 Welcome to Sheboygan County government working for you. My name is Adam Payne. I'm the Sheboygan County administrative coordinator and co-host of this program with Bill Gehring chairman of the County Board and today We're pleased that our guest is Rebecca Pursek the new family court commissioner Today we want to give you a chance to meet Rebecca and learn a little bit about her roles and responsibilities So Rebecca why don't you start by telling our viewers a little bit about yourself and why you were interested in becoming family court commissioner? Well as far as background Adam, I grew up in rural Manitowoc County, so I'm from the area and I went to law school in Chicago. I'm married and I have a little boy at home I became interested in becoming a court commissioner Because I think it's a position that you can really use to help people and I've been prior to becoming court commissioner. I was the assistant corporation counsel in Sheboygan County for five years I really enjoyed that job as well, and this was really a natural extension of that I think. Now when people hear family court commissioner, I imagine some folks may wonder well Well, what is that or how is that different from a circuit court judge? Well a court commissioner is appointed and circuit court judges are elected I'm appointed by the judges and a court commissioner assumes some of the judges duties on their behalf And a lot of what I do are preliminary hearings on behalf of judges And we'll get into a little bit more as we go along in our discussion Exactly what those duties are. And you were appointed when? August 4th was my first day of work, so I just started this fall. And how do you like it so far? I love it so big difference appointed versus elected and Generally speaking what are what are your primary roles and responsibilities? Well, I handle a lot of preliminary Court matters in all sorts of cases. I handle preliminary hearings and mental commitment cases I do initial appearances and ordinance cases and criminal cases. I set bond and criminal cases I conduct temporary order hearings in divorce cases, and that's the first hearing that a divorced a divorcing couple has to determine on a preliminary basis how their assets will be split up and how Visitation with the kids will be handled or placement with the kids will be handled I do Domestic abuse and harassment injunction hearings in my office also handles all the small claims proceedings in Sheboygan County or most of them So very important responsibilities. Obviously people are relying on you to to make fair Decisions and hear them out. What kind of qualifications does one have to have to become a court commissioner? Well, you have to be an attorney and you have to have several years of experience before you can become a court commissioner You obviously and have to be licensed to practice in the state of Wisconsin to be appointed in the state Other than that It's up to the judges to decide what qualifications in a person They think will best fill the position and you just shared a number of the activities But if you had to sum up briefly, you know to someone about the roles responsibilities the primary Responsibilities of the family court commissioner's office. What would you say? The primary? Responsibilities are handling initial court proceedings in a lot of different cases for the judges and also Handling mediation for the judges. How many employees do you have? Well, there are three in my department all together including me There's myself the assistant court commissioner and our secretary Cindy who we could not do without And again as people get a feel for your roles and responsibilities And the court system as a whole could you just take a step back and give our viewers a Understanding of what the court structure as a whole is like and then where you fit sure It's kind of that's kind of a broad question so if I get too broad in my answer cut me off, but There are state courts and there are federal courts and within the state court system The lowest level of court is a municipal court and several municipalities in our county have municipal courts I believe Elkart Lake has one and Plymouth has one and they hear cases that involve violations of municipal law laws or ordinances that they themselves have passed At the next level is a circuit court and that's the level that I'm involved in There are five circuit court judges in Sheboygan County and then there's one court commissioner That's me and one assistant court commissioner a cases that are heard at the circuit court level can be appealed to the court of appeals Cases that are decided by the court of appeals can then be heard by the Wisconsin Supreme Court Although the Wisconsin Supreme Court does not have to take every case that's appealed to it when someone appeals from the court of appeals They file what's called a petition for review and the Supreme Court looks that over and says Yes, or no, we'll hear this case from the From the Wisconsin Supreme Court cases certain types of cases can be appealed to the United States Supreme Court and That really makes up the state court system as far as federal courts. There are two Actually, I think there are just there are three federal courts now one was just created up in Green Bay in the state of Wisconsin and those Deal with federal laws or certain laws that involve crossing of state lines such as kidnapping or drugs and There's a federal court of appeals on the United States Supreme Court So it kind of works the same way a state court does on a larger level so if someone was going to court and most of us Hope that doesn't happen, you know generally it's a place We're not real interested in going to or something's happening in our life that were that we need that type of decision making But if they do go to court and have to see the family court commissioner, what are some of the types of issues? That they would have why would they be seeing you? Well, I see a lot of people on ordinance or traffic tickets They appear before me first and I take their plea and advise them of their rights I see a lot of divorcing couples for a temporary order as I mentioned They're the first people I'm the first person they usually see to set a temporary order until their final divorce can be scheduled which is often At least four months away sometimes Frequently longer than that I see people at initial Mental commitment cases I do initial appearances for juveniles juvenile ordinance violation and Children in need of protection or services cases or delinquency petitions Small claims cases are handled in my courtroom as well and so in the more fun Opportunities and maybe why you would want to go to court would be you marry some folks as well. That's true I also perform marriages. We book about 200 weddings a year very good and the court commissioners Thank you Becca you've talked a little bit about the variety of cases that you handle in your court What do you spend most of your time on is there one area that you might spend most of your time on or is it pretty well mixed? It's pretty well mixed One of the advantages of having a court commissioner is that my calendar is I've I'm left quite a bit of flexible time So that people who come in who need to get into court right away such as a divorcing couple who need a temporary order or People who need a harassment injection or a domestic abuse injection can get in to see me right away That's another difference between the court commissioner and the circuit court judges. My calendar has more flexibility to allow quick services to people I Think I've lost track of the of the original question Was basically looking at the type of case that you handled most often. Yeah, but there is a real mix sure Roughly how many cases are handled by your office in a year? It must be quite a number because of the variety of situations you've talked about It's quite a number and I took a few notes because you really have to break them down as far as Mental commitment cases initial hearings that I do a mental commitment cases. There are about 200 of those a year Temporary orders and divorce cases. There are about 250 a year Divorces I also do do certain divorces divorces that aren't Contested I do about 170 divorces a year We do about 65 Harassment injunctions a year as I mentioned about 200 weddings a year and The initial appearances and traffic and criminal and civil cases. I couldn't even tell you I know yesterday I did 54 of them, but there's a large number of those With that variety of cases which type of cases the most routine and which might be the most interesting Rewarding to you. Well, I think the cases that are most routine are the initial appearances in ordinance cases As far as what's most rewarding I Think the temporary order hearings I do for people who are divorcing Because oftentimes they come to me the divorce has been filed, but they're still living in the same household They have no decisions about who's going to take what who's going to stay in the house who's going to leave when the children are going to be with each parent and they often can't communicate well enough with each other to decide those things on their own and They come to me and I have to make a decision for them And that's difficult to do, but it's rewarding to do because I've had some positive feedback from people who tell me that they really appreciate the way I handle the hearings They're held very informally, and I try to put people at ease because it's a very stressful time for people and after the hearing they can Start their lives as a separated couple with some Some ground rules and some focus, which is what they need to go on with their lives You've mentioned already that you marry people Do you marry people only in the courthouse or can you go to the location that they might choose there? During business hours. I have to stay at the courthouse So if you want to get married between 8 a.m. And 5 p.m. On a weekday It's at the courthouse. I can perform weddings outside of the courthouse as well Okay, and what is the charge for being married by the court commissioner? Well currently to be married there is no charge Starting in 2004 we are going to start charging $20 to do weddings in the courthouse Outside of the courthouse setting it really depends on the circumstances and how far people want me to travel or how long the Ceremony is going to be but I don't do a whole lot of those types of weddings Okay, you talked a little bit about divorces and divorce mediation. Can you talk a little further about how you do mediate divorces? Sure Wisconsin is a state that requires divorcing couples who don't have an agreement on child custody and placement to go through mediation rather than jump directly into a contested hearing and I think that that's a very good thing for families because Before mediation was required by law people would go into these terrible hearings where there was a lot of mudslinging and Then the decision would be made and they'd be expected to leave that hearing and parent together because although people are divorced They are bound together for the rest of their lives really by the children they have in common and the mediation process gets two parents together with a neutral person who's trained on How to try and reach consensus between people and the mediators about half the time are successful in being able to Reach help people reach agreements and the thing that's great about mediation is a mediator does not Suggest answers to people or two people it the mediator helps people arrive at their own answers And I think most people are happiest when they can make decisions on their own rather than have a court tell them what to do And it makes sense too because they are in the best position to know what's best for themselves and for their children and I think the mediation process is one of the best things to happen in the law in a long time I think it's an important process as far as my involvement in mediation. I'm the director of family court services So whenever a court or one of the judges refers someone to mediation that goes through my office And I actually refer the couple to a specific mediator and follow up and how the mediation is going and report back to the judges with that information Are those mediators? Employees of the county or your office or their private individuals private individuals and the county contracts with them to provide services Okay, well, you've only been on the job a short time Rebecca. You probably have watched the court commissioners function Evolve over time. Can you talk a little bit about how the court commissioners function and job has evolved over time? well There've been a number of changes To the court commissioners position. I think the first one we've already talked about which is mediation I mean that isn't the way the cases used to be handled and that's been a relatively new development Legally speaking another change that's happened in Sheboygan County is the introduction of a lot of people from different cultures We have a lot more Hispanic People who come to court and aren't able to speak English or among people We have a lot of Croatian or Serbian people in town as well and that provides challenges because The court has to be accessible to people who speak other languages and oftentimes we have to have interpreters present and that's something that's been changing and The other thing is an increase in pro se litigation and pro se is is simply a Latin term that means for self It's people who represent themselves in court rather than higher attorneys Pro se litigants have special challenges I think because there are certain procedures that have to be followed when you come to court and people without attorneys Don't always know what those procedures are but my office is is There to help people who are pro se litigants and we can provide information to them on how to make the courts a system accessible to them You talked a little bit about the language difficulties because of Sheboygan County changing Do you know upfront someone is not going to be able to speak English and then how do you deal with that? Might the session be adjourned and tell a person who can interpret can be found or Yes, sometimes we do know up front for example in criminal cases often the officer who makes the rest will note on the Citation or the police report that the person needs an interpreter, but that's not always the case and sometimes people do come to court and they can't speak English and Usually we're able to communicate well enough with them to tell them that they need to come back the following day And we'll have an interpreter present We don't provide interpreters the county doesn't provide interpreters for all cases. We have to provide them in criminal cases Or in mental commitment cases in most other cases people need to bring their own interpreters to court with them Okay, you really sound like you enjoy your job. What is the one thing that you might enjoy most about being the family court commissioner? I really do enjoy my job and it's hard to say what I enjoy most about it. I Think I'd have to go back to What I talked to Adam about which is the temporary order hearings or maybe that was you The temporary order hearings I think are very rewarding Thank you So some of our viewers may recall well, wasn't there a gentleman named Terry Burke that used to be the family court commissioner? I I know you two have a good rapport and communicate together. Where's Terry? Terry is now a circuit court judge and he took over Judge Murphy's position when Judge Murphy retired earlier this year in July And I have to thank Terry for the help he's given me in my position the transition between My taking over in his leaving has been very smooth because he's made himself available to me to answer questions And I really have to thank him for that so you feel as though you've gotten good support making that transition It's gone from my standpoint. It seems like it's gone very very well Yes, I've had very good support from Terry and very good support from all the judges for that matter They've all made themselves available to me for help Bill raised some good questions about well If someone's going through a divorce and the mediation and the opportunities for assistance there if someone is going to see you Because of a traffic violation or something like that. What are the steps that one can expect to go through? Do they have to stop at the clerk of court's office first before going to your? Department what what are the steps that a person generally goes through well on an average traffic citation the officer Indicates rate on the citation when their court date is and where they're supposed to go And that court date is always with me and it says room b10 in the courthouse Which is where my courtroom is located so when someone comes to court on a traffic ticket they come directly to my courtroom and There are often many people there because the officers write The same times on multiple citations so you can probably expect to be sitting in a room with 50 or more people and I will come out and explain to them that They'll have two options when I call their case They can plead guilty or not guilty and when they when I call their case They should come forward and have a seat at the tables that are provided And I also explain that if they plead guilty I'll assess their penalty right away And that if they plead not guilty They'll have a chance to come back to court to meet with the prosecuting attorney for a pretrial conference And that's a chance for people to talk to the prosecutor and try and negotiate a settlement of their case if that's not successful their case will be set for a trial and I also explain to people that if they think their case will get that far and go to a trial They can have a jury trial if they'd like to but if they do want a jury trial I inform people that they have to request one within 10 days of the date They appear appear in front of me and they also do have to pay a $36 fee And they make that request in writing to the clerk of court's office and pay the fee there That way if their case does go to trial They'll have a jury trial if they don't make that request they can still have a trial But it would be a trial in front of a judge alone not in front of a jury Now you said they can plead guilty or not guilty now if they have a traffic citation generally if You take responsibility for it you simply pay the fine do people Why would people go to court to plead guilty? well, I think they come to court to plead guilty Particularly if they need a payment plan because that's something I can work out with them on how much per month They'll pay towards their citation very good very good So that's generally the steps involved for a citation and you talked about the steps involved in regards to Someone getting a divorce and the the family mediation that's available. You also have a program Remember the children that's and that's part of that process. Could you touch on that a little bit? Yes? divorcing couples who have Children at home have to attend a parent education class called remember the children and the class is Designed to educate parents about the effects of divorce on children It's offered twice a month and it's taught by our mediators and I recently went through four years of evaluations about that class And I was very pleased to see that the overwhelming majority of people who attend that class loved it I had comments. I read comments such as I didn't think I was going to like this class I was forced to go and It turns out it it's great I wish I could have gone sooner and I think that's a testament both to our mediators that the teachers We have teaching the class and the fact that the the material that's gone over the class is very useful to parents and it also allows parents who are divorcing to Meet other parents in the same situation and get support from them Very good And then moving on to the other area you said that you marry folks if someone's interested in and having you perform the ceremony What steps do they have to go through to to line that up? All they need to do is call my office and we do weddings every Friday afternoon at the courthouse between three and four We do one every 15 minutes and if their date is available we can sign them up Okay So as you've touched on and you've covered a lot of information and in the the five or so minutes that we have remaining As you think about the different areas the roles responsibilities the clientele that you're working with and what would you see is What are the key challenges that you face? I think the key challenges are things I already touched on which are prosalit against people who don't have Association who need who need help in the court system and the need the growing need for interpreters in the court system And what do you think we do about it to to address that challenge? well It's funny that you should ask that at him because we're in the process I hope of developing and putting on our county website some information for prosalit against that will enable them to Navigate the court system much more easily And even if people don't have a computer at home There are computers available at the county or at the public library That people can use and I think that will be a big help and that I hope to have up and running before the end of the year As far as the need for interpreters that's something that I think we just continue to handle on a day-to-day basis as needed and As the need for interpreters grows we have a couple of interpreters who I see regularly in the courtroom and They've been fantastic. We had a situation once where someone came in He we weren't able to communicate any information to him at all And I was able to contact one of the interpreters at her home number and she agreed to interpret over the phone for that individual So you kind of have to fly by the seat of your pants sometimes But so far I think we've been doing a pretty good job of meeting the needs of the people who come to court very good So if any of our viewers or anyone else At any point has a question or a concern or a complaint. Who do they call? Well, if they have a complaint or a concern or a question I hope they call my office directly first if they feel they can't get any help there. I'm supervised by you Adam They can contact you. I'm supervised by the county board and also by the circuit court judges That's a lot of supervisors. That's right Well, it's been a pleasure to have you with us today And I know that Bill and I are very pleased with the job You're doing and we've heard nothing but good things from the judges and others and and certainly it's good that you and Terry Burke Have a nice rapport and that there's been a smooth transition. So thank you for joining us today. Thank you for having me It's been a pleasure Next month we're going to bring back a department head that I know you've heard from before Mr. Dale Paul's as you know, there's been a great deal of discussion in the county about the future of our county nursing homes It's both sunny Ridge and Rocky Knoll and there have been a lot of improvements made out there If you haven't had an opportunity to go to one of those facilities I certainly encourage you to do so Rocky Knoll Recently the county board put a ten million dollar addition out there and it's providing a very valuable service It's a beautiful facility in sunny Ridge a number of upgrades were made but with that said We're really struggling as a county dealing with the the financial constraints and frankly the lack of revenue from the state and federal level For 2004 alone. We're looking at about a 2.7 million dollar reduction and just this week depending on when you watch this Program the county board reviewed the budget and made some very important decisions and will be finding like finalizing that shortly but Dale Paul's will be with us for the next program to talk about the health care centers citizens task force a Very important committee that county board chairman Bill Gehring has appointed will be confirmed by the full county board and We're optimistic that this group of citizens as well as three county board supervisors will take a look at our overall mission roles responsibilities the financial constraints and challenges that we have as well as the escalating costs associated with the taxpayer and the property tax levied for those Nursing homes look at all of that and develop recommendations for the county board to consider about where we're headed so we're looking forward to Dale coming in and Talking with us a little bit about the charge of that task force and where we're headed So until then on behalf of the Sheboygan County board German Bill Gehring it certainly was a pleasure to have you with us today and and thanks again Rebecca for joining us can be found anywhere the people who manufacture methamphetamine aren't chemists and It's a very dangerous process. It's toxic. It's poisonous. It's flammable. It's explosive Well, we as citizens can do in our community to stop the flow of methamphetamine is educate ourselves and what's going on be aware what's happening in our neighborhoods and Reports a suspicious activity to the police department You know, it doesn't even matter what I think or what I believe you can't be heard the whole system It's rigged from top to bottom an honest voice in politics. There's no chance of that At least that's what I used to think about politics. I can make a difference The system works best when we're all involved the youth leadership initiative prepares young men and women for their roles as American citizens pairing technology with education the youth leadership initiative captures the attention of our nation's youngest citizens and leads them into the Democratic process together with local schools while I offers internet-based projects to complement classroom instruction and foster long-term Participation, I'm a member of my community. I'm a parent and a grandmother How can we help bring the free civic education resources of the youth leadership initiative to your schools today? Call now for a free information packet and to receive this presidents of our country ruler Together we can pass the torch to the next generation This is not a race On the road to financial independence the winners are the ones who stay the course Learn more about securing your financial future and choose to save it will pay off in the long run There's a new experience around every corner as you discover, Wisconsin Discover, Wisconsin like you've never seen before