Catawba County, NC

Organization Profile: Catawba County, North Carolina, is located in the Piedmont part of the state in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains just north of Charlotte. The County, containing eight municipalities, has an estimated population of 153,000 people. The Catawba County court system is operated through two courthouses, the primary courthouse in Newton and an additional district court facility in Hickory, with eight types of courts: Superior Civil and Criminal, District Civil and Criminal, Magistrate, Infractions, Domestic Violence, and Juvenile.

Project: Catawba County was about to embark upon a major courthouse expansion project at the Newton courthouse. A part of the planning for expansion, Catawba County wanted to ensure that the court system would be operating as efficiently as possible and that the new courthouse was designed to enhance that efficiency. The lack of space was thought to be a bottleneck for disposing of cases, thereby creating a backlog of trials and resulting financial pressure from housing prisoners. At the time, there were 1,508 pending criminal superior court cases, and the average case age was 235 days.

For the project, TechSolve brought together a cross-functional team consisting of eight justice system representatives from different county and state agencies to participate in process improvement events to identify non-value-added activities. This enabled the project team to take ownership in the process, provide first-hand knowledge of the process nuances, and facilitate communication to other County staff. Together, they were able to identify 41 opportunities for improvement within the operations of the court system.

Some of the recommendations (which are currently being implemented by the County and state officials) included:

• Establishment of a Court Improvement Board
• Technology changes in the courtrooms
• Moving lengthier trials, such as homicides, to an off-site location to free up courtrooms in the Newton facility rather than tying them up for weeks or months at a time
• Assuring priority courtroom use through pleas and other methods to get people through the judicial system as quickly as possible

Results: Through the implementation of TechSolve’s customized solutions for process improvement and a joint effort with the justice system team, Catawba County will realize a more effective judicial process with lower cost. These changes will help ensure that the County’s new space is used to its highest advantage and provide the County the foundation for continued process improvement progress.