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Clerk of court outlines exhibit-storage plan and record-digitization work; water damage raised for repair
Summary
Stacy Kleist, Richland County clerk of court, updated the Public Safety Standing Committee on ongoing digitization of old case files, a no-cost plan to reconfigure fire-safe shelving for trial exhibits, and reported water-damage issues in the clerk and probate offices that have required equipment replacement and temporary workspace changes.
Stacy Kleist, Richland County clerk of court, told the Public Safety Standing Committee on May 2 that the clerk’s office is advancing a low-cost plan to store trial exhibits in the office FireSafe vault and continues a long-running effort to digitize decades of court files.
Kleist said the office must retain some physical exhibits for the same retention period as the case file — for example felony files can require retention for decades — and staff proposed removing segments of rolling shelving in the FireSafe vault so large exhibits can be secured there. “We have to keep those for a Supreme Court retention period that runs the same as the case file,” Kleist said. She described using bungee cords to keep boxes and large exhibits from falling when rolling shelves are moved.
Kleist said the office is converting older paper records to digital format internally rather than contracting the work, because the clerk is statutorily responsible for maintaining court records and prefers to control quality. She said the office has converted all filings to electronic format since 2014 but still must process decades of legacy paper files.
Kleist and probate staff also reported recurring water-damage incidents in the courthouse: a ceiling near the clerk’s front office shed chips and dislodged material onto workspaces, and a separate incident with a water fountain saturated a probate desk and damaged equipment. Probate staff said a new computer, printer and scanner were required after the water event. Kleist said staff moved state-owned devices forward and tightened workspace arrangements temporarily until repairs can be made.
Kleist thanked Administrator Trish Clements for inspecting the ceiling and said staff would like a longer-term repair to prevent recurring water infiltration. “We just come in, and one morning, all of the stuff is covered with brown water on our desk. It’s really not cool,” Kleist said.
No formal action was taken at the May 2 meeting; Kleist asked that maintenance and facilities staff follow up to limit future damage and that staff be allowed to continue the in-house digitization work.
