July 23, 2025 • 9 mins
Juvenile Court Administrator Berlin Carroll joined Todd Walker to discuss developments including the pending rollout of e-filing for the court.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This morning, Berlin.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Carroll is with us, the administrator of the Juvenile Court, Berlin,
good morning.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
Good morning on behalf a judge Tom cole Reser happy
to be here, hey.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
And of course the Juvenile Court we don't always, i guess,
see as much of the day to day work or
the things happening because the juveniles and it's not as
high profile perhaps, but the workload tends to be maybe
just as voluminous as the regular court in many ways, right.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
In fact, I think it's one of the busier courts
by valume of cases, certainly in the county. There was
a time where I could say that other than municipal court,
Lineman Court, it's always the busiest course by court by
case valume. But there was a time that I could
say that we were certainly the second busiest court by
(00:51):
case valume. And then we reach some agreements with Domestic
Relations Division and move some cases over there. So I'm
not sure, you know, if it's probably still true yeah today,
but if not, it's you know, second or third certainly.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Well.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
The other thing to point out is people think about
the juvenile Court, they think about the you know, the
kids that are in trouble or in the legal system.
But there's a whole other side to what you guys
are adjudicating, right, the family side.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah, absolutely, I think it's I think when you're working
with juveniles anyway, you have to take the approach that
you have to do everything you can to provide the
right kind of services at the right time. You have
to treat the whole family whenever possible. You know, there
needs to be a support system in the lives of children,
you know, certainly whether they're involved with juvenile justice or not.
(01:38):
So we try to always engage with families, parents, guardians,
you know, whoever is the adult role model in that
child's life.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Well, the other part of that is we sort of
wish that you weren't as busy in a certain aspect
because that would mean fewer problems.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
But when you look at.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I guess, just the caseload of juvenile law breaking, if
you will, things have sort of reached a level.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Over the last several years. Is that fair to say?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Yeah, I'd say when you look at trends, you know,
case volume has been trending down for a great number
of years now. Certainly when we went through the twenty
twenty COVID period. You know, case volume dropped off pretty
much for everybody, and I'd say we're back to business
as usual and you're getting approaching those pre COVID numbers.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah. After COVID, things sort of exploded, for lack of
a better word than now things have.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
The trend line is slightly down, which.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Is good, right, Yeah, absolutely, yeah. Now, also wanted to
talk about with you guys. I think you said you
have electronic filing. Now you wanted to talk about.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
So that's coming very soon. Chelsea Hankinson, our chief Deputy Clerk,
has been working diligently on that and I have to
give a shout out to to the IT Department of
Allen County that works under Rachel Gilroy over at the
Auditor's Office upgrading our case management system. You know, it's
been a two plus year process. It's been quite a
(03:08):
challenge and without their partnership, you know, we would not
be successful in implementing that, and we're super excited to
be We can see the light at the end of
the tunnel on that project. Met with Chelsea yesterday to
get an update. You know, she has a go live
date for e filing and the juvenile Division of our
court set for later in August, and then a planned
(03:29):
go live date for Probate Court in September, and we're
staggering those intentionally, and I think that's going to be
a tremendous benefit, you know, certainly to the bar Association
here in Allen County and then also to the general
public as a whole.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I can see where it would help the attorneys. Obviously,
they can file stuff electronically, and we can all relate
to things we do electronically we used to have to
maybe do with pen and paper and physically transport it somewhere.
But what do you think is the main advantage for
the the public at large that you serve.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I think anytime that you can access court services and
that you can file documents with the court without having
to physically drive to the building, especially when you consider
that our court is in a satellite location, if you will.
It's in its own standalone location out in Shawnee Township
and it's not in what I would call this central
Allen County government district of downtown Lima. I think that's
(04:24):
a benefit for them. Probably one of our busier things
that we do at Probate Court is process marriage license applications,
for instance, and we went live with e marriages some
time ago now, and I think that's been a tremendous benefit.
So anything that we can do to allow people to
access the court in a way that doesn't necessarily require
(04:47):
them to come out to Wardhill, I think is a benefit.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Berlin Carroll is with us this morning, the administrator of
the Juvenile Court here in Lima.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
You guys have some job openings too, don't you.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Absolutely, we always seem to be hiring. That's the nature
of things in today's world. I think that's common with
just about everybody. Currently, we have a full time bailiff's position.
Those positions are pretty rare for our court. They don't
come open very often. We have a young man who
is going to be a line of firefighter and I
think that's an outstanding opportunity for him, so we wish
(05:20):
him well in that endeavor.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
We have that position posted.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
We have we need a full time detention officer on
second shift in a detention center, which is really quite
a positive that we only have one full time position
open over at JDC right now. That's kind of rare
in and of itself. We're always hiring part time detention
officers over there. We need them to help cover sick
days and vacation days and things of that nature at JDC,
(05:45):
so that's always an opportunity. We currently have some part
time intervention specialist positions posted. That's a new thing for us.
They'll work out of our Access center on West Market Street.
And we have a program coordinator over at JDC position
that's currently vacant that's not posted yet. I'm still evaluating,
you know, whether or not we're going to post that
(06:06):
position or whether we're going to tweak it up a
little bit and maybe change it into something else. But
I would say anybody it's interested in coming to work
for us, go out to Ohio Means Jobs, or you know,
find your way to our website and make an application.
We would love to hear from you. And I think
that Judge Todd Coreyzer is just an outstanding guy to
work for. He's you know, very much about not only
(06:30):
meeting the mission of the court and you know, processing
the cases, but making sure that he has the right
people on staff to meet the needs of the community.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Perlin Carroll with the Juvenile Court with us here in studio,
of course, the juvenile detention facility still seems new to
some of us, but it's what.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Six years old now out there on North Cole Street.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Ye, it's kind of hard to imagine. I'm really bad
about looking at time behind me. It's like all on
one bucket. Whether it was you know, six weeks ago
or six years ago, it's just hard to imagine that
it's been that long. So we're starting to experience that too,
you know. Maintenance issues are cropping up, an occasional leak
here and there we have to mitigate. But it's an
outstanding facility. We're happy to have it. We did just
(07:12):
go through some upgrades on the inside. We have a
new behavioral health services unit that's been going through a
lot of training, you know, over the past several months,
and part of that was to upgrade kind of the
internal feel and look and use of some of the
areas in the detention center. So we have a new
(07:34):
telehealth room, you know, a place for family counseling and
group visits that's appropriate for a therapeutic setting. And then
we've renovated our group room so that we can provide
group interventions and therapies to the kids that are housed
out at JDC.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
And you're always looking for volunteers, right, These are mainly
to mentor kids.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Is that what you're looking for.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
I think that's super important for our community as as
a whole. I mean, I think a healthy community is
dependent upon volunteerism and people getting out and being willing
to do whatever it takes, you know, whatever fits their passion.
But certainly there are volunteers that work with us every day,
maybe on the probate court side. You know, we need
(08:21):
people that are willing. When I say we, I mean
the community needs people that are willing to serve as guardians,
you know, for people that can't take care of themselves.
And we have established a number of years ago now
a Guardianship Services Board. So if there are people out
there that are willing to work and serve as guardians,
maybe they can get a hold of Elizabeth Schaeffer over
(08:42):
at the Guardianship Services Board and see if there's opportunities there.
We always need people to mentor and be a positive
role model in the lives of children in our community,
and there are a number of agencies here in town.
A Big Brothers Big Sisters, for instance, would be a
great way to maybe put yourself in a position to
mentor and positively impact the life of a child. And
(09:03):
then of course at the court we need people serving
as what we call cassa guardian at litem's court appointed
special advocates And if that's something that interests you, you
can get a hold of Crime Victim Services and they
can steer you in the right direction for that type
of volunteerism. But whatever you do, whether it's coaching youth
sports or whether it's serving at your church, I think
(09:25):
if you want a healthy community, you need to invest
in the lives of children and family and do what
you can to assist. So certainly we would always call
for people to volunteer whatever time they could in those efforts.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Berlin, appreciate your time this morning. Thanks for coming in.
Thank you have a great day.
This morning, Berlin.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Carroll is with us, the administrator of the Juvenile Court, Berlin,
good morning.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
Good morning on behalf a judge Tom cole Reser happy
to be here, hey.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
And of course the Juvenile Court we don't always, i guess,
see as much of the day to day work or
the things happening because the juveniles and it's not as
high profile perhaps, but the workload tends to be maybe
just as voluminous as the regular court in many ways, right.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
In fact, I think it's one of the busier courts
by valume of cases, certainly in the county. There was
a time where I could say that other than municipal court,
Lineman Court, it's always the busiest course by court by
case valume. But there was a time that I could
say that we were certainly the second busiest court by
(00:51):
case valume. And then we reach some agreements with Domestic
Relations Division and move some cases over there. So I'm
not sure, you know, if it's probably still true yeah today,
but if not, it's you know, second or third certainly.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Well.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
The other thing to point out is people think about
the juvenile Court, they think about the you know, the
kids that are in trouble or in the legal system.
But there's a whole other side to what you guys
are adjudicating, right, the family side.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah, absolutely, I think it's I think when you're working
with juveniles anyway, you have to take the approach that
you have to do everything you can to provide the
right kind of services at the right time. You have
to treat the whole family whenever possible. You know, there
needs to be a support system in the lives of children,
you know, certainly whether they're involved with juvenile justice or not.
(01:38):
So we try to always engage with families, parents, guardians,
you know, whoever is the adult role model in that
child's life.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Well, the other part of that is we sort of
wish that you weren't as busy in a certain aspect
because that would mean fewer problems.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
But when you look at.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I guess, just the caseload of juvenile law breaking, if
you will, things have sort of reached a level.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Over the last several years. Is that fair to say?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Yeah, I'd say when you look at trends, you know,
case volume has been trending down for a great number
of years now. Certainly when we went through the twenty
twenty COVID period. You know, case volume dropped off pretty
much for everybody, and I'd say we're back to business
as usual and you're getting approaching those pre COVID numbers.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah. After COVID, things sort of exploded, for lack of
a better word than now things have.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
The trend line is slightly down, which.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Is good, right, Yeah, absolutely, yeah. Now, also wanted to
talk about with you guys. I think you said you
have electronic filing. Now you wanted to talk about.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
So that's coming very soon. Chelsea Hankinson, our chief Deputy Clerk,
has been working diligently on that and I have to
give a shout out to to the IT Department of
Allen County that works under Rachel Gilroy over at the
Auditor's Office upgrading our case management system. You know, it's
been a two plus year process. It's been quite a
(03:08):
challenge and without their partnership, you know, we would not
be successful in implementing that, and we're super excited to
be We can see the light at the end of
the tunnel on that project. Met with Chelsea yesterday to
get an update. You know, she has a go live
date for e filing and the juvenile Division of our
court set for later in August, and then a planned
(03:29):
go live date for Probate Court in September, and we're
staggering those intentionally, and I think that's going to be
a tremendous benefit, you know, certainly to the bar Association
here in Allen County and then also to the general
public as a whole.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I can see where it would help the attorneys. Obviously,
they can file stuff electronically, and we can all relate
to things we do electronically we used to have to
maybe do with pen and paper and physically transport it somewhere.
But what do you think is the main advantage for
the the public at large that you serve.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I think anytime that you can access court services and
that you can file documents with the court without having
to physically drive to the building, especially when you consider
that our court is in a satellite location, if you will.
It's in its own standalone location out in Shawnee Township
and it's not in what I would call this central
Allen County government district of downtown Lima. I think that's
(04:24):
a benefit for them. Probably one of our busier things
that we do at Probate Court is process marriage license applications,
for instance, and we went live with e marriages some
time ago now, and I think that's been a tremendous benefit.
So anything that we can do to allow people to
access the court in a way that doesn't necessarily require
(04:47):
them to come out to Wardhill, I think is a benefit.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Berlin Carroll is with us this morning, the administrator of
the Juvenile Court here in Lima.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
You guys have some job openings too, don't you.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Absolutely, we always seem to be hiring. That's the nature
of things in today's world. I think that's common with
just about everybody. Currently, we have a full time bailiff's position.
Those positions are pretty rare for our court. They don't
come open very often. We have a young man who
is going to be a line of firefighter and I
think that's an outstanding opportunity for him, so we wish
(05:20):
him well in that endeavor.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
We have that position posted.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
We have we need a full time detention officer on
second shift in a detention center, which is really quite
a positive that we only have one full time position
open over at JDC right now. That's kind of rare
in and of itself. We're always hiring part time detention
officers over there. We need them to help cover sick
days and vacation days and things of that nature at JDC,
(05:45):
so that's always an opportunity. We currently have some part
time intervention specialist positions posted. That's a new thing for us.
They'll work out of our Access center on West Market Street.
And we have a program coordinator over at JDC position
that's currently vacant that's not posted yet. I'm still evaluating,
you know, whether or not we're going to post that
(06:06):
position or whether we're going to tweak it up a
little bit and maybe change it into something else. But
I would say anybody it's interested in coming to work
for us, go out to Ohio Means Jobs, or you know,
find your way to our website and make an application.
We would love to hear from you. And I think
that Judge Todd Coreyzer is just an outstanding guy to
work for. He's you know, very much about not only
(06:30):
meeting the mission of the court and you know, processing
the cases, but making sure that he has the right
people on staff to meet the needs of the community.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Perlin Carroll with the Juvenile Court with us here in studio,
of course, the juvenile detention facility still seems new to
some of us, but it's what.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Six years old now out there on North Cole Street.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Ye, it's kind of hard to imagine. I'm really bad
about looking at time behind me. It's like all on
one bucket. Whether it was you know, six weeks ago
or six years ago, it's just hard to imagine that
it's been that long. So we're starting to experience that too,
you know. Maintenance issues are cropping up, an occasional leak
here and there we have to mitigate. But it's an
outstanding facility. We're happy to have it. We did just
(07:12):
go through some upgrades on the inside. We have a
new behavioral health services unit that's been going through a
lot of training, you know, over the past several months,
and part of that was to upgrade kind of the
internal feel and look and use of some of the
areas in the detention center. So we have a new
(07:34):
telehealth room, you know, a place for family counseling and
group visits that's appropriate for a therapeutic setting. And then
we've renovated our group room so that we can provide
group interventions and therapies to the kids that are housed
out at JDC.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
And you're always looking for volunteers, right, These are mainly
to mentor kids.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Is that what you're looking for.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
I think that's super important for our community as as
a whole. I mean, I think a healthy community is
dependent upon volunteerism and people getting out and being willing
to do whatever it takes, you know, whatever fits their passion.
But certainly there are volunteers that work with us every day,
maybe on the probate court side. You know, we need
(08:21):
people that are willing. When I say we, I mean
the community needs people that are willing to serve as guardians,
you know, for people that can't take care of themselves.
And we have established a number of years ago now
a Guardianship Services Board. So if there are people out
there that are willing to work and serve as guardians,
maybe they can get a hold of Elizabeth Schaeffer over
(08:42):
at the Guardianship Services Board and see if there's opportunities there.
We always need people to mentor and be a positive
role model in the lives of children in our community,
and there are a number of agencies here in town.
A Big Brothers Big Sisters, for instance, would be a
great way to maybe put yourself in a position to
mentor and positively impact the life of a child. And
(09:03):
then of course at the court we need people serving
as what we call cassa guardian at litem's court appointed
special advocates And if that's something that interests you, you
can get a hold of Crime Victim Services and they
can steer you in the right direction for that type
of volunteerism. But whatever you do, whether it's coaching youth
sports or whether it's serving at your church, I think
(09:25):
if you want a healthy community, you need to invest
in the lives of children and family and do what
you can to assist. So certainly we would always call
for people to volunteer whatever time they could in those efforts.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Berlin, appreciate your time this morning. Thanks for coming in.
Thank you have a great day.
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