Robbinsville – There have been plenty of instances through the years where elbows have brushed together inside the Graham County Clerk of Court office, as visitors and employees alike exchange pleasantries inside the cramped quarters.
But in its long history, the office has arguably never been as busy as it was Monday. Unfamiliar faces milled about, helping staff members familiarize themselves with the new eCourts system that the North Carolina Judicial System has progressively rolled out since last year.
Graham County Clerk of Court Tammy Holloway told The Graham Star that her team had caught on quickly to the concept, but like anything else would need time to expertly answer the public’s questions regarding navigating the site.
Users can log onto nccourts.gov/services to handle much of the business that once required a trip to the clerk of court’s office. Features available on the site include:
* eFile a case/court documents;
* Find court dates;
* Pay a ticket;
* Pay fees;
* Prepare court documents;
* Search court records; and
* View case information.
Holloway added that eventually, kiosks will be available inside the courthouse for anyone who wants to utilize eCourts. There is no current timetable on when the kiosks will be installed.
First revealed Jan. 11, eCourts operates on the Enterprise Justice (Odyssey) software. Odyssey is North Carolina’s cloud-hosted digital case management system; the implementation is part of an initiative to move from paper documents to a digital-only format.
“By replacing paper processes with cloud-hosted online access, Enterprise Justice empowers the public with electronic filing and a free online search portal to display court records and case events,” the N.C. Judicial Branch stated earlier this year. “As Enterprise Justice expands statewide, millions more North Carolinians gain mobile access to their courthouse, saving time and providing transparency.”
The expansion of eCourts into Graham County is part of the state’s 5th roll-out phase, which began in February 2023 in Harnett, Johnston, Lee and Wake counties (the greater Raleigh area).
From there, Mecklenburg County (Charlotte) launched in October; Beaufort, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hyde, Martin, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell and Washington counties (most of Northeastern and coastal North Carolina) was activated Feb. 5, 2024.
Alamance, Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Guilford, Orange, Person, Vance and Warren counties (Burlington, Chapel Hill, Durham, Greensboro and other areas around Raleigh) went live in April.
The methodical roll-out in certain locations of the state has been intentional. Along with Graham, Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Polk, Swain and Transylvania counties all joined eCourts Monday.
“Preparations and walkthroughs for each track of the eCourts transition begin months in advance to train court officials and the public on new technologies and processes, install improved network infrastructure in courthouses, customize programming integrations, and migrate case event data and court records from mainframe indexes and paper to a dynamic cloud-hosted platform,” the N.C. Judicial Branch stated in January.
For more details, call 828-479-7000.