Chief Deputy - Judicial Services

The Judicial Division Chief Deputy Clerk reports directly to the Clerk of Courts. This is a senior level management position responsible for assisting the Clerk with the administration, supervision, planning and management of the operations of the Clerk’s Office.  In the absence of the Clerk, the Chief Deputy assumes all the functions, legal obligations, and responsibilities of the Clerk.    The Chief Deputy has overall responsibility for all matters pertaining to the Criminal, Juvenile, Front Counter, and Records Divisions. Responsibilities include but are not limited to case processing to include assuring all filings are imaged/accurately e-filed, docketed, serviced and filed; case management to include court event scheduling; case creation; records management; information technology; statistical reporting; quality control; financial and budget management; and personnel management.  The Chief Deputy liaises with judges, Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC), Court Administration, Adult and Juvenile Probation, the District Attorney’s office, the Public Defender’s office, Information Services, private defense counsel, and other outside agencies or firms.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Works closely with the Clerk, judges, management team, and other staff to develop, implement and refine office policies, procedures and programs to enhance the productivity of the Clerk’s office.
• Interacts with the AOPC in requesting CPCMS enhancements and county customizations to accommodate local business practices and needs to include e-filing via CPCMS’ PACFile module.
• Communicates business needs and technical requirements to vendors/programmers and other departments.
• Establish long-range schedules, priorities, and deadlines for completion of work assignments and special projects.
• Review, analyze and make recommendations on organizational structure, reporting relationships, and functional assignments, to meet current and future organizational needs.
• Supervises office purchasing to include ensuring the imaging of and routing of approved invoices.  Approves purchase orders in Clerk’s absence.
• Plan, prioritize, assign, supervise and review the work of the Assistant Chief Deputy, Appeals, Evidence and Records Unit Manager, Front Counter Services Manager, Juvenile Unit Manager, and/or their subordinate staff.
• Ensure coordination of staff training to include scheduling classroom training provided by AOPC on CPCMS and assign on-the-job coaching mentors.
• Ensure review and/or quality control of docketing to include case processing status, disposition and sentencing records regarding timeliness and accuracy.
• Ensure creation of form orders, clerk minutes and other documents and integrate data from CPCMS to Laserfiche to automatically populate case identifiers in batch.
• Facilitate and lead discussion in bi-weekly managers’ meeting with the Clerk.
• Attend advanced CPCMS training and regional workshops hosted by AOPC; attend PA Prothonotaries and Clerk of Courts Association annual conferences.
• Review all pending state or federal legislation and proposed rules as published in the PA Bulletin that potentially affect the Clerk of Courts
• Inform management team and staff on all statute and rules changes that affect the office.
• Attend meetings with other County/Court departments to include bi-monthly/quarterly bench meetings and Inter-Departmental planning meetings.
• Assist in development and presentation of office budget before the Board of Commissioners
• Provide daily attendance reports of all management employees to payroll via the Time Force application
• Perform customer service functions; provides information/assistance regarding department services, activities, procedures, fees, or other issues; distributes forms/documentation as needed; responds to non-routine questions, complaints or requests for service; initiates problem resolution.
• Review and rank applications, select applicants for interviews, interview applicants, and hire in coordination with the Clerk for open management positions or immediate unit supervisor(s) for staff positions.
• Empower and mentor assigned employees via regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings and staff meetings.
• Complete and submit required Salary Board action forms and advocate personnel needs with Human Resources and before the Salary Board.
• Perform probationary and annual evaluations of all management and administrative support employees.  Review draft evaluations with the Clerk of Courts.  Review draft evaluations prepared by immediate unit supervisors of all staff employees.  Provide final evaluation to employee and ensure file copies are provided to Human Resources.
• Administers employee discipline to include scheduling of pre-disciplinary conferences, communicates with bargaining unit representatives, preparing and issuing verbal warnings reduced to writing, written warnings and/or proceeding with further disciplinary action to include suspension and/or termination in coordination with the Clerk of Courts.
• Other reasonable duties as assigned by supervisor.

Essential Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration preferred; AND a minimum of four (4) years of court appointed or related office and staff management experience OR a minimum of six (6) years of experience in a responsible administrative, managerial, or professional position in which they gained a thorough understanding of organizational management including administrative and human resource aspects.
• Further requirements are progressively responsible experience, providing evidence that the candidate/incumbent has a strong knowledge of management practices; skill in dealing with others in person-to-person work relationships, and the ability to exercise mature judgment.
• Understanding of automated systems, and strong administrative, leadership and interpersonal skills. It is essential that candidates/incumbent possess excellent verbal, writing and presentation skills.
• Preferred: Working knowledge of the PA Unified Judicial System; experience in applying automation and technology solutions to improve business practices, project management experience; understanding of the Common Pleas Case Management System (CPCMS) and the Laserfiche imaging application, and knowledge of the PA Rules of Criminal Procedure, PA Rules of Appellate Procedure, PA Rules of Juvenile Court Procedure, local rules, Clerk of Courts Procedures Manual, and Code of Conduct.
• Other combinations of education and experience may be considered in substitution for the minimum qualifications.
• Proficient with Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.