The initiative, called “Clerk’s Office Express,” will operate out of a former Wells Fargo bank building owned by the county on Waddell Street in Marietta. Cobb State Court Clerk Tahnicia Phillips said the pilot program is designed to improve access to justice while easing congestion inside the State Court building.
“This is a pilot program to see if there’s a need,” Phillips told members of the Cobb County Legislative Delegation Tuesday. “Of course, there’ll be challenges, but we’ve already started the process… We got the equipment, it’s fully equipped with credit card machines and signage.”
The drive-thru will offer limited services, accepting payments for traffic citations, school bus violations, restitution, court fines and probation fees. It will also accept pleadings, case filings and dispositions, and document drop-off and retrieval for both attorneys and self-represented litigants.
The State Court is launching the initiative in partnership with the Magistrate Court, and Phillips said she is open to partnering with the Superior Court as well.
According to Phillips, the drive-thru program is launching at “zero cost to taxpayers,” using existing county property and funds already within the clerk’s budget.
County leaders discussed the initiative during the first Cobb Legislative Delegation meeting of the session, where lawmakers welcomed members of the county’s judicial leadership, including Phillips, District Attorney Sonya Allen, State Court Chief Judge Eric Brewton and several other State Court judges. Several attendees expressed growing concern over rising caseloads, as Phillips outlined steps being taken to manage the demand.
According to Phillips, the State Court Clerk’s Office — the “administrative arm” of the court — initiates more than 40,000 criminal and civil cases a year and scans over a million documents annually. The office also processes all court financial transactions, totaling nearly $4 million last year.
“One of the more difficult things we are having now is just wayfinding in the lobby areas and keeping everyone separate into the courtroom,” Phillips told lawmakers.
To help address crowding, the clerk’s office recently implemented a new electronic queueing system, which Phillips said has already reduced wait times and improved crowd control. During the first week of the year alone, 1,250 people used the system to check in for service.
School Bus Violations
Phillips said much of the surge in court volume stems from school bus stop-arm violations following a change in Georgia law that took effect July 2024. The law increased penalties for illegally passing a stopped school bus to a minimum $1,000 fine, up to 12 months in jail, or both.
“In August of last year, the school district installed over 550 new school bus cameras, and with that came an increase in violations,” Phillips said.
From January through June, the county issued 217 school bus violation citations, according to Phillips.
Between August to December, that number jumped to 3,971 citations, bringing a sharp rise in filings, hearings and payments.
With the increase in violations, Phillips said, comes an increase in notices, hearings, and time judges are spending on the bench.
“An additional two hearings per week this year have been scheduled for our judges to be able to properly process those (citations),” she said.
Before the increase in cameras, the county collected $185,000 in fines between January and June, per Phillips. From August through December, that figure rose to $1.75 million in school bus violations fines alone.
“That’s why it was so important that we do an internal audit to make sure that we are processing fees and fines appropriately,” Phillips said, referring to the “intense” audit the office underwent last year.
Phillips said the drive-thru service will help relieve pressure inside the courthouse by allowing residents to handle routine transactions without entering the building — particularly those paying fines, probation fees or restitution on tight schedules.
Last semester, Phillips said two interns from local Cobb schools helped research data related to school bus stop-arm violations.
“They got it to the bus stop that issues the most citations,” Phillips told the Journal.
The students recently presented state Rep. Lisa Campbell, D-Kennesaw, with their findings and three potential solutions.
Phillips said those solutions included clearer warnings about penalties, public awareness campaigns and relocating certain bus stops to safer locations.
Campbell said the students’ work raised broader concerns beyond safety.
“Their motivation was really to understand how to keep students safe, which I think should be the focus of our actions,” she said. “But we also had a lot of questions about the contract for the equipment, how much money is going to that private entity, to understand the money part of the equation, in addition to keeping our kids safe.”
She added that the data highlighted “a lot of the unintended consequences” of the legislation.
“The numbers increase dramatically. Either people are speeding more and not paying attention and/or now we have cameras, so we’re catching more,” Campbell said. “But either way, the goal of reduced speeding does not seem to be noted by the data.”
Legislators said they are exploring possible changes to address issues with the legislation.
‘A Huge Impact’
DA Allen believed the pilot drive-thru would have a “huge impact,” considering the State Court was already “busting out the seams.”
“Even just from the sheriff’s office side, I would see lines outside of the door waiting just to get into the State Court building,” Allen said.
Several judges praised the effort, noting that similar drive-thru services existed years ago.
Judge Bridgette Campbell noted that safety and overcrowding have become major concerns in the aging courthouse.
“So this is going to be a good thing… for the public,” Judge Campbell said.
Phillips said the pilot would be the first of its kind in Cobb and the state.
“My colleagues are looking to see if this will work, and if the community responds to it, (then) it may be something that they may initiate in their counties,” she said.
She hoped the building would be in operation, “until, hopefully, the new (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) passes” and the county is able to build a new State Court building.
This November, Cobb residents will vote on whether to continue the county’s 1% Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. The preliminary 2028 SPLOST project list includes $174 million for a new State Court building and $2.7 million to design renovations for the existing courthouse.
Cobb County’s State Court serves more than 160,000 residents each year, but the nearly 30-year-old building was not designed to handle today’s population, caseload or security needs, per the county. Plans for the new facility include enhanced security, modern courtrooms, full ADA accessibility, improved public service areas and capacity for future growth.
The Board of Commissioners is expected to finalize the SPLOST list this April, before it goes to voters in November. If approved, the continuation of the 1% sales tax is expected to collect about $1.15 billion countywide over six years.
Until then, Phillips said the drive-thru is one of several ways the court system is adapting.
The Clerk’s Office Express drive-thru is expected to launch the last Monday in February as a pilot program, with county officials monitoring usage to determine whether it could become a permanent service — and a model for other courts across Georgia.
“That’s the goal here — just making sure we’re making our court as efficient as possible,” Phillips said. “The caseload is not slowing down, and so whatever we can do to move people along without disrupting the day then that’s what we’ll do.”
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