Clerk asks for additional staff amid rising probate and guardianship workload

County Clerk Denise told the commissioners the county clerk's office is experiencing sustained increased workload tied to district court and growing guardianship caseloads and asked the court to consider funding an additional full-time position.

Denise said the office currently manages multiple court dockets, birth- and death-certificate requests and an expanding volume of guardianship cases. "We're just busy with the two courts ... guardianship is what's exploding," Denise said, describing how current staff cover court weeks and sometimes work through lunch to keep up. Commissioners asked county staff to run a report showing comp time hours and the dollar-equivalent so they could compare the cost of hiring a new position to the overtime/comp-time being taken under the current staffing model. One commissioner said the request looked like a need rather than a want but wanted the comp-time numbers before deciding; the court agreed to revisit the staffing request during Round 2 of the budget workshops.