COLUMBIANA COUNTY Clerk's Web site proves to be welcome addition

By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Attorneys, title searchers and the public are finding a Web site for the Columbiana County Clerk of Courts office helpful, which, in turn, is freeing the department's staff for other tasks.
After being online nearly 18 months, the governmental Web site, which offers a glimpse into criminal and civil court proceedings, has logged nearly 63,000 visitors and lately is averaging more than 240 daily, Clerk of Courts Anthony Dattilio said Tuesday.
"It's going real well," Dattilio said of the site, www.ccclerk.org.
"It's cut back on phone calls and freed the staff up for other things that need to be done," Dattilio said. The site is available 24 hours a day.
Helping attorneys
Dattilio explained that before the office went online, his staff often was called by attorneys needing updates on cases they had pending in the county's common pleas, municipal and probate courts.
Staff members provided the aid, but doing so distracted them from other duties, Dattilio said.
Attorneys can now get that information off the Internet instead of over the phone.
The staff time saved by having an online presence more than makes up for the nearly $5,300 annual cost of the service, Dattilio said. The expense pays for site management and a service agreement.
Dattilio said he's uncertain how much the public uses the site. The free online information available includes what cases are filed in the different courts, the names and addresses of the parties and the attorneys involved.
Web surfers also can find out when hearings are scheduled and get a brief description of what has occurred in each case.
All the details are public information and can be gleaned in person by paying a visit to the courthouse. The attraction of having that information available online is that that visit is now purely optional.
Besides providing access to the clerk of courts' vast files, the Web site also contains links to other county offices.
leigh@vindy.com