The Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, the Honorable John Dan Kemp, visited the Grant County Courthouse on Thursday, Sept. 1, to get acquainted with court officials under the Seventh Judicial District and share news about state-level developments in the court system.
Kemp has served as Chief Justice for the Natural State since first being elected to the bench in 2016. He was an attorney in private practice when he transitioned to the bench in the Mountain View Municipal Court in 1977. He also previously served as judge in Calico Rock City Court and as Circuit Judge in the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit.
Accompanying Kemp to the courthouse that morning were the Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), Marty Sullivan, and the AOC’s Director of Court Security, Pete Hollingsworth. All three men have spent decades working in the Arkansas judicial system, and each came to share their insights into various aspects of the court system’s duties, functionality and most recent projects.
Hot Spring County Circuit Judge, Stephen Shirron, introduced the visiting court officials to the attendees of the gathering, many of whom serve in some capacity in the court system of Arkansas’s Seventh Judicial District encompassing Hot Spring and Grant counties, as well as local politicians, current and former judges, and the sitting President of the Arkansas Bar Association, Margaret Dobson.
Shirron said he received an email from Sullivan back in July, informing him that Chief Justice Kemp had intentions of visiting every judicial district in the state of Arkansas by the end of Summer 2024, a plan he discussed publicly the month prior at an annual convention of the Arkansas Bar Association.
“When I saw that email that he was going to schedule those, I immediately responded to Marty and let him know that I would be happy for the Seventh Judicial District to host the Chief Justice, so we put that on the schedule,” Shirron said. “And it happens that this is his very first visit to a judicial district on his tour to try to visit all of them, so I’m very excited to have him here today.”
Kemp was there to confer with court officials of the Seventh Judicial District on their inner workings and discern how well things are operating within the local court system, as well as share some exciting developments at the state level that will positively impact the citizens of Hot Spring and Grant counties.
Kemp shared that he had fond memories of the Seventh Judicial District from his time on the campaign trail and was happy to make this his first stop.
“I wanted to make these tours because number one, first and foremost, I want to thank all the people that are involved in our court system for all the hard work that you do, and the good work that you do,” Kemp said.
Kemp noted that working with the public can often be a challenge, particularly people who are immersed in the court system.
“When you’re in the court system, seems like you’re dealing with people who have problems, and they’re going to court to try to solve those problems. And sometimes it’s a big challenge to deal with those people, not only in court,” Kemp said, offering a personal note of thanks to all court personnel for their diligence and hard work.
Kemp said national surveys show that almost 80 percent of adults in the U.S. who’ve had some dealing with the court system feel that they were treated fairly and had plenty of opportunity to be heard. He added that the judicial system typically gets better reviews in these surveys than the other legislative branches.
“I think that says a lot for the court personnel in our court systems,” he said. “It’s not only the decision that you get in court, but how you feel about going to court and getting that decision.”
Kemp said one of the more impactful developments in the Arkansas Judiciary is the statewide adoption of the e-filing system, effective as of March 2023. “I think that’s a huge accomplishment, a lot of hard work by our IT. department,” he said, adding that the pandemic really spurred on the statewide implementation of the system.
Another thing that state officials are working on is making the court’s case management system, commonly known as CourtConnect, easier to navigate–something Kemp said was a pet peeve of his during his 30 years on the bench in the Sixteenth Judicial District.
“It was real frustrating because it wasn’t user-friendly,” Kemp said. “That’s one of the things that, hopefully, I wanted to accomplish when I became Chief Justice is to update that system, and I’m proud to say that we’re in the process of doing that.”
Kemp said officials from the state office met with some of the vendors of the system, to inquire about the cost of a revamped system. They were quoted exorbitant amounts on a new system, which Kemp said he knew he could never get from state legislators, so his team decided to build the system themselves.
“And that’s what we’re in the process of doing, is building our own system, because even if we bought a case management system, so to speak, off the shelves from one of these companies, we would still have to tweak it to meet our needs,” he said.
Fortunately, the AOC was able to secure $20 million from funding the state received through the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). “So, we’re using that money to build our own system,” Kemp shared. The new system will be dubbed “ARCourt”. More details will be available when the system upgrade is complete.
Another development is a broad expansion of the two-wing Justice Building in Little Rock. The structural growth will allow them to house their entire IT department in the South Wing, as well as a new 7,500 square-foot Civics Education Center and over 10,000 square feet of auxiliary meeting space in the North Wing. They anticipate having the new additions open to the public by the end of November.
The Civics Education Center will serve Arkansans of all ages, but primarily students, who will visit to learn more about the branches of government and in particular, how the Arkansas judicial system works.
Hollingsworth then spoke a little about the state’s Court Security Grant Program, which was established in 2007 to offer assistance to lower courts for improving safety and security measures. Arkansas legislation provides the AOC with $250K annually to disperse among the districts.
Hollingsworth said the Seventh Circuit has done quite well compared to other districts, having been awarded 16 grants totaling $191K since the program began, with an almost even distribution of funds between Grant and Hot Spring counties.
“All total, the program, AOC has administered $4.2 million dollars since 2007 towards court security needs. The bad news is that still leaves $3.3 million in unmet needs,” Hollingsworth said.
The funds help improve court security through additional equipment such as cameras, tasers and checkpoint security, as well as enhanced requirements for court security officers, including a minimum 12-hour standard training and proper certifications.
“It’s made a big difference in the quality of officers,” Hollingsworth said, noting their concern is not only for those in the courtroom, but also for the defendants and their families, the courthouse staff, and the general public who frequent other offices inside the court buildings.
“We’ve come a long way, we have a long ways to go,” Hollingsworth said. One of their biggest obstacles lately is having enough manpower, but the grant does not cover that particular expense. Some courts rely on local deputies to pull double-duty on patrol and in the courtroom, but a county that is sparsely populated but large in land mass often has problems serving the jail, the courts and the streets with equal attention.
Sullivan then took his turn and relayed more details about the case management system and other items of interest within the AOC.
“The last six-and-a-half years, I’ve had the opportunity to be the state board administrator, and it’s been a challenging, humbling experience. We’ve inherited a lot of opportunities for improvement.”
Sullivan said the case management system they inherited was antiquated. The quotes they received from companies who could provide a new system were outrageous. One vendor from Texas offered to build the Arkansas courts a new system for the low, low price of $70 million.
“I wasn’t going to go to the legislature and ask for $70 million dollars, that just wasn’t going to happen,” Sullivan said. The ARPA funds and the ingenuity of IT department staff are helping to bring the state’s case management system up to snuff.
“We’re really moving to the court system of the 21st century,” Sullivan said. “By the end of the year, Court Connect will be replaced with a more user-friendly, easier product. We hope to roll that out in December.”
Sullivan pointed out that despite the perceived flaws in the Court Connect system, the site is still a much better public resource than many other states provide.
“I will say we are far better off than many other states,” he said. “There are many other states in the United States that don’t have open records, that you can’t find anything, so we are always on the cutting edge of what we’re doing. We have been for many years.”
One unique aspect of the project is the fact that several entities are coming together to revamp the system.
“We had all these national vendors come in, and they all thought they were going to get the contract,” Sullivan said. “And I politely told them, I said we’re not awarding one company the contract. I’m not putting all my eggs in one basket. You’re all gonna work together if you want to work on this project.”
That approach was unorthodox but is proving to be a great idea because each vendor brings different strengths to the table, which are all combining to create a tailor-made and exceptional system that will better serve the public and Arkansas court officials.
“We cut through all the red tape, and we’re the first state in the country to have multiple vendors working together, side by side with my IT staff, to build the system,” Sullivan said. They will start rolling out the new system throughout district courts by this time next year before moving on to circuit courts.
Sullivan said they’re wanting to implement a text-reminder system for people who have upcoming court dates or fines that are about to be due, an added feature they hope will help the public because people often get busy in life and forget important court dates because they got caught up in the daily grind.
“As an Arkansan who believes that Arkansans deserve the best,” he said, “If my dentist is texting me, we should be doing that for litigants, saying hey this is a reminder, you got a District Court appearance down here or you’re fine is due, here’s a link to pay your fine. And I think that would cut out a lot of traffic and help a lot of Arkansans.”
Interested parties who want to learn more about the project can join one of the organization’s focus groups that meet every other week via Zoom.
Another item Sullivan revisited was discussion of the Civics Education Center. “It’s literally just a stone’s throw away from the Capitol,” he said, “It’s really going to be phenomenal.”
Sullivan said there haven’t been a lot of things that appeal to kids in the building up to now, so he and his associates are excited to have a new model courtroom for kids, along with numerous exhibits that teach important lessons in an environment that is appealing to young and old, alike.
“Really, it’s for everybody, so we’re super excited about that,” he said.
Sullivan said the AOC has a great team working on these developments, and he believes that these two projects “are probably the biggest things that I’ll do in my career” because of the great benefit they will bring, both to court officials and to the public.
“I’m extremely honored and humbled to have a spot at the table, and if we can pull this off, it’s going to be phenomenal.” he said.
More information about the AOC and the wonderful changes taking place within the Arkansas court system can be found online, via the Arkansas Judiciary website at www.arcourts.gov.
