TITUSVILLE -- Brevard County Clerk of Courts Scott Ellis can breathe a little easier going into the new year after meeting a state deadline last week to submit missing criminal court data.

Computer problems that began two years ago have critically slowed the process of inputting court records.

"For criminal dispositions, the backlog is done," Ellis said. "As for our financial backlog, we will be closing out fiscal year 2000 in a few weeks and then into 2001. The data from this year should be done in the next three months."

Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles T. Wells had ordered Ellis to submit the missing data, some of which dates to November 1999, by the end of this year. Software problems have hindered the Clerk of Court office's ability to meet state requirements for reporting criminal case data, although the clerk's office has made headway with civil and juvenile case filings.

Problems started in 1999, when former Clerk of Courts Sandy Crawford tried to upgrade the computer system to improve efficiency and prevent expected Y2K problems. Initial software and installation costs ballooned from $750,000 to $925,000 with computer glitch fixes.

The software company that installed the system, Progressive Software Innovations, eventually went bankrupt. Another computer company, Tiburon, had to fix the 91 problems its workers found in the system.

Crawford told the County Commission last year his staff had to input 6,000 docket items a day by hand. Criminal cases were given the highest priority; smaller offenses, such as traffic tickets, temporarily were put on the back burner.Related problemsThe delay inputting items postponed getting a new judge, hindered judges and attorneys in managing their court schedules and slowed the collection and distribution of fees and fines.

As a result, speeders, reckless drivers and misdemeanor traffic offenders who didn't pay their tickets temporarily got a free ride while their case information was held in limbo. Brevard County averages about 100,000 civil traffic cases and 20,000 criminal traffic cases a year.

Since Ellis took over last January, he has focused on fixing the system.

Using clerks -- some of whom worked nights during the week and volunteered on weekends -- his office matched traffic tickets to paid and unpaid fines. Letters were sent to delinquent offenders, warning of possible license suspensions.

"We have been sending out 3,000 traffic letters a week," he said. "We will probably be caught up on that by May."

Ellis recently authorized training three new people to help the 15 full-time staffers updating dispositions. He estimated overtime to reduce the state reporting system backlog through the end of the year will cost about $50,000.

"Now, all we have left is a handful of cases that require a lot of research," Ellis said. "That would have been slow anyway. There are some people who have an assortment of charges, some criminal, felony and misdemeanor. Maybe some of the charges plead out, but others are still pending. These difficult cases are for the people who aren't first-timers." More finesWith the paid tickets comes fine money that county commissioners have said will be sorely needed in the near future because of budget problems spawned by a sluggish tourism industry and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Still, Commissioner Randy O'Brien is encouraged that progress is being made.

"I am very pleased this has finally been accomplished, and our courts can operate and function the way they are supposed to," he said. "That by itself will be a fantastic savings to the taxpayers of Brevard County. It will save time and overtime.

"Clerks couldn't quickly find records, judges were waiting on clerks, and attorneys were waiting to see what the judges would decide about their cases. It's a cascading effect, and the courts were getting all jammed up."

The customers of the justice system -- citizens -- also are affected by the delays, O'Brien said.

"Everybody has been touched by this," he said. "A person takes off work to go to court and the hearing is delayed or canceled, and they have to lose money and take more time off of work to go back. This has been an expensive problem for a long time."

Ellis said he is trying to help people who are in a time crunch by staying open today, even though it is a county holiday.

"We will be running like normal," he said. "We understand a lot of people will be doing things legally or financially that need to be finished by the end of the year."

That's a good thing too, O'Brien added, because the consequences of shoddy book-keeping could be devastating.

"We already have a tight budget," he said. " If we don't show the proper number of cases, we would lose the money to pay for a judge and all the expenses a judge incurs. The people of Brevard County would be denied due process by delay.

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-- Anonymous, January 05, 2002