House Journal: Page 74: Wednesday, January 10, 2001
We are encouraging each judicial district to hold employee discussion groups
to hear employees’ concerns and ideas for improvements;
We are providing a standard exit questionnaire to each juror, asking them to
evaluate their court experience; and
We will conduct focus group sessions to seek the views of key court users such
as attorneys, litigants, witnesses, and others.
Our performance reviews will serve as reality checks, help us identify any
weaknesses in the court system, and generate ideas for future improvements.
JUDGESHIP STUDY
Our performance suffers when we do not have enough judges. The constitution
gives you the responsibility to provide additional judges. However, we are keenly
interested because the number of judges you provide directly affects our ability to carry
out our constitutional mandate to serve the people.
In response to our shared concerns about the integrity of the statutory judgeship
formulas, we started an intensive study of our trial court workload. This fall, more
than half of our trial court judges and magistrates participated in an eight-week time
study designed by the National Center for State Courts. As you know from your own
work, some issues require more time than others. The results of the time study will
show us the average amount of time a judge needs to handle each type of case. The end
result will tell us the number of judges and magistrates we need to dispose of cases in a
timely manner. Soon, we’ll present the Center’s report to you with our
recommendations.
JUDICIAL BRANCH OPERATIONS
We know we must carefully manage the resources you provide. And we know we
must exercise fiscal discipline. But when resources fall critically short of the public’s
demand for justice, even the best management will not slow the erosion of court
services.
Due to the high cost of employee health insurance and other circumstances beyond
our control, we began the fiscal year with a $2.4 million deficit in our operating budget.
Despite our best efforts to manage around the budget shortfall, we found no way to
avoid the unpleasant task of cutting public services.
During my first month as Chief Justice, I traveled to every judicial district to meet
with our judges, clerks of court, and juvenile court staff. They are doing their best to
keep cases moving under the present difficult conditions. Based upon their comments, I
believe that if these conditions continue, case processing will fall behind, and delays
will start to mount.
I am proud of all of our people in the Judicial Branch. And I am impressed by their
boundless capacity for work and their unshakeable commitment to helping others. But
even the most productive person can only do so much each day.
© 2001 Cornell College and
League of Women Voters of Iowa
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Last update: Fri Jan 12 13:35:00 CST 2001
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