The Orange County Courthouse doesn’t just deal with criminal cases. Its judicial responsibilities include estates, mental health commitments, domestic violence cases and even adoptions.

These proceedings, however, are moving slower than normal because the courthouse is understaffed. Now, there’s a backlog of cases from new laws from the North Carolina legislature.

Orange County Clerk of Court Mark Kleinschmidt said he is inviting all candidates either representing Orange County in the General Assembly or running to represent the county to tour the Orange County Courthouse.

Kleinschmidt said he wants them to have a better understanding of the current state of the court system amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Orange County Clerk’s office is one of the most grossly understaffed clerk of supreme court office in the state,” Kleinschmidt said.

Kleinschmidt said he believes he could run the Orange County Courthouse office better if he had four more employees. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as new laws passed by the state legislature, cases files have grown significantly. Right now, an initial hearing date could take one to three months to be scheduled – creating a backlog of cases.

According to Kleinschmidt, there were nearly 500 more mental health commitments filed in 2021 in Orange County than in 2020. He said domestic violence cases increased 25 percent and there were almost 200 more estate files opened in 2021 as well.

Kleinschmidt said because the North Carolina General Assembly does not fund each office independently, he hopes the legislature can understand the judicial branch needs more resources overall.

“I’m optimistic that as legislators learn about what we do, they will understand that whenever they make a change in the law, it affects us here in this office,” Kleinschmidt said. “They need to make sure that there’s a balance of resources when they write a new law. That’s why everybody who’s running for the legislature in Orange County, I’m inviting here.”

Democrat Graig Meyer attended a tour of the Orange County Courthouse Friday. Meyer serves in the North Carolina General Assembly representing House District 50, which covers Orange County.

Meyer said well-intentioned laws passed by the North Carolina legislature can have an unintended consequence on the court system.

“The understaffed clerk’s office is a drag on the system right now,” Meyer said. “That is delaying people from getting access to the criminal justice system in the way that they need it.”

Meyer said this does not just affect the people in criminal court, but those closing estates, seeking a domestic violence protection order or even someone trying to adopt a child. He said if there is not enough capacity to make the system run, all of those other court processes slow down.

Kleinschmidt said unless more funds can be appropriated to the judicial branches by the General Assembly, understaffing in offices like the Orange County likely will continue.

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