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Court official resigns over paper jam

By KEVIN GRAHAM
Published January 26, 2007

A department head at Hillsborough's Clerk of the Circuit Court Office resigned Thursday amid a records processing backlog that had grown as long as 12 business days.

The county plans to use overtime and help from Pinellas workers to fix the problem as soon as possible.

"That's not acceptable," Hillsborough Clerk Pat Frank said of the backlog. She called the St. Petersburg Times about the problem to alert the public, she said.

Frank questioned records manager Jack Etheredge after attorneys and title company owners complained to her about the wait. Her office receives about 2,500 documents a day, among them marriage licenses, deed restrictions and liens. The documents should take only a day or two to process, Frank said.

The office had until Jan. 1 to comply with a statute requiring removal of personal information before documents become public records.

Employees met their deadline but got behind on new documents, Frank said. Frank named a temporary replacement for Etheredge.

Donna Sorgenfrei, office manager for Tampa Title Co., said she noticed the problem and was prepared to call the clerk of the circuit court to complain.

Pinellas Clerk Ken Burke, whose office uses the system that Hillsborough recently purchased, plans to send four staffers to help, beginning Monday.

"I don't know what the cost is going to be," Frank said. "I'm just saying we have a problem, and we need to solve it."

Kevin Graham can be reached at 813 226-3433 or kgraham@sptimes.com.

[Last modified January 26, 2007, 01:06:39]