by David Ball
Staff Writer
Jim Fuller is nearing the end of his second term as Clerk of the Courts and is currently running unopposed for re-election to his third four-year term.
“I don’t mind debating people about the issues and that, in some ways, is healthy to do. But everybody would like to run unopposed,” said the 58-year-old Fuller, a former state legislator and 22-year Navy aviator.
“I think it means people really like what we’re doing in the courts and what we’ve implemented” he continued. “Hopefully, they’ll let me finish what we’ve started.”
There are several things Fuller would like to accomplish in his third term, the chief of which is getting sorely needed money for what he says is one of the most under-funded Clerk of the Court offices in the state.
Recently, Fuller talked with the Daily Record about those funding challenges, as well as how new technology may help people from ever having to step foot inside his office and other issues.
You have said your office is underfunded by $10 million. How did that occur, and how are you working to get any of that money back?
“It’s actually about $15 million. What happened was before article five revision seven (of State code), we were a budget office and I went and had to negotiate for my budget from the City like anybody else. But in July of 2004, that revision took place and I became a fee-based office. I keep the filing fees and the excess money goes to the state.
“But to figure out your starting budget, the State said clerks had to use their last year’s budget. We were way under (funded) every other large county in the state because I could never get an increase from the City. A lot of clerks are financial officers of the county. When you control the checkbook and want to raise your budget, it makes it a little easier. That’s what makes Duval different than any county in state.
“I’ve been working with the state, telling them I need a little bit of help and a larger base budget. It’s a battle, but we’re working on it. I’m working with a bunch of people like Jim King on the Senate side, he’s done everything he can do. I’ve talked with Dick Kravitz, and Jennifer Carroll has been very helpful.”
How much money do you send to the state and where does it go?
“The money I send over to Tallahassee each month above my budget, the legislature sweeps that and puts it into general revenue. Half-million dollars a month. Duval County is the highest payer in the state for that.
“The fund is supposed to be for smaller counties that don’t have enough cases so they can’t meet their budget, or in the case of a disaster like a hurricane. But the Legislature saw that money and said, ‘hey, there’s $90 million.’ They took most of it. They leave us about five or six million in there to cover any disaster.”
What is your current budget and staff size? Where is most of the money spent?
“It’s about $18 million this year. I was about $15 million last year. The biggest part is salaries, like everything else. Over 90 percent is salaries. Workman’s comp goes up, insurance goes up and that’s what mostly affects my budget.
“We have about 410 people on staff. I’d guess my biggest department is traffic court, with about 70 people. My next biggest is misdemeanor because of the sheer volume of work, then circuit and civil.”
By being so underfunded, there have to be some services that aren’t being provided to customers.
“I think there are some things. I’d like to hire a few more people. There’s some capital expenditures I could use that would help me with technology. We do a good job here and everybody works hard, but there’s always room for improvement. I see that as trying to help us move forward in technology and services to the people. It may involve hiring a few more people.
“We are running pretty much right up to our budget this year. I meet with my staff once a week to try to figure out where we are, money-wise. I try to run all the money I have out to zero, because what I have left over I have to send to the state. We try to hire and do things so we run it right out to end.”
You’ve talked about moving to an electronic filing system. How will that help users of the clerk’s office?
“You could do things online without coming to the courthouse, that’s the biggest thing. You should be able to file anything online you file down here in person, especially criminal and civil files. Right now we’re not able to do that by law, and the (Florida) Supreme Court is working out privacy issues. There are things you can’t put online, like adoption and juvenile cases. Those are sealed. But people should be able to file things at their home and pay by credit card and never have to come to the courthouse. A Judge could use a laptop and save on paper.
“Parking’s terrible down here, so if I could make it easier for people, we’ll try and do that. Like next month, we’re starting an online recording system. Mortgage and title companies can send in their stuff online, and it will verify that it’s correct, they’ll pay for it by debit or an account and in a matter of seconds they’ll get it back to their office and never have to go to the courthouse. We’ve tested it and it works good. One document took 15 seconds to send back to the office with the book and page on it.
Has it helped by breaking away from City-managed IT and handling the technology through your own office?
“Yes. We didn’t get very far with the City’s technology staff. We hired some folks, bought some servers and we’re not attached to the City at all. It’s just something I felt like I could better serve the people by doing myself.”
Something the City is doing for you, at least at this point, is moving forward on a new courthouse. Are you involved in planning for the Clerk of the Court space?
“No. I tell you, I had worked on that thing for about seven years. I’ve been to so many meetings I’m meetinged-out. I’m sure they’ll come to me when they want to look at something. That’s the city’s job to build that. Whenever they want my opinion, I’m sure they’ll ask me.
“But it needs to happen. Nothing works here (at current courthouse). Half the toilets work, the a/c doesn’t work, the electricity goes out. This building is old, and it’d take millions of dollars to fix it up. I don’t have any more space for new people. I mean, I’ve got a lot of people using the same desk. We need the space and a building with facilities that works. I want a new building, and the City has to decide what they want to do, and it looks like they’ve done that.”
A lot of what’s happening in the economy and current mortgage crisis flows through your office. Are you seeing the numbers reflecting that?
“Last year we did 22,000 evictions. I haven’t looked at numbers yet, but we’ll probably eclipse that this year. I know foreclosures are up 40 percent over last year. It’s other stuff too, like small claims. On Thursdays we hold court down at the Beach Boulevard office. In two weeks we had 511 people. It’s mostly credit card debt and people not paying.”
What’s the most important role or function your office serves?
“It’s hard to say. Even the littlest thing we do could be very critical to some person. I think the whole concept of us managing the files for people, no matter what department, is the most critical because one piece of paper could mean the difference in a case. That’s what this courthouse runs on, these files.”
What’s your typical day like at the office?
“Well, I usually get in in the morning and have 50 or 60 e-mails already. A lot of them are from different clerks. I’m on the board of directors for the Florida Association of Court Clerks. We look at legislation in Tallahassee, and we have a big staff in Tallahassee. Yesterday I was looking at pensions.
“Here, I meet with my directors and figure out what is gong on, how we can better serve people. I look at my own budget and see what we need to spend money on or how we need to operate. I go out to the Beach office. I was there this morning for traffic court. It’s really a management type thing.
“I don’t know that I’ve learned everything yet. Some folks have been here and know a lot more about the paperwork aspect. I deal more with mostly the overall management. I walk around and talk to my employees all the time, ask them how we do things and why. I learn new things everyday about that.”
I know at least one week a year your attention is diverted to The Players Championship. How did you become involved with the TPC Board of Directors?
“I’ve always liked The Players Championship. When I was in the legislature, it always fell when I was in session. When I got out, I started volunteering and I got to move up into leadership roles. It really gives so much back to local charities. We did almost 3 million dollars last year, and all that money stays right here.
“It takes a lot of work, though. I’ll tell you, I’m busy every weekend from February until the tournament. We’ve got 2,000 volunteers, and I help coordinate some of those. On the week of the tournament, I’ll take off and get out there about 4:30 in the morning and get off at nine at night every day. Right now I’m the vice chairman over spectator services. That Includes corporate tents, admissions, everything that has to do with spectators. Next year I’ll have players’ services. The year after that I’ll be first vice chairman, and the next year I’ll be chairman.
Why did you seek re-election? What do you want to accomplish in your third term?
“I like the job, I like working here, and there’s some things I haven’t gotten done yet. I want to keep plugging away. I’d like to try and move technology more into the courtroom and do e-filing if the Supreme Court will let us. We’re ready to go and the system we have in place, it should go pretty well and smoothly. We have all the technology to do it right now, it’s just a matter of training people and training everybody that’s going to be working with it.”