Municipal Court returns to four-day schedule

Afsha Bawany

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 | 10:49 a.m.

After almost a year of being open for business five days a week, Henderson Municipal Court is returning to a four-day week starting Monday.

The change will allow the court to handle caseloads more efficiently during peak days, court officials say.

The municipal court began the five-day work week as a trial last September under the belief that more people would take care of court business on Fridays, when many are paid, Court Administrator David Hayward said Tuesday. Some of the court's 38 employees were put on a Monday through Thursday shift, while the others worked Tuesday through Friday.

The court employees who worked Mondays became much busier, and those on Fridays found business was slow.

For example, during a week in March, the court handled 529 cases on Mondays and 67 on Friday. In a week in April 486 cases were handled on a Monday and 58 on a Friday.

"The workload on Friday never really picked up like we thought it would," Hayward said, adding the change "helps us work more efficiently on Mondays."

The court, 243 Water St., handles simple misdemeanors, domestic abuse cases and traffic cases.

Part of the problem was that the two judges didn't work on Fridays, so no courts were in session. The court also posted signs in the courtrooms and put a notice of the Friday hours on its website, but no notices were mailed to Henderson residents, city spokeswoman Vicki Taylor said.

Hayward said waiting times on Mondays have been as long as an hour and on Fridays there have been no wait times. Court officials estimate the wait will decrease to no more than 30 minutes on Mondays when the full complement of court employees are on staff.

"We just don't have the business on Friday," Hayward said.

In addition, once court staffers master a new case management system, they should be able to reduce that to no more than 20 minutes.

"They can clear that big customer demand on Mondays in a much faster fashion," Taylor said.

While waiting to pay his traffic ticket at the courthouse Tuesday, Jose Lopez said he has been to the courthouse two to three times and hasn't had to wait very long. But he said a four-day work week will help make things move faster.

"Anything to move stuff along," Lopez said.

C.J Zens, who was waiting for about 20 minutes before his number was called Tuesday, said he has waited 20 to 45 minutes in the past to pay his traffic tickets. Zens said an addition of a larger staff at the start of the week helps because he's seen more people come Mondays and Tuesdays than at the end of the week.

"Hopefully it will help," Zens said.

While court sessions will not be held and court windows will not be open on Fridays, those wishing to pay fines can drop their payments at a drop box located in front of the Justice Center or at the city's finance department across the street.

New window hours will be 7:45 a.m to 5 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. On Tuesdays the window will be open 7:45 a.m to 6:30 p.m.