Dear Friends,
Serving as your Justice of the Peace for Precinct 3 has been one of the greatest honors of my life, and I want to take this opportunity to share a few highlights with you since I first took office.
Justice Court 3 is one of the busiest courts in Tarrant County. And, after taking office, I immediately went to work to ensure our practices are efficient, effective, and fiscally responsible.
In my first year, I implemented a staff training program focused on quality and customer service, which has enabled our office to dispose of a record-setting number of cases.
To offer ease of access, we've implemented a variety of technology-based initiatives to decrease case processing time and increase litigant convenience. Among these efforts are an electronic case filing system, online payment options for fines, a mediation program to help litigants resolve small claim and debt claim cases, and a Zoom-based mediation program to continue case settlement during the pandemic.
These efforts, combined with the exceptional performance of our staff, have resulted in a record-number of cases disposed of, a reduction in case backlog, improved time to issue citations, and a streamlining of the discovery and defaults judgment process.
In the midst of a challenging and unprecedented year, I'm proud to report that our court remained open for filing cases throughout the pandemic and was still able to operate within budget, sending over $16,000 from the general budget back to Tarrant County.
In the past 30 months, our court has received over 16,000 civil case filings and 700 criminal case filings. We conducted over 6,000 trials, 6,000 dismissals, and 2,000 default or agreed judgments.
I look forward to continuing to serve with a commitment to integrity, transparency, and quality each and every day.
God bless,
Bill
