Johnson, period.

I also stand by the fact that this is an “INFORMATIONAL” site, and NOT a “discussion” site. If people want to discuss Johnson and the COC, great, but that is not what is expected. INFORMATION is the purpose of this site; getting the public educated on how the current Erie County COC is being run so that Johnson does not get re-elected for a 7th term in office.

So there it is folks; the hits are high and climbing. If you want to comment, keep it on topic (Erie County COC and Barb Johnson).

Next week’s article will be about personnel changing in the office.

NEW ARTICLE NEXT WEEK

2009-10-17T00:01:00.001-04:00

Due to circumstances beyond our control, there will be no new article this week. Please check back next week for a new article.

QUARTERLY REPORT CARD: SUMMER 2009

2009-10-10T00:01:00.002-04:00

Here is Erie County Clerk of Courts Barbara Johnson's “Report Card” which covers July - September 2009.

QUARTER: Summer 2009
ITEM GRADE
1. Attendance = 9

2. Records on line = 0

3. SSN & financial account numbers removed from hard copy case files = 0

4. Collection on estimated $700.000 in outstanding court costs and fines = 0

5. Address office understaffing = 2

6. Microfilming closed cases = 0

7. Improve customer relation skills of the staff = 0

8. Have case files properly filed away = 0

9. Monitoring program to keep cases from being illegally removed from the office=0

10. Send staff to continuing Ed workshops to keep them on top of ORC changes = 0

11. Automated Phone System = 0

12. Over all Grade = 1

Grade scale: 12=A+; 11=A; 10=A-; 9=B+; 8=B; 7=B-; 6=C+; 5=C; 4=C-
3=D+; 2=D; 1=D-; 0=F

Well, slight improvement in some areas (attendance and addressing office understaffing), but nothing to brag about. She went from an F the previous 2 quarters to a D- this quarter; 11 months after being reelected. When it comes right down to it, "NOTHING" is still being done in that office as this (and previous) report cards show. Her attendance has improved dramatically, but is she doing with her time? Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money continues to pay her to do “NOTHING” about everything.

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?

A FORMER EMPLOYEE SPEAKS OUT: PART 2

2009-10-03T00:01:00.006-04:00

This is a continuation of last weeks article.

"6) The office was extremely understaffed. After hearing about the people that left and/or retired recently I can’t imagine the stress those girls are under now. Anyway, several years ago (before the current budget cuts) she received the OK from the County Commissioners to hire 4 more people for her office. She never hired a single person. She would continually take people from the Title Dept (which is technically run and paid for by the State of Ohio) and put them into the Court Office.

7) In all my years in that office, I think I can count on one hand the number of times she attended the Clerk of Courts Association (CCA) meetings. She rarely attended them and when she did, she did not pass the information on to her employees. Even when she received notices from the CCA about changes in the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) or other information that her office staff needed to be made aware of, she did not pass that information on to us.

8) Along the same lines, she never sent any of her staff to continuing Ed workshops (usually put on by the CCA). As a result, we were “behind the times” when it came to Clerk of Court procedures.

9) She seemed to pride herself in being “fiscally responsible.” Every year she would turn money back into the commissioners that she never used. Yet getting her to buy us basic office supplies that we needed was worse than pulling teeth. A few examples: 1) We would continually run out of Stationary, or legal forms, because she would not re-order them (and she would never let her supervisors order them either); 2) We would get a lot of paper coming into that office, and a lot of paper for one court case. We would need a special stapler that could staple a 100 (or so) pages together for a single case. We had just one of those staplers for the entire office (and this was the entire North side of the Court House) so if we needed the stapler, we would have to run around the entire office to see who had it so we could use it. I checked into the price of those staplers, and if I recall correctly, they were around $60.00 a piece. She refused to order another 1 or 2 of those for the office. Likewise, the scanner for the computer (one for the entire office) was antiquated and she would not order a new one or one for the 3 sections of the office. Knowing how Barb operates, I doubt they have a new scanner or 2 or 3 to date.

10) She would never, ever show appreciation for her employees or back them up. If someone came into the office to complain about how something was done, instead of explaining why it was done that way (according to the ORC or local rules) she would try to appease the person by doing it the way the person wanted. Most of the time, she did this because she herself did not know the ORC or the local rules well enough, and she certainly would never ask her staff because that would have made her look stupid. So she would make things up as she went along. She would rarely take any advice from any of her staff who were the ones there everyday and knew their jobs and what they were doing; at least as far as we knew with the very limited information she would give us.

11) Her supervisors are supervisors in name only. She never gave them any responsibility or authority to do anything. Her supervisors hold no more authority than any other girl in that office. She was the only person allowed to make any decisions in the office. The only problem was, she had an extremely difficult time making any kind of decision about anything and she was never in the office to know what was going on or what to decisions needed to be made. And the few times that her supervisor made a decision, she would over rule it and do the complete opposite and sometimes even reprimand the supervisor for doing what they did. I felt sorry for the supervisors because it was a lose-lose situation for the them. I was so glad that I was not in their shoes!

Anyway, like I said before, there is life after the COC office, and I hope that those girls either retire, or find another job because the job in that office is really “hell on earth” which is too bad because it doesn’t need to be that way. As I said before, there is life after the Clerk of Courts office.

These are just a few of my thoughts. I will email you any other memories or thoughts that come to mind.”

(signed)

A former Erie County Clerk of Court Employee

(and glad to be former)”

To reiterate what I wrote previously, this really backs up much of what we have said in the past…and much more!

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything.

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?

A FORMER EMPLOYEE SPEAKS OUT: PART 1

2009-09-26T00:01:00.002-04:00

We at Clerk of Court Watch, received the following email from a former employee of that office. This really backs up much of what we have said in the past…and much more! This article stems from a comment left by this former employee in this article, and the request I made to this person here. This email really speaks for itself:

“I worked in the Erie County Clerk of Courts office for many years. I left the office before the 2008 election. During that time, I continually witnessed the office spiral out of control due to Barb Johnson’s lack of caring, lack of motivation, and lack of experience. I would like to make the following points about the COC office and how it is run under Barb Johnson:

1) According to State Law, a public official only needs to be in their office 1 day out of 90. Barb Johnson is paid $55,000 a year, and she was hardly ever in her office. There were many, many times where she would call the office shortly after we opened for the day and say that she would be in around 10:00, or 11:00 and wouldn’t come in until 3:30 or even 3:50 just so she could say she was in that day (Editors Note: the office closes at 4:00). She was hardly ever in the office. I realize that during a portion of that time that she was the sole care-giver of her ailing dad, and husband. I heard her say numerous times something to the effect, “I’m so glad I have this job that allows me to stay at home and care for him,” which I wanted to respond, “Yeah, would you allow any of us girls to do the same? I don’t think so!” As you have mentioned on your web site in the past, she has robbed the tax payers, because who among us could work so little and still get paid their full salary? Why is it OK for her to do that and still receive a full salary, but not OK for any of the other office workers? My feeling was, if she needed to stay at home and take care of her ailing father and husband, she should have retired to do so – she definitely had the years in to retire. According to your website, she is in almost everyday, but not getting any work done (why doesn’t that surprise me).

2) It also seems from your web site that her attendance record is much improved, yet she still is not doing anything to “manage or lead” (as you have stated in the past) the office. This sounds like Johnson, because she was out of the office so much, when she was there, she had no idea what to do about anything. Due to her poor attendance record, she did not run the office very effectively and with virtually no supervision, leaving her staff to fend on their own. She did not even have a Chief Deputy Clerk position authorized in her staffing to manage and supervise her office. She did have a supervisor and an assistant supervisor in the office, but they were there in name only because they had absolutely no power to do anything. There were a few times where I saw that she had reprimanded a supervisor over something that the supervisor had handled correctly, but it seems that Barb wanted to exert her “power” and belittle the supervisor. As a result, the supervisor eventually stopped supervising because she never knew when she would be reprimanded for doing something correctly.

3) Because of her poor attendance record, she never got things done, nor did she follow through with things that were strongly encouraged by commissioners or her staff such as: 1) automated phone system; 2) employees sick and vacation time; 3) hiring more help or replacing help that has left; 4) reconciling the checking account with outstanding cases; 5) collect court costs that are owed (estimated to be at $750,000 or more); 6) ordering basic supplies for the office; 7) getting the dockets on-line (she’s been talking about doing this since 2000); 8) getting old records/cases either scanned into the office computers, or microfilmed). 9) Better security measures for the office. I believe that some of these have already been covered on your website.

4) She had a problem keeping accurate records of her employees sick and vacation time. When I left the office a couple of years ago, none of her employees knew how much sick and vacation time they had. As a result, some of her employees had taken more sick and vacation time than they were allowed possibly costing the tax payers thousands of dollars.

5) She usually showed up to county meetings late (if at all), and when she did show up, she sat in the back of the room and usually did not participate in the meetings.”

This article will be continued next week.

AREAS OF CONCERN 9: MONITORING PROGRAM TO KEEP CASES FROM BEING ILLEGALLY REMOVED FROM THE OFFICE

2009-09-19T00:01:00.000-04:00

One of the 11 Areas of Concern that were brought up in the Fall 2008 campaign for the Erie County Clerk of Courts was the fact that there is no monitoring system in place to keep cases from being illegally removed from the office. This simply is a case of putting in place a system similar to what public libraries, stores, or movie rental places have in place to keep books, movies, or unpaid store merchandise from leaving the premises without first proper checking out and / or paying for said goods.

There have been numerous times over the years where there have been files that have come up missing. Most of the time (but not all of the time) the files have been found either in the Judge’s office, or Mrs. Johnson’s home (Tsk, Tsk, Barbara, you know those files are suppose to stay in the Court House). I have heard over the years that there were a few files that (last I heard) were never found. Right now, it is very easy to walk into that office, find the file that one wants, slip it into their brief case and walk out with no one having any knowledge to what just happened. Not only is it bad policy to let files out of that office, it is against the law; with the exception of Judges who are allowed to have them in their office.

If a monitoring system was put in place, this would never be a problem again; even the Judges offices would have to “sign out” files. But then why would you expect our “NOTHING” clerk to do anything about this problem? After all, over the past 20 years, she has done “NOTHING” about everything.

She either has no clue as to what to do, or where to begin, or she is just completely overwhelmed by how bad that office has gotten over the past 20 years that she has been in charge, and she really doesn’t know where to start or how to begin cleaning up her own mess.

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything.

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?

Next week’s article will be about another possible devastating blow to that office. Stay tuned folks; it just keeps getting worse and worse.

NEW ARTICLE NEXT WEEK

2009-09-12T00:01:00.001-04:00

Due to circumstances beyond our control, the next article for this site will appear next Saturday, September 19.

Feel free to comment on any of the MANY already existing articles. After all, over the past 7 months, we have done more work on this web site, than our "NOTHING" clerk has done over the past 20 years in office.

DOWN THREE PERSONNEL AND COUNTING

2009-09-05T00:01:00.000-04:00

There have been numerous times over the past several months of this blog site’s existence that we have mentioned how over – worked and understaffed the COC office has been over the past several years. Let’s fast forward to 2008.

In the first half of 2008 there were 3 employees in the Clerk of Courts office who retired. Now when one retires, a good leader would hire someone 2-3 weeks BEFORE the person retires so that the retiree can train the rookie.

Not in the COC office.

Three employees retired in the first half of 2008, and Johnson hired 2 people to replace the retirees a few months AFTER the retirees retired. The third employee to have retired has never been replaced.

So that puts the office staff down by one.

Then, as was mentioned in this article, the supervisor of the Title Dept., Sandra Brown, abruptly quits sometime in May 2009. As of the end of August 2009, there has been no replacement for Mrs. Brown.

That puts the office staff down by two.

The past several weeks I have noticed that another employee has not been in the office. I was told that she too has resigned from her position with no one hired to replace her.

That puts the office staff down by three.

So here we are down three with no replacements. They are dropping like flies in that office! ! ! Now the question is whether she has not replaced these employees because the commissioners won’t allow her to do so due to budget cuts, or she has not replaced these employees because she has never gotten “around to it” or (as the age old joke states) “a round Tuit.” Knowing her “NOTHING” attitude, I’m willing to bet that it’s the latter.

IF Barb Johnson had been a good manager/leader and in the office everyday for the past 20 years and learned the ins-and-outs of the office, she would have known how to handle situations like this. This is just proof how she has absolutely NO EXPERIENCE what-so-ever in managing that office even though she has been placed in charge of that office by the voters for the past 20 years! !

Well, now the overworked and stressed office is already down by three with no relief in sight. There are 2-3 girls in that office that are surely eligible for retirement (one in particular who has been there for over 30 years). The question is: will Johnson hire some new faces or wait until well after these 2 or 3 girls retire to let the office staff drop to 5-6 before she begins to even think about what is best for the office. With Johnson seemingly being disinterested in hiring replacements, that sends a message to the County Commissioners that she really doesn’t need the help, so why should they give her the green light to hire replacements? After all, there is a budget to cut and she brings the “perception” that she can do with less help.

This drop in office staff personnel, along with records not being on line, is a cause for great concern for Erie County tax payers who pay her salary. She is NOT doing her job, and yet she still gets paid……for doing “NOTHING.” How many of us can do that at our jobs?

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything.

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?

LEADERSHIP: DOES JOHNSON HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?

2009-08-29T00:22:00.001-04:00

Anyone in an elected position is suppose to be a leader. From the President of the United States all the way down to a city council member or a city commission member. This is also true of our county elected officials. So that puts Barbara Johnson in this category since she is an elected official. Barbara Johnson – leader. She leads the Clerk of Courts office.

What is a definition of a leader? According to Mr. Webster, a leader is “a guide, a commander. Someone who shows the way; to direct; to persuade; to tend to….”

The February 2009 Reader’s Digest (pg. 180) has some excellent quotes on LEADERSHIP. Some of them are:

Doris Kearns Goodwim: “Good leadership requires you to surround yourself with people of diverse perspectives who can disagree with you without fear of retaliation.”

Well, Barbara Johnson is surrounded by people with diverse perspectives. Can they disagree with her without fear of retaliation? Or does she just not listen to them?

Rev. Theodore Hesburgh: “You have to have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.”

From what I’ve seen, Johnson has no vision. If she does, she obviously does not articulate it clearly and forcefully. She is blowing an uncertain trumpet.

Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm (Michigan): “Sometimes leadership is planting trees under whose shade you’ll never sit.”

Forget about Barb planting trees….or planting ANYTHING for that matter. Remember, she is our “NOTHING” clerk because in the past 20 years, she has (and continues to do) “NOTHING!”

Gen. Bruce Clarke: “When things go wrong in your command, start searching for the reason in increasingly large circles around your own two feet.”

Well, Johnson doesn’t have to look at increasingly large circles around her own two feet; she just needs to look at her own two feet! !

H. Ross Perot: “Inventories can be managed, but people must be led.”

It is obvious that Johnson has no idea how to lead. That office is like a ship without a captain / an army without a general: there is absolutely NO leadership in that office whatsoever. One would think that one of the supervisors would at least step up to the plate and lead, but that has not happened. Why? It must be for one of two reasons: either they are not able (which I find hard to believe) or they are not allowed (which I would suspect to be the case).

If she were a true leader, she would have put one of her seasoned veteran employee into a position to “Manage the office,” so that she could actually then have the time to “Lead” the office. But anyone who is in that office on a regular basis will see that is not the case. She has proven over the past 20-plus years that she doesn’t lead, and she has no idea how to lead. After all, why would the “NOTHING” clerk want to do anything about anything, especially leading a county office that she was elected to be in charge of.

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything.

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?

STOP THE TRAIN ! ! WE NEED TO CHAT ! !

2009-08-29T00:01:00.000-04:00

To the person who left the comment below from last week’s article:

“As a former employee in the COC office, I can say that the information on this website is not only accurate, but it is just the tip of the iceberg. I will write more at a later date because I don't have the time right now. All I can say is that life is much better since I left that place. There is life outside of the COC office! I urge the girls in there to either retire or find another job because when you do, your life will be so much better and stress free! !

Former COC employee”

Please email me at votejohnson.out12@yahoo.com because we need to chat! !

OPEN THREAD

2009-08-22T00:01:00.002-04:00

I thought it would be good to have an open thread where you can comment on anything pertaining to this web site, or Barbara Johnson and her work as Erie County Clerk of Courts. After just under 7 months time, there has been A TON of information posted on this site (and more to come!). I think that after 7 months time, I have done more work on this site than Johnson has done in her 20+ years as Clerk! I will respond to comments within a week or so.

So, what do you think? Do you agree with the information on this site? Do you disagree with it? Why do you agree or disagree? Do you think Johnson is doing a great job, a good job, an ok job, bad job, or not doing her job at all, and why. Especially for you Johnson supporters, let's hear from you. Here's another chance for you to take the floor. I know there are other "Watchdogs" out there as well (people who know Johnson and do not like how the office has fallen apart over the past 20 years). This is your time to talk about your experiences with that office.

So let's hear it. Your thoughts please………………………………….

AREAS OF CONCERN 8: HAVE CASE FILES PROPERLY FILED AWAY

2009-08-15T00:01:00.005-04:00

I hate to sound like a broken record, however, it looks like our “Nothing” Clerk, Barbara Johnson continues to do “Nothing” about everything including having case files properly filed away. Our “Nothing” Clerk, Barbara Johnson, has done “Nothing” about this because “Everything” is the same.

How’s this for starters. If you are going to the COC office to look up a particular case, there are three different locations in which to do your “hunt.”

First, start in the main COC office. If it’s a more “current” case, you can check where the files are kept in the office. If you have no luck there, check the many, many boxes filled with case files sitting all over the office. If THAT doesn’t work, then ask one of her staff; perhaps one of them have it on their desks. You can also have one of her already overworked staff call around to the judges offices to see if any of them have it. Though this was very common when former Judge Anne Maschari was in office (she had case files in her chambers dating back to 1979), this is not so common any more.

Still no luck?

Well, never fear, because if it is an older case, the case file you are looking for could be over in the Hedges Building on Columbus Ave., across the street from the library. Just ask one of the already over worked staff to take you across the street to help you search for it. Hey, maybe you’ll be lucky and the weather will be nice for your little jaunt to the Hedges Building. If not….Oh well…..It sucks to be you I guess.

Now if you’re looking for a REALLY, REALLY old case (for historical research), just ask one of the already over worked staff to take you up to the 3rd floor of the Court House to the offices of Judge Tone (which was the former COC office).

Speaking of former and current COC office, why would Barbara Johnson (our COC who is soooo qualified to have this job) sign off (basically saying it’s OK) to move her office from the 3rd floor (where they were bursting - at - the – seams for space) to a SMALLER office space on the 1st floor without having a sensible plan for ALL the case files? If she had any experience, listened to others, or even asked other COC in other counties, she could push for a “Records Retention Center.” But no, it’s just easier to have the citizens (which she prides herself on her “customer relations”) go chasing around on a wild treasure hunt.

WAIT! ! THAT’S IT! ! While searching for a particular case file, if you think of the entire experience as a “Treasure Hunt,” then this could actually be a really fun experience! And just think how good you would actually feel about yourself once you found your “treasure! !” See it could be a “feel – good – about – yourself” exercise. And these days, everyone needs to have those!

Seriously, she has had about 4 years since the move from the 3rd floor to the 1st floor and since the Nov. 2008 election (where she was called out on this) to correct this problem. Unfortunately, our “NOTHING” clerk has failed at doing her job yet again.

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything.

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?

COMMENTS ON COMMENTS: 5

2009-08-08T00:01:00.002-04:00

Before we get to a comment that someone left, I would like to point out that after a week, not one Johnson supporter left a comment after last week's article. Why? Could it be that they could not find any facts or evidence to back up what they say? Or, could it be that they have come to their senses and realize how bad the COC office is and that it is all Johnson's fault?.....................NAW, I think it's the former. At any rate, it's interesting that not one supporter commented (not even Johnson herself disguised as a supporter).

Now, onto this very interesting comment that an anonymous poster left in last weeks article:

August 1, 2009, 11:48 PM:
"I found this site while trying to find a link to online records for the Erie County Clerk of Court. There are no online records for the Erie County Clerk of Court's office!! WOW! Even in Stark County, where the unemployment rate is 12.1% and we're losing large businesses left and right, we STILL found the money to put our records online and our Clerk of Court Nancy Reinbold does a fantastic job in keeping with the duties of her office. Wouldn't it be fantastic if some Clerks of Court from other counties were required to form a peer review board in order to evaluate their counterparts in other counties? I think that is an idea worth pursuing. Good luck with this! Something in Erie County is certainly fishy with regards to this office."

The first line that jumped out at me was: "Even in Stark County, where the unemployment rate is 12.1% and we're losing large businesses left and right, we STILL found the money to put our records online and our Clerk of Court Nancy Reinbold does a fantastic job in keeping with the duties of her office." Yes, Erie County's unemployment is right up there as well. The BIG difference is that Stark County clerk Nancy Reinbold does the job that she was elected to do, and she no doubt knows how to manage and lead her office. She does what ever it takes to acquire the funds needed to get the records on line.

Whereas Johnson does not have a clue how to manage or run her office. She has proved that time and time again over the past 20-plus years. If she did know what she was doing, that office would not be in the chaotic mess that it is in today. Johnson would have investigated in how to acquire the funding needed to put records on line by talking to other COC in the state; but no. Perhaps she thinks that if she did that, she would appear to her piers as being weak and not knowing her job which would not be the case at all; it would simply prove that she is investigating her options. It would also show that she is truly working towards the goal of getting records on line. She would be actually doing some "INVESTIGATIVE WORK" to obtain much needed information.

That information certainly won't come to her in the middle of the night in a dream.............well, OK, MAYBE it will, but I seriously doubt it. But then....she and her other supporters claim that she is a "Good Christian Woman," so who knows, perhaps God will speak to her in a dream and give her all the information she needs to get the job done. I mean, maybe, just maybe she's been waiting for an answer from God for the past 20-plus years! ! ! Maybe we just need a little more time! ? ! ?

Then the commenter goes on to say, "Wouldn't it be fantastic if some Clerks of Court from other counties were required to form a peer review board in order to evaluate their counterparts in other counties? I think that is an idea worth pursuing." Now that is one of the best ideas I've heard in a LLLLOOOONNNNGGGG time! ! ! Can you imagine the pressure Johnson would come under if she was reviewed by her own peers? And then that information can be made public at election time! ! ! GAWD, I LOVE THIS IDEA! ! ! !

Now Johnson supporters, it's not too late to leave your comments. Actually, you can leave your comments anytime. I really look forward to reading them.

CALLING ALL JOHNSON SUPPORTERS

2009-08-01T00:01:00.009-04:00

Over the course of this website (the past 6 months) we have had a few Johnson supporters leave comments. Some of the articles which they have left comments are: "Web Traffic Increase," "Open Thread," and "Quarterly Report Card: Winter 2009" just to name a few.

I am opening this up to any and all Johnson supporters. This is YOUR chance to voice your opinion. Leave a comment as to what we have put up on this site that is wrong...but be prepared to back your statements up with facts!

Some Johnson supporters in the past have said that everything on this site is a lie. Well, explain why (supported of course by evidence to the contrary). There are 48 articles so far on this site. Let's here from you, Johnson supporters. Show your true support for Barbara Johnson and state your case in the comment section at the end of this article. WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! !

I know you are out there and log on this site; now speak up and be heard! !

ANOTHER GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL WHO DOESN'T LIKE TO WORK ! !

2009-07-25T16:27:00.003-04:00

A reader sent this article to me several weeks ago about Cleveland Municipal Clerk of Court Earle Turner. It looks as though Barbara Johnson and Earl Turner have something in common: neither likes to work!

Actually if one does a search on the Cleveland Plain Dealer web site, it looks as if Turner is just as bad as Barb Johnson, if not (maybe?) worse. There are a whole slue of articles on his mismanagement of that office.

It’s really too bad that the Sandusky Register and the Morning Journal don’t follow Johnson more closely like the Plain Dealer follows Turner. It's not that tough to do. If I can do it, so can they!

Where as Johnson is voted into office, Turner is appointed to office. I would say too bad, but then look at how the “blind” voting for Johnson has been here in Erie County for the past 20 years!

The good news is that I can say that Johnson’s attendance has improved since the election. The bad news is that “NOTHING” continues to get done in that office and that is why she is and remains today as our “NOTHING” Clerk! Take a look at her quarterly report cards so far for Winter 2009 and Spring 2009 and the only thing that has improved since the 2008 election is her attendance; although, the past few weeks have been slipping. Will she go back to her old ways and be like her “colleague” Earl Turner with her attendance? Only time will tell. But knowing that she is being watched and being held accountable for her “NOTHINGNESS,” you would think that she would straighten up and start to get things done. But, unfortunately, its the same crap just a different day.

What would happen to you or I if we performed the duties of our jobs in this same way?

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING.”

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?

COMMENTS ON COMMENTS: 4

2009-07-18T00:01:00.004-04:00

I was going to respond to Julie R in the comment section, but again it was too long. Also, this way I can leave web page links.

Julie R left a comment at the end of last week’s article claiming that recently during her probate issue she contacted Jo Dee Fantozz (county treasurer), Tom Paul (county auditor), Sheriff Terry Lyons, another official at the Sheriff’s Dept., and Barb Johnson. Some of these individuals either blew her off by refusing to speak to her, were out of the office and never returned phone calls, or were very unhelpful and “belligerent.” She claims that Barb Johnson is the only person that took the time to help her and get back to her.

First off, I would like to point out that it’s about time Barb did SOMETHING in that office. I have seen a “few times” over the “years” where she will bend over backwards for people that come into the office with a problem or complaint. But that’s all she ever seems to do because she definitely doesn’t seem to get anything else done, not does she seem to help other county officials or even her own staff.

Then, Julie R goes on to say, “The point I am trying to across here is----BARB JOHNSON IS THE ONLY ONE THAT MADE ANY ATTEMPT TO HELP AND TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF WHAT WHEN ON HERE BETWEEN THE COMMON PLEAS COURT, (BINETTE) SHERIFF LYONS AND A DIRTY ATTORNEY FROM CLEVELAND TO COVER UP FLAT-OUT FRAUD ON PROPERTY. And you think Barb Johnson is the PROBLEM in this County? I don't. But I sure can tell you the names of the people that ARE! And the Erie County Probate Court is included.”

As I have mentioned before on this site, (also in response to one of Julie R’s comments) about holding other elected officials accountable, “I couldn’t agree more! I too think that web sites should be done to ALL elected officials to hold them accountable.”

As I have also mentioned before, I have chosen to “watch” the Clerk of Courts office because this office has a particular effect on my life / business. Is she the only lousy elected official? HELL NO! But, as I said, she has a direct effect on my business, so that’s why I chose her. Perhaps after she looses the 2012 election, I’ll choose another government official to watch and start a blog about that office.

Julie R, I can see where you may be having a problem with some of these elected officials. I have strongly encouraged and suggested numerous times to start a blog about it. If your story is as accurate as you claim, then the citizens need to know ALL the details from beginning to present. This would be helpful to the “intelligent” voter (the ones who actually do their homework before elections and vote with their brains instead of party line) come election time. In the comment section on this article , you wrote, “This is why I have decided to take your advice and start a blog about the unfair legal abuse that is going on this county.”

Have you done so yet? If so, email me the link so that I can take a look at it.

In closing, I just want to reiterate that I think ALL elected officials need to be watched and their job performance should be continually monitored and reported to the citizens/tax payers WHO ARE THEIR EMPLOYERS. I have chosen Johnson to monitor, I would hope others will choose other elected officials to monitor as well. We need to take back OUR government one elected official at a time, not all at once. Someone else tried to take on everyone at once and they crashed and burned. As another blogger said, “we need to fight this war, one battle at a time,” and Johnson is the one “battle” I have chosen. I hope other “employers” will choose others to “battle.”

AREAS OF CONCERN 7: IMPROVE CUSTOMER RELATIONS SKILLS OF THE STAFF

2009-07-14T10:06:00.005-04:00

Well, it looks like our “Nothing” Clerk, Barbara Johnson continues to do “Nothing” about everything including improving customer relation skills of her staff. Our “Nothing” Clerk, Barbara Johnson, has done “Nothing” about this because “Everything” is the same.

This is confusing (besides all of the “Nothing” about “Everything” bit) but if I recall correctly, didn’t she say during the 2008 campaign that “Customer Service” was “the most important challenge of the Clerks Office”? More on this in a minute. Let’s take a look at another one of her quotes.

In the SR article “Q & A Live: Clerk of Courts candidates answer your questions” on October 29, 2008, she said, “I am quite concerned that the attitude of my staff has been questioned!” If she was so concerned, why didn’t she do something about it? Because she is the “NOTHING” clerk!

Then in this SR article on October 14, 2008 she states, “The most important challenge the clerk's office faces is GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE. Good customer service includes knowing the job and doing it right.” It's quite obvious that she never has been, and never will be up to the challenge of providing good customer service to the citizens of Erie County; not only is the customer service not good and done wrong, if she did know the job, she would be doing it right.

Well, in this area of concern, as in all the previous ones we have written about, she again has fell far, far short of this goal.

I rarely deal with the Title Dept. but I think the attitude of that place is much worse than the Court Dept. Can you say S L O W ! ! My God, I’d love to light a match under some of their butts to get them going. My dead father can move faster than those people! ! ! And their attitudes are piss-poor at best and this was before as well as during Sandra Browns reign as Supervisor over there. I know a few people in the car business who deal with that office on a regular basis and it has been like that for years. A couple of car dealers take their title work to other counties because they don't want to deal with Erie County's Title Dept.

It’s interesting to notice that when I walk into the COC office (the Court Dept) while they put up a good attempt to act like everything is “Hunky-Dorey,” it’s obvious that it isn’t and some of them can be a bit short with the customers.

So I asked myself, “Self, what would I do to improve customer relation skills in the court house and why is there such a range of emotions within her staff?”

Well, let’s take a look at the attitudes of her staff. I noticed that there are those who are way over worked and over extended while others are sitting around chatting with each other or even on the phone chatting with (what appears to be) friends (personal phone calls). To make matters worse, it usually seems to be the same individuals doing the chatting and the same ones doing the work. Another cause of bad attitudes is the deplorable working conditions that they have to deal with. From what I have observed, the working conditions in that office make the working conditions in Sinclair’s novel “The Jungle” look like Utopia. Perhaps I might hang a sign over the COC office door that reads “The Jungle”….and I’m willing to bet our “Nothing” Clerk, Johnson will do “Nothing” about it. So, improve the working conditions and you have better customer relations within your staff.

Another way to do this is to send them to workshops about customer relations. But then again, “nothing” will happen here either.

A couple of no-brainers, but unfortunately, Barb doesn’t have the knowledge, ability, or care (and it is obvious that she does not care in the least for her staff, otherwise she would not have let things get this bad – with the burden falling directly on her staff) to do, so she does “Nothing” and knowing how Barbara the “Nothing” Clerk is, “Nothing” will ever be done about this either.

Too bad, and so sad; especially since OUR tax money is paying her to do “NOTHING” about everything.

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?

QUARTERLY REPORT CARD: SPRING 2009

2009-07-04T00:01:00.004-04:00

Here it is as promised, Erie County Clerk of Courts Barbara Johnson's “Report Card” which covers April – June 2009.

ITEM GRADE
1. Attendance = 8

2. Records on line = 0

3. SSN & financial account numbers removed from hard copy case files = 0

4. Collection on estimated $700.000 in outstanding court costs and fines = 0

5. Address office understaffing = 0

6. Microfilming closed cases = 0

7. Improve customer relation skills of the staff = 0

8. Have case files properly filed away = 0

9. Monitoring program to keep cases from being illegally removed from the office = 0

10. Send staff to continuing Ed workshops to keep them on top of ORC changes = 0

11. Automated Phone System = 0

12. Over all Grade 0.6

Grade scale: 12=A+; 11=A; 10=A-; 9=B+; 8=B; 7=B-; 6=C+; 5=C; 4=C-
3=D+; 2=D; 1=D-; 0=F

Johnson is the "Nothing" clerk because "NOTHING" has changed. Well, what else is left for me to say? How about some thoughts from you, the readers?

OPEN THREAD

2009-06-27T00:01:00.001-04:00

I thought it would be good to have an open thread where you can comment on anything pertaining to this web site, or Barbara Johnson and her work as Erie County Clerk of Courts. After just under 5 months time, there has been A TON of information posted on this site (and more to come!). I think that after 5 months time, I have done more work on this site than Johnson has done in her 20+ years as Clerk! I will respond to comments in 2 weeks...or maybe sooner.

So, what do you think? Do you agree with the information on this site? Do you disagree with it? Why do you agree or disagree? Do you think Johnson is doing a great job, a good job, an ok job, bad job, or not doing her job at all, and why.

Your thoughts please………………………………….

Coming article in next week: “JOHNSON’S QUARTERLY REPORT CARD FOR SPRING 2009,” and it ain’t lookin good for Barbara folks! !

COMMENTS ON COMMENTS: 3

2009-06-20T07:41:00.009-04:00

I wanted to address this earlier in the week in the comment section, but the comment section would not accept my comments because it was too long. Go figure.

This is response to two anonymous posters in the article “Web Traffic Increase.”

To Anonymous poster on June 13 @ 11:59

You make many assumptions that are incorrect that I would like to clear up.

You said: “I stumbled upon this site while looking for something else. I find it very sad that you have put so much energy into victimizing this woman.”

I say: First of all welcome and I hope you return often. I don’t put all that much time or energy into this site. I write an article once a week (which takes me less than a half hour to do) based on my experience with the COC office. I usually log on the site 3-4 times a week to check any comments that have been left by readers.….hardly much energy or obsession there. I spend more time volunteering for my church than I do with Barb Johnson. Does that make me obsessed with my religion? Barb Johnson is hardly the victim here. The voters and citizens of Erie County are the victims because of all the “MILLIONS” of dollars that she has literally thrown out the window and not doing her job over the past 20 years. If you would read the articles in the side bar, you would see for yourself because I have all the information there. Articles that are probably MOST important are: “Attendance,” “Records on Line: Parts 1-4,” “Records on line: Ohio’s 88 Counties – Parts 1-5” and “Is Johnson Robbing the Tax Payers.” All of those links can be found in the side bar.

You said, “What about YOUR job?! How can you accomplish anything else while being obviously obsessed with Barb Johnson?”

I say: I do my job very well. I do not receive complaints from people about me not doing my job. I continually receive compliments and praises from people for my job performance; but then (unlike Johnson) I’m at my job all day, everyday, doing my job. When was the last time an attorney, title company, elected official or a records research company told Barb what a good job she was doing and how well organized her office is? There are MANY attorneys, title companies, other elected officials, and records researchers who feel the same as I do about the COC office. As far as being “Obsessed with Barb Johnson,” I addressed that above.

You said: “Surely there are other elected officials in your county, why single out this woman? Are all the other officials doing their jobs. If your main concern is making sure the tax payers are being served, why not blog on all the officials?”

I Say: I’m sure that there are other elected officials that are incompetent and / or corrupt. The reason I chose Barb is because I know that office well enough to do this. If I were to have a web site on, say the commissioners, I would have to be “obsessed” (because according to your definition of that word) I would have to spend a lot of time in order to investigate and “dig” out all the information that would be needed. I don’t have to do that with the COC office since I am in there several times a week. It is my hope that others will take up their civic duty to “watch” other government offices (both city and county). Huron2009 and Firelands 411 (both links in the side bar) seem to be doing that with the city right now and I don’t think those individuals are “obsessed” with Huron or Sandusky government officials. Huron2009 and Firelands411, like I, are just getting information out to the public.

You said: “The only things I can think of are:

1. You're still sore that your candidate didn't win 2. You want to run for the office in 2012 and feel the only way to win is to smear Barb for the next 4 years instead of winning on your own merit or 3. Perhaps you're a past/current employee of the COC office or an employee from another county office with an axe to grind or 4. You really just don't have anything better to do with your time/life, which is truly sad.”

I Say: 1) Nah, I’m not sore that Schaefer didn’t win, just disappointed because he had a very well laid out plan to clean up that office that Johnson has turned into a chaotic mess over the past 20 years. Click on this article “How Did Johnson Win?”
2) I have no intention what so ever to run for that office in 2012; that office is too far gone for me to want to go in and try to clean it up. 3) I am not a past or current employee of that office. Nor am I employed by the county in any way, shape, or form. I just use that office several times a week and for that reason it does effect my business (as well as the businesses of attorneys, title companies, other elected officials, and records researchers. 4) I do have a life and have much better things to do. That is why I am not obsessed with nor putting much energy into this site. However, to show how little Johnson has actually done in 20 years, I have put more time, energy, and creativeness into this site in the past 5 months than she has in 20 years into the COC office. It’s obvious the she just doesn’t have the knowledge, or skill to do what she was elected to do.

You said: “It's easy to sling dirt under the cloak of being anonymous. God bless you.”

I say: It shouldn’t make any difference who I am as long as I am putting out nothing but true facts and not slinging dirt. Why did you remain anonymous when you posted? Slinging dirt would be if I had written something that is not true. What have I written that is not true?

God bless you too, and have a great day.

Anonymous on June 14, 4:39

You Said: “I'm afraid I have to agree with some of the points made in the above comment. Why just Barb Johnson? Are the other elected officials doing their jobs?”

I Say: (Julie R?), I addressed that above with my reply to the previous anonymous poster.

You Said: “I also believe that even if Johnson is not re-elected next time around it isn't going to change one dam* thing in Erie County because Barb Johnson is NOT the PROBLEM and never was.”

I Say: If Johnson is not reelected in 2012, it won’t change all of Erie County as you imply; just the Clerk of Courts Office. Barb IS the problem in that office, and we need to start somewhere. Why not start “at the bottom” and work up? After Johnson gets voted out in 2012, wouldn't it be fun to watch other elected officials start to squirm because it could happen to them as well? I agree 100% with you that there are many other problems in Erie County as well. However, each elected official is responsible for their “office” and Johnson’s is a chaotic mess. If you think there are problems in other offices, then start a blog to lay out all the information as I have here; don't leave it up to just a few citizens. EVERYONE needs to get involved! ! Get the voters educated as I am doing here. Perhaps, when Barb gets voted out in 2012, I’ll start a blog on another government elected official. It’s the only way I know of to educate the people so they don’t vote “blindly” in the elections.

Remember citizens of Erie County, we are here to “hold our elected official (Barbara Johnson) accountable for doing NOTHING for the past 20 plus years.” As a result of her “Nothingness,” she has wasted “MILLIONS” of our tax dollars. We, the citizens and tax payers of Erie County are the victims here, NOT Barb Johnson!

Coming article in 2 weeks: “JOHNSON’S QUARTERLY REPORT CARD FOR SPRING 2009,” and it ain’t lookin good for Barbara folks! !

TITLE OFFICE SUPERVISOR ABRUPTLY QUITS

2009-06-06T00:01:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately, this article has more questions than answers.

This is rather old news since it happened about 3-4 weeks ago. A friend of mine that works in the car business was having some title work done in the Title Office. They had noticed that the Clerk of Courts Title supervisor, Sandra Brown, had not been in the office for sometime and asked the person waiting on them if Sandra was on vacation. The COC employee told them that no, Sandra had all of a sudden one day up and quit with no explanation.

WOW! Now I could be completely wrong (but I doubt it) but to quit suddenly with no explanation points to real frustration over something. What put Ms. Brown over the edge? Was it a customer? Health reasons? Family reasons? A fellow co-worker? The County Administration? Or Barb Johnson? Could she no longer take Johnson's lack of leadership and managing skills that she just had had enough? What was the reason that made Sandra Brown quit so suddenly?

We need some help on this one from you the citizens of Erie County! Does anyone out there have any further information on this? If so, please post it in the comment section at the end of this article. Your help to clear this up for me and the citizens / tax payers of Erie County would be greatly appreciated.

IS BARB JOHNSON ROBBING THE TAX PAYERS?

2009-05-30T00:09:00.005-04:00

Is Barb Johnson robbing the tax payers?

In this article we showed you how Barb Johnson has not done a damn thing while she has been in office for the past 20 years. That’s NOTHING, NADA, ZILCH! ! And to top it off, she herself could not even name 3 accomplishments that she has done in those 20 years in office!

Now if that’s not bad enough, take a look at how much money Erie County has paid Johnson over the past 20 years to do NOTHING! ! Her salary is $53,214 per year. Multiply that by 20 and you get a whopping $1,064,280 that Erie County has paid her over the past 20 years for doing……NOTHING! ! ! (SIDE NOTE: It's been 7 months since the election and she still has done.....NOTHING! ! END SIDE NOTE). Now add on these next 4 years and you would add on another $212,856 to that $1,064,280 price tag (or $1,277,136). Now grant it, this figure might be a bit high because I’m pretty sure she wasn’t paid $53,214 twenty years ago, but that figure is pretty darn close.

Here’s another idea; for fun let’s add in the $700,000 in uncollected court fines and fees (personally, I have good reason to believe that amount is closer to 1.5 – 2 million...or even higher than that, but I’ll investigate that sometime in the future) and she has cost Erie County tax payers a WHOPPING $1,764,280! ! ! That’s almost TWO MILLION DOLLARS thrown out the window. If you would include her salary at the end of this present 4 year term, that would end up at $1,977,136.

Now I know some people will say that during those 20 years, Johnson first took time away from work to take care of her ailing father, then after he passed away, her ailing husband until he passed away. Well, how many of us would have the luxury of not going to work for that long while taking care of sick relatives and still get paid? Why didn’t she just retire (or quit) so that she could take care of her sick relatives instead of collecting her weekly pay check while not doing any work for so long? After all, that’s what the rest of us would have had to do. But no, instead, we the citizens and tax payers of Erie County paid for her to take care of her sick relatives. That was awfully nice of us to do, don’t you think? DAMN, I wish I had a job like that! !

So back to my original question: Is Barb Johnson robbing the tax payers? My answer is an emphatic YES, YES, YES! ! ! And if you disagree with me, I’d love to hear from you as to why.

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?

I’m not sure what next weeks’ article will be (there is just soooo much to choose from), but I can guarantee that it will be worth the time to read.

HOW DID JOHNSON WIN?

2009-05-23T00:20:00.005-04:00

Here at Clerk of Court Watch we have analyzed how Barbara Johnson won a 6th term after having such a dismal 20 years in office. How could this happen? She had an opponent in Steven Schaeffer who had a very well thought out and planned course of action of what he would do to fix that office (to bring it into the 21st century) if he were elected. Unfortunately, his election to that office did not happen.

Why?

Well, there are several reasons and hopefully future opponents will heed this analysis to promote their campaigns.

Johnson is a very difficult person to beat because:

1) She’s an incumbent: This is nothing new, but incumbents are VERY difficult to unseat. This seems to be true the longer they are in office (Remember former Judge Anne Maschari?). So with Johnson’s 20 plus year reign, this was a very big hurtle for any opponent to jump over.

2) She’s a woman: People tend to be more sympathetic and forgiving towards a
woman and when you have a man running against her, this becomes a reality.

3) She’s black: blacks who were previously not registered voters turned
out in droves to register and vote in the 2008 election. Why? One name: Barack
Obama. As a result, these voters (who normally would not be out voting) also voted for Johnson.

4) Johnson is a democrat and Erie County is a highly democrat county. The truly sad part of that is the fact that Erie County is so democrat, that many of them vote strictly party line; going into the voting booth and just looking for the big “D” instead of voting for the person who is the best for the job. This kind of “blind voting” hurts the citizens and the government, because these voters do not vote for the best candidate. This “blind voting” is not what our founding fathers had in mind because they thought that we would vote with our brains, not our “party.”

5) Name Recognition: She does seem to have name recognition. This goes hand in hand with being an incumbent. However, before the 2008 election, if you ask the average Joe Schmoe on street to name the current Erie County COC, probably only about 1% of the population would be able to do so. If you ask anyone by the end of this year who the current COC is, even those 1% probably won’t be able to tell you. The same holds true for County Auditor, Treasurer, Recorder; they just are not high profile offices like Commissioners or the Prosecutor are. Anyone who runs against Barb will need to get their name out EARLY & OFTEN. This includes, but not limited to getting in as many parades and other public events as possible.

One more interesting thought that our friends at Firelands 411 touched on in their article on May 11, 2009 “Getting Ahead of the Campaign Curve.”

In the article, Firelands 411 makes the following excellent point, “An election turn off (for me anyway) in local elections is feeling like I don’t really know the candidates. This is ironic because you’d think that because it’s a local election we’d be more familiar because the candidate is from our area……locally if you don’t personally know the candidate, chances are you’re casting a vote because you were hooked by name recognition, campaign literature or one of their friend’s obligatory letter-to-the-editor. (Do I really care what his friend says? I don’t know him either.).”

6) Campaign stradegy: While other candidates that run against Mrs. Johnson put their campaign signs out 2 months before the election, it seems that Johnson need only put her signs out 2-3 weeks before (being the procrastinator that she is), and she still wins! To some extent, this has to do with name recognition that we mentioned above. I must say, that her procrastination did help her campaign in a HUGE way when she sent out a mailing (her campaign brochure) to every home in Erie County the Saturday before the election. This probably did a lot to keep her name fresh in the voters mind. For once, her procrastination paid off!

There are a few other points to consider as well:
1) Just because the Sandusky Register and the Morning Journal endorsed Schaeffer and wrote other articles in favor of him, this really didn’t mean anything to the voters. I don’t know if it’s because people reading these newspapers don’t value (or don’t care about) their endorsements, or that the people of Erie County don’t really read politics in the paper.

2) There was a lot of blogging going on in the comment section on the SR articles. I have a suspicion that many of those bloggers posted comments under different names numerous time making it look like it was many different individuals. However, in reality, I don’t think that many people read the comment blogs on the SR web site.

I have a few other points as well that I would be willing to share with any individual that would be running against Johnson in 2012. If interested, contact me at votejohnson.out12@yahoo.com . I don’t want to share too much information with Johnson as I am sure she or her campaigners read this blog to get as much information as possible.

This is not an insurmountable task. After all, Judge Tygh Tone defeated long term incumbent and woman, former Judge Anne Maschari. However, to do that, Tone implemented many of the tactics mentioned above and more.

Next weeks article: “Is Johnson Robbing the Tax Payers?”

WHERE HAVE THE JOHNSON SUPPORTERS GONE?

2009-05-23T00:13:00.002-04:00

I would like the readers to know that it has been 1 week since I continued the debate with the Johnson supporter in this article where they challenged me.

To date, that person has yet to respond to what I wrote. I guess they just can’t come up with any evidence to back up what they say like I do. Actually, their silence alone speaks volumes! ! What else can I say? when I'm right, I'm right, and when the Johnson supporters are wrong, they just can’t come back with anything to the contrary.

COMMENTS ON COMMENTS: 2

2009-05-16T00:49:00.004-04:00

Here are a few more comments on good comments that were made while I was on vacation and didn’t have the opportunity to address them at that time.

Anonymous "ERIE COUNTY PROSECUTOR SUES THE SANDUSKY REGISTER":
”She really is a lazy person.”

I have thought this out over the past week, because in last week's post I stated the same; that she was lazy and not a good manager. Now, perhaps the anonymous poster above was stating that she is a lazy person because they knows Johnson personally. But the more I think about this “laziness” issue, I don’t think that she is at all lazy.

I think she is overwhelmed by that office. I don’t think she can handle it especially after she herself let it get so out of hand over the past 20 years. She is overwhelmed and doesn’t know where to start to clean up that office. I don’t think she is lazy, however, I still think that she is a horrendous manager and has ZERO leadership skills. Otherwise, she would know how to clean up her own mess. Her opponent in the November 2008 election, Steve Schaeffer, not only had management and leadership skills (his service in the U.S. Army and his working EVERYDAY in the court house), he had a plan to clean up Johnson’s mess. So this doesn’t have anything to do with laziness, but has everything to do with zero management and leadership skills.

Anonymous on "OPEN THREAD":
”I'm a Johnson supporter I think she is doing a great job as COC. She is definitely more qualified than that Schaeffer guy was! And she had alot more experience than he did too. The voters of Erie County knew what they were doin when they re-elected Barbara. She for sure is the right person for that job hands down! Mr. Editor, I'll debate that with you (as you say), "anytime, anywhere."

One more thing, this site is crap because of all the LIES you are putting up about Barbara. Somebody needs to get a life when they get back from the ‘Carabean.’”

To this anonymous poster I want to ask: May I have some of that stuff you’re smoking to be in your fantasyland? Johnson has no experience in that office. Oh yea, she has been clerk for 20 plus years, but what has she accomplished? Remember this article?

Also, for those 20 years, she was rarely in the office, so where does all this experience come into play that you are so eager to jump on?

More qualified than Schaeffer? I addressed this above.

The voters of Erie County had NO IDEA what they were doing when they re-elected her. I will have an article posted next week about how and why she got re-elected.

If you think that, “this site is crap because of all the lies,” then please tell us what I have posted that is a lie. I have a ton of information up here, so pick one and tell us why it’s a lie. Just be sure to have facts to back up what you say. Or, are you going to be like Barb was when she was asked to name 3 accomplishments in 20 years, and “dance” around the “lies?” Or, are you just going to ignore this all together because you have no facts to back up your accusations of lies? I have taken you up on your offer. The debate is on. If you truly want to debate me, then we’ll be waiting for your reply.

Anonymous "ERIE COUNTY PROSECUTOR SUES THE SANDUSKY REGISTER":

”I believe that she should be removed from office for dereliction of duty. She is just as corrupt and inept as Maschari is.”

I agree that she is just as inept as former Judge Anne Maschari was. However, I don’t think neither Maschari nor Johnson are corrupt. I know that neither has (or had in the case of Maschari) a clue as to how to run the office that they are (were) in. The voters finally wised up to Maschari. Now it’s time for the citizens of Erie County to wise up to Johnson.

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?

Next weeks article: “How Did Johnson Win?”

COMMENTS ON COMMENTS: 1

2009-05-09T00:23:00.008-04:00

An anonymous poster on “Next Weekend Articles” article said,

“…why ‘insiders’ are eager to basically ‘rat on Johnson’….”

I get VERY LITTLE information from “Insiders.” I get 99% of my information from just being in the office several times a week and carefully observing. And when I’m on vacation, I have others (NOT from "inside" the office) that can do the same while I’m gone. I don’t use “Inside” information because I don’t want to put anyone’s job in jeopardy.

In the article “Areas of Concern 1: Attendance” ANOTHER anonymous poster wrote:
“…but I'll bet she never did anything illegal or went along with conspiracies to do cover up anything illegal. She just doesn't seem the type.”

You are absolutely correct, I do not believe that she did anything willingly or knowingly illegal or went along with conspiracies to cover anything illegal. You’re right again, she isn’t the type. She is just lazy and a horrendous manager.

ANOTHER anonymous poster wrote in the same article:
“I think this blog is excellent but I would like to make a suggestion.

I think this should be done to ALL the elected public officials in Erie County. Is the Prosecutor doing HIS job? How about the Assistant Prosecutors? How about the Common Pleas Court Judges? How about the Probate Judge? Are they doing THEIR jobs? How many vacations do they get a year? Are they in the office everyday? Are they following the laws that they took an oath to uphold or are they using their power to their own dishonest advantage? How about the Sheriff, the Auditor, the County Engineer and the Recorder? Are they doing their jobs? Are they in the office everyday? Are permanent records disappearing from the Recorder's office like records disappear from the COC's?

I THINK IT'S TIME TO START MONITORING ALL OF THESE ELECTED PUBLIC OFFICIALS.”

Thanks for the compliment Julie R.

I couldn’t agree more! I too think that web sites should be done to ALL elected officials to hold them accountable. However, the Assistant Prosecutors position that you listed is hired by the prosecutor; it is not an elected position.

How many vacations do they get and/or take a year and are they in the office everyday? Well, according to the Ohio Revised Code, an elected official only needs to be in the office one day out of 90. Yep, 1 day every three months! ! ! Well, elected officials USUALLY do not take advantage of that law except for Johnson in her first 5 terms when she was RARELY in the office. Now as for other elected officials (at least in Erie County), I know that they do not take advantage of that law because they actually want to do a good job and show “achievements” while in office; something Johnson was never interested in doing.

Are they doing their jobs? I must say that they are doing a much better job than Johnson because there are so many complaints about how her office is run. I don’t hear those complaints about other elected officials except from Julie R.

Julie R also commented,
“In addition, we might want to start monitoring one or more of the employees in the COC office.......”

Well, first of all, they are doing the best job they can with ZERO leadership. I give those girls a ton of credit for doing their job as well as they do (being soldiers in the field with no General to lead them). Let’s face it, Johnson has never been a manager or a leader for that office. Those girls are there fending for themselves. I don’t see what good monitoring Johnson’s employees will do when frankly, she doesn’t give a damn. That office will only be as good as it’s leader and for the past 20 plus years, they have had NO leader.

ANOTHER anonymous poster commented in the same article:

“5 prior terms and she has had no achievements? I think she should retire NOW! If not, that office will be in an even WORSE MESS by the time this term is over nobody will want it! Disgusting......”

I agree, she should have retired YESTERDAY! As a matter of fact, she shouldn’t have even run for reelection! What was the purpose of that? Of having the “prestige” in holding that office? Yes, the longer she is in office, the worse the mess will be. However, I’m sure there is some good-hearted soul out there somewhere that would be willing to take that office and turn it around. After all, her opponent Steve Schaeffer was willing to do it if he had won.

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?

Side Note: There are 5 “anonymous” comments in this article. As you can see, it’s hard to put an identity to these comments as I mentioned in this article. It just makes it a lot easier to ID posts if people would put a name to them; even if it’s a factious name (such as John Doe, Julie R, Cross, Buff, or the many others that post on the Sandusky Register web blogs). End of Side Note.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have gone a bit long with this article, so I’ll stop here. But we will continue where we left off next week, so stay tuned! ! !

LET'S GET SOME ID ON THE COMMENTS

2009-05-08T10:14:00.005-04:00

Most people have been posting under "anonymous" in the comment section which is fine. The only problem with that is that it's impossible to have an "ID" (or associate an individual) with the post, especially if one person posts about a particular topic. I am hoping that with future posts, instead of clicking on "anonymous," that people will make up a name, or URL and post under that name every time. This will give each poster an "ID" much like on the Sandusky Register website, so we have a particular individual attached to comments rather than a mass of random "anonymous." And you can do this without having to register to post comments (unlike on the SR site)! ! !

To do this, after you've finished writing your comment, 1) click on "Comment As" arrow; 2) Click on "Name/URL;" 3) under "Edit profile" type in either your name or URL; 4) Click on "Continue;" 5) Then continue as you would normally to finish posting your comment.

Just a reminder to follow the 3 rules in the "Commenting Guidelines" in the sidebar. I have had to delete some comments because they were off topic.

NEW NAME: SAME SITE, FORMAT, & INFORMATION

2009-05-08T10:04:00.005-04:00

A reader suggested to me that I change the name of this site because the "Remove Barb Johnson From Office" sounded a little to.....well....harsh or hostile, or something that should be done now. So, after much thought and consideration, I think they were correct. This site is so that she does not get reelected in 2012. We are not necessarily trying to get her removed now with a recall petition (but if she were to retire now, that would be perfectly fine with us).

This site is to "watch" her; to keep an eye on her; to hold her accountable for not doing her job. Then if she does decide to run for reelection in 2012, her opponents(democrats and republicans) can use any or all of the information on this site against her. With her track record, after 20 years of not doing anything in the COC office, I'm willing to bet my first born male child that she won't do anything these next 4 years either.

So here it is; New name, but the same site, with the same format, and the same never-ending flow of information and insight.

JOHNSON'S ACHIEVEMENTS OVER THE PAST 20 YEARS

2009-05-02T17:32:00.006-04:00

Well, I got this up sooner than I thought.

If you were at the same elected important government job for 20 years, I bet that you could list several, if not many achievements that you did in those 20 years. Well......read on.........

I was at one of the community candidate forums where a VERY interesting question was asked, “ Excluding moving the office from the 3rd & 2nd floor to the 1st floor, please Name 5 accomplishments that you have done in that office in the past 20 years.” (I wish I could take credit for THAT one!).

Well, she NEVER answered the question! ! She “hoe & hummed” and said a lot of “flowery – puffy” things, she even talked about moving her offices from the 2nd & 3rd floors to the first floor (which she was asked not to talk about), but she COULD NOT answer the question! ! (she also did not use a microphone – I think on purpose so that people could not hear her answers). How sad is that? Being in office for 20 years, and you don’t have any accomplishments that you can brag about! ? ! ? ! ?

It doesn’t stop there. There were times, during the campaign, on the SR blogs, that bloggers posted the same question (perhaps by the same person?). First they started with 5 accomplishments, but then they took it down to 3 (THREE) accomplishments, and neither Johnson nor her supporters could list any accomplishments.

If you can’t name THREE accomplishments in 20 years in office, what the hell are you getting paid for? Oh, that’s right, I forgot, for the first 20 years, she was RARELY in the office, so she couldn’t have made any accomplishments! Now, she’s in the office everyday and she STILL isn’t accomplishing ANYTHING! ! ! It is now the beginning of May, 2009, and what has she accomplished since she was called out on this in October & November of 2008? That’s ok, I’ll wait………[crickets chirping]……………..[crickets chirping]…………….[crickets chirping]………….that’s correct NOTHING! ! !

If you want to see some of the blogging on this, go here.

One blogger “John R.” seems to have a real grasp on things! I suspect he is either an attorney or works for a title company. His really good posts are Oct. 10 at 3:36 and Oct. 14 at 7:46 AM

There is also an “interesting” post on Oct. 10 at 11:12 that I think we pretty much de-bunked in our series “Records on Line: Ohio’s 88 Counties.”

How sad. Twenty Years of receiving tax payer money, and not a single achievement to show for it. I suspect the reason why the person asking that question at the candidate forum did not want to include the moving of the offices is because that was such a dismal disaster! Moving those offices from a small office where they were literally "bursting at the seams" to a SMALLER office! I think the person asking the question was trying to cut Johnson some slack...but then she went on to talk about it anyway! And in turn slit her own political throat. Unfortunately, it was only a flesh wound because most of the public did not pick up on it and voted her in again anyway!

I’m not sure what next week’s article will be. But I can guarantee that it will be worth reading! Perhaps, I will comment on the comments while I was on vacation.

NEW ARTICLE COMING SOON

2009-05-01T18:28:00.002-04:00

I just got back into town. I'll have the new article up either Sunday or Monday. Stay tuned! !

OPEN THREAD

2009-04-25T01:06:00.002-04:00

While I’m wrapping up my vacation down here in the Caribbean, I thought it would be good to have an open thread where you can comment on anything pertaining to this web site, or Barbara Johnson and her work as Erie County Clerk of Courts. After just under 3 months time, there has been A TON of information posted on this site (and more to come!). I think that after 3 months time, I have done more work on this site than Johnson has done in her 20+ years as Clerk! (I’m EXHAUSTED – that’s why I had to take this Caribbean vacation). I will respond to comments when I get back.

So, what do you think? Do you agree with the information on this site? Do you disagree with it? Why do you agree or disagree? Do you think Johnson is doing a great job, a good job, and ok job, bad job, or not doing her job at all, and why.

Your thoughts please………………………………….

Next week’s article: “Johnson’s achievements in the COC office over the past 20 years.”

NEXT WEEKEND'S ARTICLE

2009-04-18T00:32:00.002-04:00

This week I will be leaving on vacation. I will be going somewhere very “HOT” with my spouse……oh, come on,…….it’s the weather….the weather will be hot….get your minds out of the gutter! ! ! I will be down in the Caribbean for a little rest and relaxation. Actually, we should have done this in February, but circumstances did not permit us to go at that time.

So I will put an “Open Thread” up next weekend since I won’t have time to write an article while I'm basking in the sunny beaches and 80 degree weather. However, while the “professor” is gone, that doesn’t mean that you can act up and go wild! I have PLENTY of substitute “instructors” looking on and noting activity on this site AND in the COC office! So, Mrs. Johnson’s attendance will still be noted!

Article in TWO weeks: “Johnson’s achievements in the COC office over the past 20 years.”

RECORDS ON LINE: OHIO'S 88 COUNTIES: PART 5: SUMMARY OF THE STATS

2009-04-18T00:23:00.002-04:00

Originally, I was going to use the following population scales: Small counties 12,000 – 64,999; Medium counties 65,000 – 97,999 and Large counties 98,000 and up. Then I realized that it wouldn’t be all that fair to have the Medium county population with such a narrow scale. So I changed it to what you see below. If I had kept it the way I was going to originally have it, Erie County would have been the only medium sized county that does not have records on line. So now with the change in the scale, 3 medium size counties doe not have records on line.

Here are the stats:

Largest County in Population: Cuyahoga (1,393,978)
Records on Line: Y

Smallest County in Population: Vinton (12,806)
Records on Line: N

Smallest County in population with records on line: Fayette (28,433)

29 Counties with small populations that do NOT have records on line (population 12,000-59,999): Vinton (12,806), Noble (14,058), Morgan (14,897), Monroe (15, 180), Harrison (15,856), Wyandot (22,908), Meigs (23,072), Adams (27,330), Pike (27,695), Carroll (28,836), Van Wert (29,659), Morrow (31,628), Hardin (31,945), Jackson (32,641), Perry (34,078), Putnam (34,726), Coshocton (36,655), Champaign (38,890), Holmes (38,943), Defiance (39,500), Madison (40,213), Clinton (40,543), Highland (40,875), Brown (42,285), Logan (46,005), Auglaize (46,611),
Shelby (47, 910), Darke (53,309),

3 Counties with medium population that do NOT have records on line (population 60,000-99,999): Washington (63,251), Erie (79,551), Miami (98,868)

1 County with large populations that do NOT have records on line (population 100,000 and up): Clark (144,742)

20 Counties with small populations that do have Records online (population 12,000-59,999): Paulding (20,293), Hocking (28,241), Fayette (28,433), Henry (29,210), Gallia (31,069), Lawrence (32,319), Williams (39,188), Guernsey (40,792), Union (40,909), Mercer (40,924), Ottawa (40,985), Fulton (42,084), Preble (42,337), Crawford (46,966), Ashland (52,523), Pickaway (52,727), Knox (54,500), Seneca (58,683), Huron (59,847)

11 Counties with medium populations that do have records online (population 60,000-99,999): Marion (66,217), Belmont (70,226), Hancock (71,295), Ross (73,345), Jefferson (73,894), Scioto (79,795), Muskingum (84,585), Geauga (90,895),
Tuscarawas (90,914), Sandusky (61,792), Athens (62,223)

26 Counties with large populations that do have Records online (population 100,000 and up): Ashtabula (102,728), Allen (108,473), Delaware (110,106), Wayne (111,564), Columbiana (112,075), Wood (121,065), Fairfield (122,759), Richland (128,852), Licking (145, 491), Greene (147,886), Medina (151,095), Portage (152,061), Warren (158,383), Clermont (177,977), Trumbull (225,116), Lake (227,511), Mahoning (257,555), Lorain (285,664), Butler (332,807), Stark (378,098), Lucas (455,054),
Summit (542,899), Montgomery (559,062), Hamilton (845,303), Franklin (1,068,978), Cuyahoga (1,393,978)

Total Number of Counties with records on line: 57 or 64 %

Total Number of Counties without records on line: 32 or 36 %

I have talked to a county employee who thinks the number of counties with on line records is higher than what I have posted. However, this is what I have found in my research and hopefully I will update it 2 or 3 times a year. If any of our readers find updates, please let us know so we can make the appropriate changes and corrections.

In an earlier article we took 20 Northern Ohio counties and out of the 20, 19 had records on line.

As you can see, Erie County is in the minority with not having records on line. So Mrs. Johnson, what’s the hold up? Oh, it’s the money, that’s right. Well, we already addressed that issue here and here.

It has become apparent over and over and over again, that she is not doing her job. Her recent report card is evidence of that. She is not doing what we elected her to do and that is to run and manage that office. How can she in good conscious, and in good faith (being the good, nice, Christian woman that she is) keep that position for over 20 years without doing any work, and yet excepting payment for work that she hasn’t done?

To you the voters and tax payers of Erie County, I ask you: Would you pay someone (say for instance an electrician, plumber, auto mechanic, etc.) for work that they never did but were suppose to have done? What makes this situation any different?

It is time that we the citizens of Erie County hold Barbra Johnson accountable for her actions (or lack there of)! ! It is time to hold her feet to the fire and DEMAND that she either start doing her job NOW or retire! ! Enough is enough! ! This tax payer for one is sick and tired of paying people in elected positions to do a job and once they get elected they just sit back and do NOTHING for an entire term. In this case, it has been SIX terms! ! Barbara either do your job, or get the hell out of the way and let someone else do it! I encourage you to contact Johnson and let her know your concerns about this matter. Her contact information is in the sidebar.

Again, voters and tax payers of Erie County I ask you: 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?

AREAS OF CONCERN 1: ATTENDANCE

2009-04-11T09:43:00.003-04:00

Here it is ladies and gentlemen, the EASTER WEEKEND SPECIAL! ! Two articles for the price of one! !

Even though this was listed as number 1 in the “Areas of Concern,” we wanted to wait and see how the attendance would be over a several month period before we wrote an article about it.

Before the November 2008 election, Barbara Johnson was RARELY in the office. In my 20 years of being in that office several times a week (and while she was clerk), I rarely saw her in the office. Whenever I would ask her staff where Johnson was or when she would be in, and most of the time they would shrug their shoulders and say, “I don’t know.” She was like former Cuyahoga County Sheriff Gerald McFaul that I talked about in these two articles.

So, not only was she not in the office, she didn’t bother telling anyone where she was or when she would be in. Wow! That’s good communication. But that is what she is known for….NOT communicating.

So here we are as Erie County tax payers, paying her for a job and she isn’t even in the office! DOUBLE WOW! ! ! ! What a waste of our money! ! ! !

Well, since the election her attendance has gone up substantially! ! ! ! ! GREAT! ! I have a couple ways of knowing when she is and is not in the office; even on days when I do not go into the COC office. Since the election, she was sporadic at first, but is more and more on a consistent basis in the office. One would think, “YEAH! ! This is good! !”

Well, think again ladies and gentlemen. If you look at her recent Quarterly Report Card, NOTHING is getting done in that office……well…..ok……..She now has a dollar amount on getting court records on line AND she did go to a meeting to try to get more staff hired (but she came to the meeting completely unprepared…but she did actual show up to it)……so we’ll change it from nothing to…….VERY, VERY LITTLE. I have noticed (by being in the office several times a week and other ways) that she is in the office almost everyday! This should be a good thing. However, as I said, NOTHING……um….I mean…VERY, VERY LITTLE is getting done.

After 5 months (since the November 2008 election) the records STILL are not on line. And I am willing to bet my first born male child that they will not get on line while she is the clerk (even though she now has a dollar figure to get the job done – see the article here).

Also, NOTHING (and here I really do mean NOTHING) has been done in any of the other 4 “Areas of Concern” that we have covered so far: 1) SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS & FINANCIAL ACCOUNT NUMBERS REMOVED FROM CASE FILES; 2) COLLECTION ON ESTIMATED $700,000 IN OUTSTANDING COURT COSTS & FINES: 3) ADDRESSING OFFICE UNDERSTAFFING; 4) MICROFILIMG CLOSED CASES

And you will soon see that nothing is being done in the other “Areas of Concerns” that we will be covering here in the future:
1) IMPROVE CUSTOMER RELATION SKILLS OF THE STAFF: 2) AUTOMATED PHONE SYSTEM; 3) MONITORING PROGRAM TO KEEP CASES FROM BEING ILLEGALLY REMOVED FROM THE OFFICE: 4) HAVE CASE FILES PROPERLY FILED AWAY: 5) SEND STAFF (OR INFORM STAFF) TO CONTINUING ED WORKSHOPS TO KEEP THEM ON TOP OF OHIO REVISED CODE CHANGES.

So really, what has changed? NOTHING…..oops….I mean….VERY, VERY LITTLE! She is in the office everyday – BIG DEAL, but VERY, VERY LITTLE is getting done. So, as a blogger on the SR web site put it during the campaign, she still continues to steal from the tax payers because she is getting paid for a job that she is not doing! Who among us could hold down a job like that?

As I said in this article, we the citizens and tax payers of this county would like to see some actual work and achievements come from her during this term because there hasn't been ANY achievements in her prior 5 terms (more on this in a future article). For all the money we are paying her to do this job that is not too much of us to expect from her. Otherwise she should retire and let someone else put that office into the 21st century.

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?

RECORDS ON LINE: OHIO'S 88 COUNTIES: PART 4

2009-04-11T09:37:00.004-04:00

As I mentioned in the previous 3 parts 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 (see the sidebar for the link to the previous articles), 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 fourth and final set of 22 counties: Portage County – Wyandot County:

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Portage (in Ravenna, OH)
http://www.co.portage.oh.us/
POPULATION: 152,061
AREA: 492.39 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.co.portage.oh.us/clerkofcourts.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Preble (in Eaton, OH)
http://www.preblecounty.com/
POPULATION: 42,337
AREA: 424.80 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS
http://www.preblecountyohio.net/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Putnam (in Ottawa, OH)
http://www.putnamcountyohio.com/
POPULATION: 34.726
AREA: 483.87 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: No web site found

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Richland (in Mansfield, OH)
http://www.richlandcountyoh.us/index.htm
POPULATION: 128,852
AREA: 496.88 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS:
http://www.richlandcountyoh.us/coc.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Ross (in Chillicothe, OH)
No web site found
POPULATION: 73,345
AREA: 688.41 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS http://co.ross.oh.us/ClerkOfCourts/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Sandusky (in Fremont, OH)
http://www.sandusky-county.org/
POPULATION: 61,792
AREA: 409.18 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS
http://www.sandusky-county.org/Clerk/Clerk_of_Courts/default.asp

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Scioto (in Portsmouth, OH)
http://www.sciotocountyohio.com/
POPULATION: 79,195
AREA: 612.27 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS http://www.sciotocountyohio.com/clerk.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Seneca (in Tiffin, OH)
http://www.senecaco.org/
POPULATION: 58,683
AREA: 550.59 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS
http://www.senecaco.org/clerk/default.html

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Shelby (in Sidney, OH)
http://www.co.shelby.oh.us/
POPULATION: 47,910
AREA: 409.27 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: http://www.co.shelby.oh.us/ClerkofCourts/index.asp

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Stark (in Canton, OH)
http://www.co.stark.oh.us/internet/HOME.DisplayPage?v_page=scMain
POPULATION: 378,098
AREA: 576.14 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS http://www.starkclerk.org/

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

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Trumbull (in Warren, OH)
http://www.co.trumbull.oh.us/
POPULATION: 225,116
AREA: 616.48 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS http://clerk.co.trumbull.oh.us/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Tuscarawas (in New Philadelphia, OH)
http://www.co.tuscarawas.oh.us/
POPULATION: 90,914
AREA: 567.58 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS http://www.co.tuscarawas.oh.us/ClerkofCourts/index.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Union (in Marysville, OH)
http://www.co.union.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/UC/UCPageDefault.aspx?page=1
POPULATION: 40,909
AREA: 436.65 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS
http://www.co.union.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/UC/UCDetail.aspx?page=359

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Van Wert (in Van Wert, OH)
http://www.vanwertcounty.org/
POPULATION: 29,659
AREA: 410.09 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS: No web site found

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Vinton (in McArthur, OH)
http://www.vintoncounty.com/
POPULATION: 12,806
AREA: 414.08 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS
http://www.vintoncounty.com/Clerk_of_Courts.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Warren (in Lebanon, OH)
http://www.co.warren.oh.us/
POPULATION: 158,383
AREA: 399.63 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS
http://www.co.warren.oh.us/clerkofcourt/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Washington (in Marietta, OH)
http://www.co.washington.oh.us/index-1.htm
POPULATION: 63,251
AREA: 635.15 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS
http://www.co.washington.oh.us/cl-clerkofcourts.htm

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

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Williams (in Bryan, OH)
http://www.co.williams.oh.us/
POPULATION: 39,188
AREA: 421.74 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS
http://www.co.williams.oh.us/Clerk_Courts/default1.htm

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Wood (in Bowling Green, OH)
http://www.co.wood.oh.us/
POPULATION: 121,065
AREA: 617.32 Sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS ON LINE: Y
COC WEB ADDRESS
http://clerkofcourt.co.wood.oh.us/

COUNTY / WEB ADDRESS: Wyandot (in Upper Sandusky, OH)
http://www.co.wyandot.oh.us/
POPULATION: 22,908
AREA: 405.61 sq mi
CLERK OF COURTS RECORDS ON LINE: N
COC WEB ADDRESS
http://www.co.wyandot.oh.us/clerk/index.html

The final article in this series will be an indepth list of statistics so that you can easily see how all this stacks up compared to Erie County. Stay tuned for this article next weekend.

$37,000 TO PUT RECORDS ON LINE

2009-04-07T10:49:00.004-04:00

In this past Sunday's (April 5) Sandusky Register on page A2 in the article “Creative Cash Quest: Erie County officials look everywhere, anywhere for money,” Barb Johnson states that she is seeking outside funding to cover the $37,000 that it will take to get the COC records on line. FINALLY! ! ! This shows she is trying to do something about this. At least she now has a dollar amount; unless of course she just pulled those figures out of the air. Now the big question is, will she continue the hard work and follow through with this, or will she let it slip into the cracks?

I can think of one way to get the $37,000 needed to cover this price tag. How about collecting on the over $700,000 (see that article here) (which I firmly belive is MUCH higher than that) in outstanding court costs and fines? That way she can kill two birds with one stone; collecting on all that money that is owed to the county AND at the same time getting the money to get the records on line! ! ! I mean, I'm just thinking a little out of the box here and trying to give Barb some helpful advice.

Well, it makes sense to me anyway. How about you? Your thoughts / comments please.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG....AGAIN

2009-04-07T10:25:00.003-04:00

A reader recently left the following comment:

Anonymous said...
"you people who say all this stuff bout barbara johnson on this website are cruel! i know barbara personally and she is one of the nicest people i know. not only is she a good christian woman but she also works very hard and does a fine job as erie county clerk. you people should be ashamed at what you are doing!"

Let me reiterate what I wrote in an earlier article: "Barb Johnson is a very nice person. Her "likeability" is not what is in question. What is in question are her management skills (or lack thereof) which has cost the citizens and tax payers of Erie County hundreds of thousands of dollars over her past 6 terms of over 20 years. This evidence will be gathered during the next 4 years and will be made available to the public for the 2012 election."

Barb is a nice person - a good Christian woman. Great! I get it! I even agree 100% with that statement. I am not arguing that point.

However, when you say things like, "she also works very hard and does a fine job as erie county clerk," THAT is what I will debate with anyone at anytime because there is sooooo much evidence to prove otherwise!

First, if she did work hard at her job, things would have gotten done over her past 20 year reign as Clerk. Unfortunately, sad to say, nothing has gotten done. Secondly, if she did a fine job as Clerk, then that office would not be in the utter chaotic mess that it is in at the present time. I can remember when the previous Clerk (Collette Crouch) retired, that office was in VERY GOOD shape. Over the past 20 years under Johnson's 6 terms, things have spiraled out of control. So no one can tell me that she is doing a fine job as Clerk, because all the evidence shows the contrary - the evidence that I have produced so far, and the evidence that I will produce in the future.

Remember, being a nice, good, Christian person does not automatically make you a good manager.

COMMENT SECTION FIXED

2009-04-05T20:07:00.004-04:00

Someone sent me an email to let me know that they tried to leave a comment but were unable to do so. I looked into the problem and I think it's fixed.

So go ahead and leave comments. We encourage comments as part of the dialogue and a very important part of this blog. Just remember to follow the "Commenting Guidelines" in the sidebar.

QUARTERLY REPORT CARD: WINTER 2009

2009-04-04T18:13:00.004-04:00

Here it is as promised, Erie County Clerk of Courts Barbara Johnson's first “Report Card” which covers January – March 2009.

QUARTER: Jan.-March 2009
ITEM GRADE
1. Attendance = 7

2. Records on line = 0

3. SSN & financial account numbers removed
from hard copy case files = 0

4. Collection on estimated $700.000 in outstanding
court costs and fines = 0

5. Address office understaffing = 1

6. Microfilming closed cases = 0

7. Improve customer relation skills of the staff = 0

8. Have case files properly filed away = 0

9. Monitoring program to keep cases from being
illegally removed from the office = 0

10. Send staff to continuing Ed workshops to keep
them on top of ORC changes = 0

11. Automated Phone System = 0

12. Over all Grade = 0.7

Grade scale: 12=A+; 11=A; 10=A-; 9=B+; 8=B; 7=B-; 6=C+; 5=C; 4=C-
3=D+; 2=D; 1=D-; 0=F

1. I am not in the office on a daily basis, however, I do see her in the office almost every time I’ve been in there. Even on days that I am not in the office, there are ways to determine if she is in or not. So these figures are fairly accurate. Jan. Attend = 70%; Feb. Attend = 86%; March Attend= 100%

As you can see, though she is in the office much more than before the November 2008 election, nothing seems to be getting accomplished. She has an overall grade of “F.” Not good. I touched a little on this in yesterday’s article here. More on this in a future article.

ERIE COUNTY PROSECUTOR SUES THE SANDUSKY REGISTER

2009-04-03T10:58:00.007-04:00

Erie County prosecutor Kevin Baxter has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Sandusky Register. The SR article can be seen here.

Go HERE to view the complaint on the Erie County Clerk of Courts on line web service........oh crap.......I forgot......that's right, it's been 9 years since the COC office had computers installed in their office and they STILL do not have the court records on line! ! ! So I guess we can't view the complaint......DARN! ! !

But wait, there's more! !

Thanks to our good friends at Firelands 411, they have the complaint posted here.

It is truly very sad when a blog site such as Firelands 411 can post court documents before the Erie County Clerk of Courts office can. Especially when you take into account all the technology and IT department that Barb Johnson has at her disposal. Actually, with all the videos, live blog, pictures and documents that Firelands 411 has posted, it really puts the Erie County Clerk of Courts website to shame.

I don't know about you, but I have been wondering for a very long time now: Barbara, what is the hold up? And don't tell me it's funding because as I mentioned in earlier articles (See "Areas of Concern" Part 2 series in the side bar), all you have to do is think outside the box, or use your opponent's (Steve Schaeffer in the November 2008 election) ideas. If you used Schaeffer's ideas, then you wouldn't even have to think outside the box. Now that I "think" about it, if you used his ideas, then you wouldn't even have to think! He did all the thinking for you! You could just do it! What a GREAT idea! ! ! ! !

The people of Erie County just want to see you actually DO SOMETHING while in office. Getting records on line would be a HUGE accomplishment on your part. So why don't you want to do this? We the citizens and tax payers of this county would like to see some actual work and achievements come from you during this term because there hasn't been any achievements in your prior 5 terms. For all the money we are paying you to do this job that is not too much of us to expect from you. Otherwise you should retire and let someone else put that office into the 21st century.

How about Barb? Are you up to doing the job? Or is it going to continue to be the same ole', same ole'?

AREAS OF CONCERN 6: MICROFILMING CLOSED CASES

2009-03-28T12:40:00.004-04:00

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

2009-03-28T12:34:00.003-04:00

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.

CUYAHOGA COUNTY SHERIFF RESIGNS

2009-03-26T16:10:00.003-04:00

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.

ANOTHER COUNTY OFFICIAL WHO DOESN'T LIKE TO WORK

2009-03-21T20:03:00.003-04:00

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

2009-03-21T14:37:00.008-04:00

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

2009-03-21T13:59:00.004-04:00

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).

NEW AREA WEBSITE

2009-03-18T14:39:00.003-04:00

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.

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

2009-03-14T18:28:00.002-04:00

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?

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

2009-03-13T19:43:00.002-04:00

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

New American Tea Party

2009-03-10T10:53:00.004-04:00

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.

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

2009-03-07T12:25:00.002-05:00

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?

SPREAD THE WORD

2009-03-04T12:29:00.003-05:00

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

2009-03-04T11:33:00.002-05:00

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 .

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

2009-03-01T13:26:00.007-05:00

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?

AREAS OF CONCERN 2: GETTING RECORDS ON LINE: PART 3: FUNDING

2009-02-23T09:13:00.005-05:00

In our previous articles, we looked at what Mrs. Johnson said during the 2008 campaign about getting records on line and her failure to do so.

In this article, we will look at how to get the funding for this operation.
We will again look at the SR article: “Q&A Live: Clerk of Courts candidates answer your questions” which can found in its entirety here.

Oh, I know, it cost too much money to put the records on line. Then why is Erie County the only county this size or larger that does NOT have records on line? In the same SR article, her opponent states, “…of the 32 northern counties of Ohio, only 4 counties did not have "On-Line" records. Erie County was one of them, the other 3 are small counties have a population/tax base of 38,000 or less. Surrounding Erie County, were counties having on-line records, they include Huron, Seneca, Ottawa, Crawford, Hancock etc all smaller than Erie County. The Clerk only need to get the software and tie it in with our present Court Records Management System and we will be up and running.”

Well, that shows the ineptness of her managing skills, her lack of being able to “think through” a problem; her lack of doing her job. She seems to be to involved with micro-managing her office rather than being able to take on “the BIG” responsibilities.”

A SR reader submitted this question: How would each of you go about getting the funding for putting court records on-line?

Johnson’s reply: “I would meet with the Commissioners and take a good look at my budget to see if there is any place money can be transferred (sic). As in the past, I will also meet with other Clerks to find out their strategies for finding the necessary resources.”

Her reply is vague and she can not seem to, “think outside the box.” Trying to get this job done with just using the county budget is like trying to shoot a charging lion with a paintball; it just won’t get the job done.

Mr. Schaeffer’s reply was much more detailed and thought out. “Funding for these programs is limited. Portions of court costs and fees are set aside for the Court and Clerk of Court to use for computerization, software and hardware purchase, and maintenance costs. Other funding resources may be available thru grants. The National Center for State Courts has compiled information on funding resources which may be helpful and will be researched. In addition, the Ohio Revise Code addresses the various fees which can be charged by the court and clerk and may need to be revised to determine if additional costs can be charged to the users of the court system vs the tax based county revenue fund. The biggest source may be my highest priority goal and that is to collect on the $500,000 to $700,00 the incumbent is behind on in collecting delinquent fines and court costs.”

Wow! She could even take what he said and use his ideas to get the job done, but she won’t. She would rather leave things as they are than move forward with it. She has demonstrated many times in the past, if an idea isn’t hers (no matter how good of an idea it is) she won’t use it. She only uses ideas that she herself comes up with. Well ladies and gentlemen, those ideas are very, very few, and very, very far between (pretty much non-existent).

So to summarize what we have said in these past 3 articles in this series:

1) She said that records would be on line by early 2009. It is late-February and she has not taken any action toward that goal, so we can say that is safe to assume it won’t happen by early 2009. Anyone want to take bets on mid 2009?
2) To get this job done, there needs to be funding. As long as Johnson tries to do it through her budget only, she will NEVER be able to afford it. She needs to think outside the box. She could even steal her opponents’ ideas to get the job done; but she won’t. Because she didn’t think of it, they are no good.

Considering how she operates, I’m placing my bets that the records won’t get on line until 2013; when the NEW Clerk of Courts takes office (whoever that may be). I pray to God that I am wrong. Time will tell.

For more information on this, read the SR Viewpoint on January 22, 2009, “Time to Light a Fire Under Court Clerk’s Office” found here. This op-ed pretty much says it all in a nutshell.

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?

Part 4 in this series will deal with which Ohio Counties have records on line and which do not. You will be AMAZED! ! !.

CONTACT BARB JOHNSON

2009-02-17T23:12:00.002-05:00

So, you've been reading things on this blog, and you are concerned at the job (or lack thereof) that Barb Johnson is doing. Or, you are concerned that she is not doing the job that you voted her into office to do (afterall, she works for US the county tax payers). Simply call or email her at the phone number or the email address in the sidebar and let her know your concerns.

Remember: we (the citizens and tax payers) are her employer - she works for US. So contact her and let her know your concerns.

AREAS OF CONCERN 2: GETTING RECORDS ON LINE: PART 2

2009-02-14T18:13:00.008-05:00

In our February 11, 2009 article, we looked at what Mrs. Johnson said in her SR Candidates Blog on October 14, 2008. In this article on the continuing series “Areas of Concern,” we will continue to look at Mrs. Johnson failure to get this job done.

Let us look at the SR article: “Q&A Live: Clerk of Courts candidates answer your questions” which can found in its entirety here.

The SR reader posed this question to the candidates:

“Q: What changes, if any should be put in place as to the access to public records and the public relations attitude of the staff?”

Johnson’s reply: “I will answer the last part of the question first. I am quite concerned that the attitude of my staff has been questioned! Of course, there will be complaints once in a while, but I feel that the Clerk's staff is very good with customer relations. One has only to speak to the supervisor or Barbara if there is ANY problems or concerns. Public relations is very important to me. We are here to serve the public with consideration and respect. As stated several times, a WEB service will be created early 2009. WEB SERVICE- court records online, is one of our biggest goals. Just stop and think: This is not only a giant stop for the public, but an assest (sic) to the office- will allow the clerk to handle many more mandated duties. Who would not want that.” (emphasis added by RBJFO editor).

Let’s take a look at this more closely. She said, “WEB service will be created early 2009.” Well, it’s mid February. What is Mrs. Johnson’s definition of “Early 2009?” I was in that office yesterday and I found NO EVIDENCE whatsoever of court records going on line. Furthermore, after asking several of her staff, they too had no idea when that would take place. Now perhaps Mrs. Johnson does have something in the works and being the great, “non-communicator” that she has proven to be, just has not relayed that information to her staff. But I highly doubt it.

She goes on to say, “WEB SERVICE- court records online, is one of our biggest goals. Just stop and think: This is not only a giant stop for the public, but an assest (sic) to the office- will allow the clerk to handle many more mandated duties. Who would not want that.”

That’s correct Mrs. Johnson, who wouldn’t want that. Apparently you don’t want that because it has not been done yet. YOU are the one who doesn’t want the “giant step for the public.” YOU are the one who does not want to have your staff to be able “to handle the many other mandated duties,” that your staff has not been able to do because YOU have not put the records on line yet.
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?

Part 3 in this series will deal with funding for getting the records on line.

AREAS OF CONCERN 2: GETTING RECORDS ON LINE: PART 1

2009-02-11T13:21:00.014-05:00

Here at RBJFO, we have no idea who will run against Mrs. Johnson in 2012. After all, that's 4 years away. However, during the 2008 campaign, some very serious "Areas of Concern" were brought to the forefront by Johnson's opponent, Steve Schaeffer. If nothing gets done in these areas, it will give Mrs. Johnson's opponent a TON of ammunition to use against her when they run against her in 2012. This includes any democrat that may run against her in the primary!

We will take each of the “Area of Concerns” and analyze them for the public to better understand each area and what has or has not been done about these 11 “Areas of Concern.” These "Areas of Concern" are all part of Johnson's quarterly Report Card that we are putting together and will begin to appear every quarter beginning the beginning of April.

The first area of concern is her attendance which we are covering every month in her monthly attendance record. So far, she has shown an improved attendance, but as we mentioned in an earlier article, it may be to the dismay of her staff. Does her office staff like the fact that she is there this much? After all, they are the ones that are there at the job day after day after day / day in and day out. Her staff know that office inside and out, forwards and backwards. And even though Barb knows little about the job (even though she has been clerk for 20 years, but she was RARELY in the office before the 2008 election, therefore, she can't know a whole lot about the office or how it operates) is she more of a hindrance because she is now there everyday?

The Second area that we would like to look at more closely is getting the "Records on Line." This is one of the BIGGEST Areas of Concerns, so we will lay this out in the next 3 parts of our multi-part series. Mrs. Johnson has had 9 years this April to get this accomplished (the COC got computers in April 2000). That is over 2 terms (9 years) to get the job done and she hasn't done it yet.

How much more time does she need?

As we all know, her attendance record in her first 20 years as clerk was dismal at best. She just wasn't in the office enough to get ANYTHING done! That explains why she hadn't accomplished that task sooner. Well, her attendance since the election has improved, so we'll see what happens.

Let's go back to 2008 election campaign and what she said about this Area of Concern(AC).

In the Sandusky Register's (SR) weekly candidates blog on October 14, 2008, they posed the following question to both candidates:

"What is the most important challenge the clerk's office faces at this time and specifically what steps would you take to address it?"

Mrs. Johnson answer to that question was this:

"The most important challenge the clerk's office faces is GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE. Good customer service includes knowing the job and doing it right. The Clerk of Courts is the "Keeper of the Records". Those records must be correctly created and made available to the public. HOW?? Although, you have been led to believe that this Clerk of Courts is not interested in "advancing" the office, I advise you of just the opposite!! WEB SERVICE - court records on line, is one of our biggest goals. Just stop and think: This is not only a giant step for the public, but an assist to the office - will allow the clerk to handle many more duties mandated by law. Who would not continue to work toward this goal!"

Find her entire blog here.

OK, Mrs. Johnson, while the first part of your answer is "flowery - powder puff, non-commital junk," you finally did say that this is "one of our biggest goals." So we assume that this is at the TOP of your list to get things done! Mrs. Johnson you are correct again in saying that, "this is not only a giant step for the public, but assist to the office - will allow the clerk to handle many more duties mandated by law. Who would not continue to work toward this goal!"

Well, Mrs. Johnson, you've had over 4 months since the election to get this job done, and so far it looks like NOTHING has been done. If this is one of your "Biggest Goals," why has nothing been done about this to date?

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?

Part 2 in this series will be what she said during the SR on line Question & Answer session. Stay tuned ladies and gentlemen, this gets even better.

COMING SOON: THE QUARTERLY REPORT CARD

2009-02-07T21:09:00.008-05:00

Coming soon to RBJFO will be Barb Johnson's quarterly report card. The report card will cover areas of concern that came up during the election.

These areas of concern are: 1) Attendance; 2) Records on line; 3) Social Security Numbers & financial account numbers removed from hard copy case files; 4) Collection on estimated $700,000 in outstanding court costs and fines; 5) Addressing office understaffing; 6) Microfilming closed cases; 7) Improve customer relation skills of the staff; 8) Send staff to continuing Ed workshops to keep them on top of Ohio Revised Code changes; 9) Have case files properly filed away; 10) Monitoring program to keep cases from being illegally removed from the office (this goes for Mrs. Johnson too); and 11) Automated phone system.

We could have started this with the first quarter being November 2008 - January 2009. However, we will stick to the regular calendar year (and cut Mrs. Johnson a little slack) and have the first quarter start January - March 2009. Little has changed in the 11 above mentioned areas of concern; except for a "D" in attendance. So, if we had started the quarterly report card November 2008 - January 2009, Johnson would have received a failing grade

So watch for her first report card at the beginning of April.

PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG

2009-01-31T14:51:00.005-05:00

The purpose of this blog is to educate the citizens of Erie County as to why Barb Johnson should not be the Erie County Clerk of Courts, and to "hold Johnson accountable for doing nothing for the past 20 plus years."

We will use many tools of information including, but not limited to: 1) Personal experience in dealing with that office on a several times per week basis; 2) either entire articles or quotes from articles from the "Sandusky Register" and the "Morning Journal" (Lorain).

Barb Johnson is a very nice person. Her "likeability" is not what is in question. What is in question are her management skills (or lack thereof) which cost the citizens and tax payers of Erie County hundreds of thousands of dollars over her past 6 terms of over 20 years. This evidence will be gathered during the next 4 years and will be made available to the public for the 2012 election.

This information needs to get out to the public so that the public can make a much better, informed, and educated choice in their next Erie County Clerk of Courts, and to provide evidence as to why Barb Johnson cost Erie County way too much money.

In the beginning, this blog may not be a daily blog, but at least weekly or monthly. As we get closer to 2012, there will be more and more posts; probably eventually going to daily posts.

It is the editors hope that you check back often and become informed and educated before the 2012 election.