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Wyndham County sheriff tells Judiciary committee sheriffs remain vital to ensure reliable court notice
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Summary
Wyndham County Sheriff Mark Anderson told the Judiciary committee that sheriff-conducted service of process remains an essential, trained civil function and a necessary backstop when tenants avoid or obstruct notice. He described a three-attempt practice, affidavit filings and rural staffing constraints.
Sheriff Mark Anderson of Wyndham County told the Judiciary committee on April 16 that sheriffs act as the court's "mailman," ensuring actual notice is delivered when other methods fail.
Anderson, testifying about service of process and so-called "tack" or alternative service orders, said sheriffs perform a civil function that requires specialized training and that, because people sometimes avoid service or obstruct access, sheriffs serve as a neutral third party to effectuate reliable notice. "We are the mailman for the court," he said, adding that this is "an extreme oversimplification" meant to convey the backstop role sheriffs provide.
His testimony outlined the operational practice his office follows: three service attempts on different days and times (including weekends and different shifts), leaving business cards on initial attempts and filing an affidavit with the court documenting those efforts if alternative service is later sought. "Between three different attempts, that seems reasonable as a practice to give a person notice," Anderson said. He described how posted notices can be unreliable—blown away or removed—and that affidavits or, in complex cases, in-court testimony explain why direct service was impossible.
Anderson also described how counties use civilian civil deputies for service. Those civil servers, he said, are deputized for civil process work and are not armed while serving documents. When safety or criminal conduct is implicated, law-enforcement servers are used but typically in plain clothes to reduce the impression of a criminal process.
He told the committee that service work imposes significant logistical burdens in rural areas: serving one document in a town an hour away can consume multiple hours, producing different expectations among landlords about timing. Anderson said sheriffs also often connect tenants to social services—legal aid referrals, police-liaison social workers and substance-use providers such as Turning Point—when those connections can stabilize tenancies and reduce the need for forcible court actions.
Committee members pressed him on who prepares affidavits and who may accept service at a residence. Anderson said affidavits are generally prepared by the server and provided to the court or an attorney upon request; courts ultimately determine whether a person at the door qualifies as a resident for service purposes. He said the sheriff's office would be willing to share a departmental document describing its service-of-process practices with the committee.
The committee did not take any formal vote during Anderson's appearance. The chair moved the agenda forward after a brief Q&A.
