Whitley Circuit Clerk’s Office will have reduced hours; evictions can be filed again starting Aug. 1

The Kentucky Supreme Court has cleared the way for evictions and criminal trials to resume across the state starting next month, according to an announcement issued Monday afternoon.

Also, starting next week those wanting to go to the Whitley Circuit Clerk’s Office to renew a driver’s license, pay a speeding ticket, file a will probate or get a copy of their divorce decree will now have two fewer hours each day to do so.

The Kentucky Supreme Court issued two administrative orders Monday that provide further guidance on how the Judicial Branch can safely carry out court operations. These orders clarify requirements for court facilities and proceedings, address staffing concerns raised by circuit court clerks, and provide updates on the handling of jury trials and evictions.

New hours

Whitley Circuit Court Clerk Gary Barton said that one big change the public is going to see starting next week is that his office will be changing the hours it is open to the general public to 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. daily.

Barton noted that his office staff will still be in the office working from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. each day though.

Because of COVID-19, the circuit clerk’s offices are only working with 50 percent of their staff. Half of the staff works one week, and the other half of the staff works the following week.

This is being done to ensure that the clerk’s office has adequate staff in the event staff members get exposed to COVID-19. If the staff one week were to be exposed, they would be sent home to quarantine and the other group of staff members would be brought into the office to work once it has been cleaned and disinfected.

Because only half of his office staff is working at any given time, Barton said his deputy clerks are having difficulty getting all the necessary filing and other work done each week.

He noted that the extra hour in the morning and extra hour in the late afternoon each day without having to wait on customers or answer phones should make a big difference in terms of the staff being able to get other duties completed.

Those wanting to use the public access terminals in the clerk’s office need to call and make an appointment ahead of time, Barton added noting this is being done to reduce the number of people inside his office at any given time.

Eviction filings

Another one of the administrative orders allows for all eviction actions to proceed starting on Aug. 1, 2020, subject to the requirements of the federal CARES Act.

It clarifies certain requirements for eviction actions that are subject to the CARES Act, including that landlords provide 30 days’ notice to vacate prior to filing an action for eviction, and the prohibition against charging any fees, penalties or other charges that accrued during the effective dates of the CARES Act.

Landlords making eviction filings will also be required to file form AOC-1027 (Verification of Compliance with CARES Act).

Barton said that he isn’t sure about all the details concerning this aspect of the order.

Over the past few weeks, Barton said that his office has gotten calls from people concerning filing evictions.

“I do see people coming in wanting to work on filing evictions,” he noted. “We have had several calls on evictions.

Jury trials

One of the administrative orders also allows criminal jury trials to resume after Aug. 1, 2020, and civil jury trials to resume after Oct. 1, 2020.

One of the orders also mandates the use of facial coverings during jury trials by parties, attorneys, witnesses, jurors and members of the public and the media.

These trials are only allowed with the trial judge’s approval taking into account local public health conditions and the Kentucky Supreme Court’s health and safety requirements.

The order also clarifies that jury trials and voir dire, which is the questioning of jurors during the jury selection process, must be conducted at a court facility in the county unless otherwise authorized by the Kentucky Supreme Court.

The order requires a final pretrial conference to be conducted no more than three days prior to the date of the trial.

Barton said that he hasn’t met with his judges to see when trials might start again, and this would be up to the discretion of Chief Circuit Judge Dan Ballou.

While Whitley County currently has a jury panel in place, it has not been sworn in yet, which would require having several people being in a courtroom at one time.

“I don’t know that we will be trying anything in the near future any way,” Barton added.

On Monday, Ballou postponed a capital murder case, which had been set to start on Dec. 1 and last up to three weeks. This was due in part to the current circumstances surrounding COVID-19 and social distancing.