BAY MINETTE – Starting today, the Baldwin County Circuit Clerk office will reduce the hours it is open to the public. But just because the doors are shut to the public, it doesn’t mean the staff won’t be working.

“We’ll still be there working,” said Circuit Clerk Jody Wise Campbell. “There will be less interruption and less mistakes.”

Starting this week, the Circuit Clerk’s office in the Fairhope Satellite Courthouse will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays only. The main Circuit Clerk’s office in Bay Minette and the Foley Satellite office will be closed to the public on Wednesdays.

All Court dates will remain unchanged at this time and this will not affect scheduled hearings.

 “I hope this is a temporary thing,” said Campbell. “We are trying to do more with less, but we really need more people. If we don’t get a special appropriation from the legislature, I don’t know what we’ll do.”

Since 2010, Campbell has seen her staff dwindle 38 percent while the workload continues to increase. Having three courthouses in a large county meant her sparse staff was “spread thinner than veneer” with the recent retirement of a veteran Court Specialist.

“We just can’t do it anymore,” said Campbell. “Each time somebody retired or left for a different job, we just patched the hole by spreading the other ladies out. We have lost 14 employees in three years without hiring any replacements. I have part-timers doing the work of Court Specialists in some places. I have the most dedicated and hard-working employees, but there comes a point when you just can’t do any more.”

The State of Alabama pays for 19 of the Court Specialists and the local judicial fund pays for the other four. If the budget shortfall isn’t met with a special appropriation of $8.5 million for next year, the number of state paid employees could fall even further.

 “If that happens, I really don’t know what we will do because the judicial fund not only pays for four of my employees, but also pays for five Judicial Court Attendants and some others in our local system,” said Campbell. “We collect a lot of money in Baldwin County, but the majority of it goes to places other than our local court system. I don’t know how much longer the judicial fund can support us, especially if the state cuts us any more.”

Limiting the time the offices are open to the public will be an inconvenience to the citizens, but it is necessary.

“This will be catch up time and much needed training and cross-training of our employees,” she said. “Just getting a break from the telephones will help the ladies out tremendously so they can process case filings and orders and tackle long overdue projects without interruption.

“I hate it for the folks who will be inconvenienced by this, but we just could not avoid it at this time. I hope they will understand that none of us wanted this to happen, and hopefully, it won’t be for long.”