LAKELAND, Fla. — Staffing shortages are now forcing leaders at one of Polk County's busiest clerk's offices to close.
Closed until further notice. That is what the sign on the door reads at the Polk County Clerk of the Circuit Court Office in Lakeland.
Starting Monday, the clerk's service lobby will not be open to customers. Clerk officials said they simply do not have enough trained team members to staff the Lakeland office.
“Right now, we are down to one customer service clerk in that office. We have some back-office staff that go into trial, go into court, and support that, but we were down to one customer service clerk. We typically have five or six up there at a time,” said Kimberly Stenger, Courts Director of Polk County Clerk & Comptroller.
Court proceedings and jury trials will continue at the Lakeland Government Center.
The clerk’s office is a critical piece in the judicial system, performing a wide range of record keeping, information, and financial management for the county government.
With Lakeland being one of the fastest-growing areas in the country the services the clerk’s office provides are greatly needed.
“We have a drop box there for customers to still be able to come in and file evictions, small claims, traffic cases, to be able to perform some tasks. So while they’re not face to face with us, hopefully the dropbox provides them the services to be able to still file,” said Stenger.
Many of the clerk’s services are available online. Customers can visit the Northeast or Bartow offices for things that need to be done in person. The new Northeast Government Center in Lake Alfred opened its doors Monday. There is no set date for when the clerk’s Lakeland office will reopen.
“We’re looking at 2-3 months, but we hope on the shorter side of that as soon as we can get staff hired and trained,” said Stenger.
Starting pay for a customer service clerk is $15 an hour.
