Lafayette Clerk of Court

[percy]

Friends tell me that the clerk has a new phone system and that the calls are logged after 2 minutes. Well, how does the system know when to start logging calls after 2 minutes? The only answer can be is that all calls are logged from the moment they are placed or received. Also the new and quite expensive phone system is voice over internet protocal (VoIP) so one can bet that the calls are not only being logged but quite possibly being monitored too!

[zoe10850]

percy said:

Friends tell me that the clerk has a new phone system and that the calls are logged after 2 minutes. Well, how does the system know when to start logging calls after 2 minutes? The only answer can be is that all calls are logged from the moment they are placed or received. Also the new and quite expensive phone system is voice over internet protocal (VOIP) so one can bet that the calls are not only being logged but quite possibly being monitored too!

[zoe10850]

Sounds to me like the clerk of court has too much time on his hands; or is a bit paranoid. Every time I have gone to courthouse, I have noticed that people are afraid to speak up about their employer for fear of retribution. The turnover rate would corroborate that fact. Maybe we need a complete turnover of current officials and elect some who would tolerate disagreement and recognize freedom of speech...

[guestRonnieF]

Note the few number of times the posting has been read...proof positive that we deserve the fools we elect

[percy]

Friends tell me that the clerk went to a convention over the summer in New York. Of course, the registration, travel, room, and expenses were picked up by public dollars. What he does not want you to know is that his wife and children accompanied him to the convention. Hopefully, public coffers did not pick up those expenses too! Though, one has to wonder just how much work was accomplished with the wife and kids along for the trip and how appropriate was it to bring them to a convention in the first place. See the clerk hard at work at the convention.

[Irate]

Well ain't that special! Looks like elected officials in Lafayette just seem to do whatever they feel like with our money huh? Remember the government has no money until it confiscates it from us! We pay these bozos with our money and they spend it as if there is no tommorrow. It ain't really their money, they supposed to work for us but alas as usual we get the shaft. Remember when our parish president went to the little league world series on our dime and threw a big soiree on our money? Things never change around here these politicians waste our money and expect us to be happy about it. I ain't happy! Are you? It's too bad that more people don't care huh?

[zoe10850]

Yes, we send people to Haweii to learn about traffic and drainage problems in Lafayette. I guess I would go to, especially if the electorate is going to keep re-electing me no matter what I do. New York is a nice place to visit....do they even have clerks of court in NY ? I am certain that our clerk returned with a wealth of information valuable to the taxpayers of Lafayette. And his kids have been to the big apple......what a man. Maybe our newspaper could inquire of personal use of auto for all of those office related trips....hah. I forgot, we don't have a newspaper.

[zoe10850]

by the way, what qualifications does this person have to be Clerk of Court ? Someone told me he was a waiter at a popular night spot, and then a gopher for a U S representative....how exactly does this qualify you to serve in an administrative capacity with a multi-million diollar budget?

[RonnieF]

what are the laws on public officials use of government supplied automobiles? I have seen our Clerk at many places not job related in his big SUV (a Tahoe I believe)? And the Tax Assessor also drives a Ford Excursion (what could possibly justify purchase of that?). looks like they both like to spend when it is our money.

[RonnieF]

I agree, Carlton Duhon is a competent Clerk of Court. Barousse in Acadia seems to know his way around as well. More than I can say for the guy in Lafayette whom I suspect cannot spell abstract nor could he run a mortgage certificate.

[percy]

Nick got me curious about qualifications. I pulled out my green books and guess what, I can find absolutely no qualifications for the clerk. Not in the statutes, not in the constitution, not anywhere. I guess that is why the Lafayette clerk is so well qualified. Nick is right though, there should be, at least some minimum requirements so the next clerk, when asked at a debate where you go to do something done in the office, does not answer, “I do not know” and we do not have to pay to send him to school (at public expense) to learn how to do the job he was elected to do.

[zoe10850]

You mean to tell me there is a school for unqualified public servants ? What is it, Clerk of Court 101 ? Maybe we could send the Governor(ess) there. Couldn't hurt.

[percy]

There is always someone willing to take money to "educate" elected officials in their jobs. Though in the case in lafayette, it was more likely clerk of court 90!

[zoe10850]

Interestingly enough, there are virtually no requirements for a judge either, other than that they be a lawyer, and not a practicing one at that.

A Clerk of Court with no research or court document experience, several judges that have never practiced law, a tax assessor who never appraised anything, and a newspaper that never asks why. A mayor who asks the public midway through his term what decisions should he make. A council that seems obsessed with splitting the community into racial factions. A consolidated government that has consolidated nothing except a city and parish council. A city court system that is a revenue generator and not much else. A 200 man city police department when we have a 500 man sheriff's office. A school system that is growing even though the student population is not. A school system that suddenly, after 35 years of pickup/delivery of students suddenly forgot how to get the kids to school on time.

Sounds more dysfunctional than the Soprano family, and we don't seem to care.

[zoe10850]

Well, I see in todays Advertiser (front page) that our Clerk is going to fulfill "his dream" of going online with records for a cost of nearly $300,000. Did it really take SEVEN years to implement this type of technology at this cost ? Progress ? Actually, the project is not really ready, so I suspect that someone is actually paying attention to this forum and getting motivated to do the job they were elected to do by telling the press that they are doing something, anything.

Seriously, I think more time should be devoted to returning the Clerk's Office to the level of service that it was, prior to the current person holding office, as it was far better run, the staff was more friendly and not on edge. It looks as though all the experience is being run off to either save salary costs or because someone likes inexperience.

I certainly hope that there are some new faces in the race for Assessor, Clerk, Sheriff, and President races. At least some debate would be at the forefront.

[percy]

I would be inclined to agree with you but this is not the first clerk of court or county recorder to make records available online. We are not re-inventing the wheel here, folks.
It has been done before in countless offices across the country.

[TBEAR]

Nick and everyone else, info only not debating, here is a little free program that can take a screen shot of anything you see on your monitor in case anyone is interested,

www.wisdom-soft.com/products/screenhunter_free.htm

Like those websites that think they protected thier pictures from right clicking and saving/downloading.

It works great!!!

[TBEAR]

Sure I was just passing along a neat little tool if someone wanted it

[zoe10850]

Hey Percy, isn't that the Clerk's Office camera in that picture ? Isn't that against the law to use public property for personal use ?

[RonnieF]

I don't care if he "borrowed" a camera, as long as the public does not have to pay to develop his personal pictures; that would be wrong.