XENIA — Greene County Juvenile Court could receive a grant to help pay for a new text alert system.

The Greene County Board of Commissioners recently approved an authorization for the court to apply for a 2023 Technology Grant, specifically, the text alert system funded through the Ohio Supreme Court.

“The text alert system updates the court management system which allows it to send automated text reminders to people of their upcoming court hearings,” said Tashina Levy, staff attorney/legal program management for GCJC. “We’re hoping this will reduce ‘failure to appear’ notifications, warrants, and capias.”

According to Levy, the Supreme Court won’t announce its award decisions until May. If approved, the $12,800 grant would cover the cost of updating the case management system and an annual fee for the messaging provider.

“We’re trying to communicate more openly with the public,” said Levy, who added that the one-way communication would push out reminders to litigants via texts, similar to a reminder text from a doctor’s office about an upcoming appointment.

“Over the last two years, we’ve issued 313 ‘failure to appears’ in the form of a capias or a warrant so we’re trying to reduce that.” Levy said.

According to court officials, the text alert system would reduce the court’s failure to appear rate by bridging the communication gap between the court and the public by utilizing more efficient, accessible, and user-friendly means. The system would help connect with the clients, foster efficient communication, and ensure the best use of staff time and funds expended.

“The expected measurable outcomes of the successful implementation of this project are a reduction in failure to appear occurrences and thus a reduction in the number of capias/warrants issued for failure to appear,” Levy said. “A further result of reducing failure to appear rates will be a higher clearance rate of cases each month due to greater judicial economy and smoother case flow to reach timely resolutions of cases for children and families we serve. If our court is awarded this grant, the positive impact on the public will be invaluable.”

Reach Karen Rase at 937-502-4534.