ORDER NO. ~:i5~'7
AF'F'ROVRL DF RECLASSIFICATION
OF CLERK TO LEGRL SECRETARY
IN THE COUNTY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
On this the :?6th day of August 1996, upon motion made by
Judge Robert A. Denson, seconded by Commissioner Lehman, the
Court unanimously approved by a vote of 5-0-0, to approve the
re-classification from present level to i4/1 effective
October 1, 1996 in the County Attorney's Office.
COMMISSIONERS' COURT AGENDA REQUEST
*PLEASE FURNISH ONE ORIGINAL AND FIVE COPIES OF THIS REQUEST AND
DOCUMENTS TO BE REVIEWED BY THE COURT
MADE BY: ~~~~~ ~ ort~`~
OFFICE: ~• ~TTy
MEETING DATE: ~ f z4 ! ~ ~
TIME PREFERRED: i''1O~^"^'~
SUBJECT: (PLEASE BE SPECIFIC) 2c--~c.4ssr~.c~-r.v~ ~P~~+o~~`'
a c- a ~. E 1 K zc ` E ~ .. ~- S F c .~ r Teti y ~} .vr~-) A A ar Tc aN o r=
EXECUTIVE SESSION REQUESTED: YES NO
PLEASE' STATE REASON FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION
ESTIMATED LENGTH OF PRESENTATION: / S- "" ~^' " ~f
PERSONNEL MATTER - NAME OF EMPLOYEE:
NAME OF PERSON ADDRESSING THE COURT: as+'i"~' ~ ° r`~ ~
Time for submitting this request for Court to assure that the matter 1s posted to accordance
with Article 6252-17 1s as follows:
* Meetings held on second Monday: 12:00 P.M. previous Wednesday
* Meetings held on Thursdays: 5:00 P.M. previous Thursday
THIS REQUEST RECEIVED BY:
THIS REQUEST RECEIVED ON : ~
A11 Agenda Requests will be screened by the County Judge's Office to determine if
adequate information has been prepared for the Court's formal consideration and action
at time of Court meetings. Your cooperation will be appreciated and contribute towards
your request being addressed at the earliest opportunity. See Agenda Request
Guidelines.
PROPOSED PERSONNEL CHANGES FOR 1996-1997 BUDGET
COIINTY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
SIIPPORT BTAFF•
romotion of Clerk (12.2L_to Leaal Secretarv (14.1
Jane Buck has worked in this office for nearly three years: the
first year as a part-time file clerk, and two years as a full-time
clerk. Her duties have changed dramatically:
• Rather than being responsible for general filing and general
reception, she now processes and maintains records for the
hot-check department (filed as well as unfiled cases) and for
both bank accounts (trust and collections), and performs
reception for the hot-check department. Her duties now
encompass those set forth in the Legal Secretary job
description for the County Attorney's Office, as they apply to
hot checks.
• Under her capable hands, our hot check department has
experienced tremendous growth. Before our office went "on-
line" with its new hot-check software program in April, 1995,
this office processed only 50 to 10o new hot checks per month.
Last month, 358 new checks were processed, and the number
continues to increase monthly.
While she has entered 1400 offenders in our system since its
inception (almost 900 of them since last July), she has only
had to file actual criminal charges against 358 of them. This
means that 1042 were brought to justice without having to
overwork the court system (or the rest of the staff in this
office, for that matter).
Jane has also worked closely with the designer/vendor of the
hot-check software program to keep the system updated in order
to keep up with our ever-changing and ever-increasing needs.
And she also works closely with local merchants and law-
enforcement to locate offenders and collect restitution more
efficiently. (Our current merchant base is 208, up 147 from
a year ago).
• And while statistics can give you some idea of the sheer
volume of work involved, they cannot begin to convey the
effort, skill, and diligence necessary to bring about these
results. (Even when she's "off-duty", Jane is snagging
offenders and educating merchants!)
1
Present Leoal Secretary (14.x1
(This information is provided mainly for purposes of overview.)
The major change experienced in this position over the past year or
two involves reception. Having been relieved of the duties
involving hot checks, the present legal secretary returned to
performing those duties involving general reception, which appears
to be a fairly "even swap" at present. Duties of preparation and
processing of new state reporting forms has also been added. Since
this position was formerly unable to offer support to our (largely)
civil-section attorney, no change has been experienced there.
Present Administrative Legal Secretary (15.x1
(This information is provided mainly for purposes of overview.)
The major change experienced in this position over the past couple
of years involves our computer system. Our overall system has
suffered severely in recent years because Helena is unable to
maintain the level of upgrading, learning, and in-house training
required to keep our office abreast of new developments in the
software we use and/or need to use to function optimally. This
situation would be remedied by the hiring of a full- or part-time
prosecutor whose duties would include handling juvenile hearings
and processing juvenile cases.
Proposed Position of File Clerk/Receptionist (8.11
Until three years ago, this office relied upon VOE students
(working less than 15 hours per week) to perform our filing duties.
Because those duties had increased to include basic docketing, more
hours were required than a student could provide. A greater level
of maturity was also needed, so the position was increased to a
part-time file clerk working 19 hours per week. Then two years
ago, that position was increased to full-time (that was when we
hired Jane to work full-time). However, since that time, we
increased the duties of file clerk to include those of the hot-
check legal secretary, as described above. Due to the rapid
expansion of the hot-check department, one person was no longer
able to fulfill all those duties, so last fall we hired a part-time
file clerk, which position is presently being funded with
collection fees. However, the position is no longer functional at
only 19 hours per week. We have tried availing ourselves of
community-service and SWAP workers, but the quality of their work
generally is so poor that we waste more of our time repairing the
damage than they save us. (A good file system is, after all, the
heart of any operation.) We have even contracted out piecework on
occasion in order to reduce backlogs.
What we need at this point is a full-time file clerk/receptionist.
This would allow us to hire a responsible person to perform general
2
filing and basic docketing duties as well as general reception
duties (answer telephone and greet walk-ins, excluding hot checks).
With a shifting of reception duties from the present legal
secretary, the legal secretary could once again encompass such
duties as assisting attorneys in the courtroom, an area which has
been sorely neglected. (With the expansion of the hot-check
department, the general reception duties necessarily fell back onto
the present legal secretary, as explained above, which then left
insufficient time for courtroom assistance.)
You may wonder why it is that we are requesting additional
personnel, when a cursory examination of statistics in the County
Court at Law does not seem to indicate any great increase in
"output". However, please bear in mind the following:
• Six years ago, this office had a support staff of 2 full-time
persons and a 3-hours-per-day VOE student for a total of 2~
persons. There was no such thing as a Crime Victim Assistance
program, nor a Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS), and
hot-check offenders were charged immediately, without
opportunity for disposition outside the court system.
• One year ago, this office had a support staff of 3 full-time
persons. That was an increase of 5 hours per day, or ~
person. Only ~ person, even as we'd begun expansion of our
hot-check system, even as we'd begun implementation of a newly
mandated Crime Victim Assistance program, even as we'd begun
required reporting of case information to CJIS through its new
system, and even as we'd begun our new hot-check collection
system (and even as we'd begun to avail ourselves of new
technology to increase our productivity via computers).
• Today, our support staff administer an increasing range and
number of programs and systems, in addition to those discussed
above, many of which didn't even exist in previous
administrations.
3

.IOB DESCRiPTiON• Legal Secretary
CLASS NO.: 1038 OCCUPATIONAL CATEGORY:
Office/Clerical
PAY GROUP: 14 FLSA: Non-exempt
JOB TITLE: Legal Secretary

To provide a full range of efficient secretarial and record
keeping services.
ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS:
1. Reports to: The county attorney.
2. a s: Does not supervise any employees.
3. Other: Has contact with other county departments or
offices, employees of outside law-enforcement agencies
and organizations, representatives of the legal
profession, prospective jurors, and the general public.
GENERAL STATEMENT OF DUTIES:
This is a responsible nonsupervisory position. Duties include
receiving telephone calls and visitors; providing needed
assistance; typing various legal documents and correspondence;
and maintaining a variety of records.
EXAMPLES OF WORK•
Receives incoming telephone calls and visitors, providing
whatever assistance is needed promptly and courteously;
Opens and sorts incoming mail daily, and insures that outgoing
mail is delivered to post office;
Responds to routine inquiries about cases;
Types a variety of documents including letters, statements,
memoranda, reports, and legal forms;
Reviews supply inventories and operational needs and orders
supplies ae needed;
Creates and maintains filing systems;
May compile materials for and coordinate attendance of jurors,
attorneys, witnesses, and probation officers at hearings;
J
CLASS NO. 1038 (Continued)
May perform basic legal research and cite checking;
May provide courtroom assistance to attorneys during hearings
and trials;
May draft routine correspondence, legal documents, and
pleadings;
May receive, record, and issue receipts for payments;
Uses wordprocessing and other automated office equipment;
Operates a criminal computer terminal for information
retrieval;
May maintain various records and statistics needed for
reporting purposes;
May take dictation; _
May make some calculations by hand or using a calculator; and
Performs such other duties as may be assigned.
REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE. SKILLS AND ABILITIES:
Knowledge of and ability to apply correct business English,
spelling, and math; knowledge of legal terminology, legal
research systems, citation forms, and courtroom procedures;
knowledge of and ability to operate modern office equipment
including personal computer, electronic typewriter,
dictation/transcribing equipment, and copy machine; ability to
type accurately at a speed of at least 55 words per minute;
ability to establish and maintain effective working
relationships with co-workers and employees in other
departments and outside agencies; ability to deal effectively
with the public; ability to communicate effectively orally and
in writing; ability to understand and follow oral and written
instructions and to request clarification when needed; ability
to exercise independent judgment; and the ability to learn the
various codes, statutes, rules and regulations pertaining to
county government.
CLASS NO. 1038 (Continued)
ACCEPTA9LE EXPERIENCE TRAINING:
High-school graduation or its equivalent with secretarial
courses, including typing, plus at least three years'
responsible secretarial experience (some experience as a legal
secretary preferred);
OR
Any equivalent combination of experience and training which
provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities.
CERTIFICATES AND LICENSES REQUIRED:
None. Notary public desirable.
~---~i"~i- ~i ~ ~ ~^r r ti^r ~r.r ~..r ...r r
95/96 SteplGrade Schedule
~... raor a.ri tam tar
. Pay	PaX_	Step 1 __	_ Sta~2	_.Step 3	Ste~4 _	Ste~B	_SteQ 8	Step 7	Step 8	Step 9	Step 10	Stee 11	Step 12
Grou	Basis						_	_	_	_	_	_	
__ 7 _	A _	$12,038_	S 12,339_	$ 12,847	_ $ 12,963	$ 13,287	S 13,819	$13,980	$14,309	$ 14,867	$ 15,033	$ 15,409	$ 15,794

____	
_ M _	
_1003.13	
1028.21__	
1053,82	
1080.28	
1107.27	
1134.95	
1163.33	
1192.41	~
1222.22	
1252.78	
1284.1D	_
1318.20

__	
SM _	
__501.57	
___514.11___	
28.98
_5	
540.13	_
553.84	
587.48	
5
81.88	_
598.21	
811.11	
828.39	
842.05	_
858.10

_	
H_	
_ 5.79	
5.83	_
8.08	
8.23'	
8.89	_
8.55	_
_
8.71	
6.88 ~	
7.05	_
7.23	
7.41	___
7.59
	~												
B	A _	$12,847	$ 12,984_	$.13,288	$13,820__	$_13,980_	$
14,309	$14,867	$15,034	$15,410	$15,795	$18,190	$18,595
	
M
'	
_106398	
1080.31	
1107.31_	
1135.00	
1183.37	_
1192.45	
1222.27	_
1252.82	.
1284.14	_
1'318.25	_
1349.15	_
1382.88
	
SM	
528.98	
540.15	
553,68	
587.50	
8.81,89
~	
598.23	
811.13	
828.41	
842.07	
858.12	
874.58	_
891.44
	H	8.08	8.23	6.39	8.55	8.71	8.88	7.05	7.23	7.41	7.59'	7.78	7.98
~9	A__	_$13,288
'	_ S 13,820
~	$ 13,981_	$_14,310	_$ 14,888	$ 16,034	$ 15,410	$ 15,795	$ 18,190	$ 18,595	$ 17,010	a 17,435
	
M	
1107
.34	
1135.03	
1183.40	
1192.49	
1222,30 ~	
1252.88	
1284.18	
1318.28	
1349.19	_
1362.92	
1417.49	_
1452.93
__	SM	553.87	587.51	581.70	_
598.24	811.15	828.43	842.09	858.14	874.59	891.48	708.75	7
28.48

___	
_ H__	
6.39	
8.55	
8.71	
8.88	
7.05	
7.23	
7.41	
7.59	
7.78	
7.98	_
8.18	_
.
_
-8.38
10	A ~	$13,981	E 14,310	S 14,687	_$15,034	$15,410	$15,795	$18,190	$18,595 -	a 17,010 -	$17,435	517,871-	S 18,317
	M
---	1163.38	1192.48	1222.27	7252.83	_
1P84.i5	1318.25	1349.18	1382
.89	_
1417.46	_
__
1452.90	1489.22	_
1526.45
	SM
-
--	581.89
~
--	598.28
-
- -	81'1.14
-	828.41__
- -	842.07	858.13	874.58	_
891.44	708.73	X28.45	744.61	783.2
2
	H	8.71	8.88	7.05	7.23	7.41	_
7.59	_
7.78	7.98	__
8,18	~ 8.38 --	-- 6,59 -	_
~ 8.81
													
11	A_	$14,668	$ 1.5,032	a 15,408	$15,793	y 18188	$18,593	S 17,008	317,433	a 17,889	$18_315	$18,773	$19,243
_	_M	1222.14	1252.70	1284.01	1318.11	1349.02	1382.74	1417.31	1452.74	1489.08	1528.29	1584.44	1603.58
	SM
--	811.07
-	_828.35
-	642.01
~	658.08	874.51	891.37	08.85
7	728.37	7
44.53	783.14	782.22	8D1.78
	H	7.08	T.23	7.41	7.89--	_
--7.78	7.9'8	.
_
8,18	8.38	_
8.99	8.61	9.03	9.25
													
12 _	A	_$15,409	S 15,794	3 18,189	$ 18,594	$ 17,008	$17,434	$17,870	$ 18,318	$18,774	$19,244	$ 19,725	$ 20,218
	M	1_284.07	1318.17	1349.07	1382.80	1_417.37	1452.81	1489.13	1528.35	1584.51	1803.83	1843.72	1884.81

__	
SM	
842.03
- -	
858.09_	
874.54	
891.40	
708
.89
-	
728.40	
744.88	
783.!8	
'762.28	_
_
801.81	
821.88	_
842.40
	H	7.41	7.59	7.78	7.98	_
8,18	8.38	6.59	_
8.81	--9.03	_
9.25	9.48	9.72
													
_13	_A _	_ $$18,189	_$ _18,594.	$17,OD8_	_a 17,434	a 17,889	S 18_318	$18,774	'$19,243	$19,725	$ 20,218	$ 20,723	$ 21,241
_ __	_ M _	1349.07	1382.80_	__1417.37	1452.80	_
_1489.12	_
1528.35	1
584.51	1603.62	1843.71	__
1684.80	1726.92
-	1770'.10
	
S_ M	
674.54	
891.40	_
708.68 ~	_
726.40	
744.58	
783.17	_
_
782.25	_
601.81	_
821.68	_
842,40	_
__
863.46	_
__
885.05
	H	7.78	7.98	_
8.18	8.38	8.59	_
8.81	_
9.03	9.28	9.48	9.72	_
9.96	_ _
10.21

Page 1
Order NO. 23507
Approval of Reclassification
of clerk to legal secretary
in the County attorney's office
August 26, 1996
Vol U pg 602