Officials said files will be retrieved if absolutely necessary but added that waiting until the clerk's office reopens June 28 would be best. Information about where pleadings can be filed will be posted in the courthouse's elevators and at the information booth on the first floor. Court employees will continue to be displaced in July when the judges' offices and courtrooms will be recarpted at a rate of one per week. Knowing a work stoppage was near, judges have cleared their calendars of all courtroom matters. But we'll be around and available as needed.
Summers are slow anyway because it's vacation time.
District Attorney James Eidson said that although prosecutors won't be in the courtroom, they will continue to screen and file cases, negotiate plea arrangements, conduct grand juries and probationary work, and address lower priorities such as legal research. He said some of his employees will take vacations during the slowdown, as will some of the district clerks. Gray said some clerks will work in the evenings and on weekends to recoup lost hours and to meet work demands. Edwards said his employees will be on paid leave when their work spaces are occupied. He said he couldn't force them to take vacation time.