Moving into the present (07/06/07)

The financial records for Portland City Court are about to arrive in the 21st century.

Computer software to keep track of money received and disbursed through the court will be purchased after approval in a brief meeting by the Portland Board of Works.

The software, which will be purchased through Computer Systems Inc., will cost $6,500. The request was made by Portland City Court judge Mickey Pensinger.

The new computerized system will replace the current ledger books, which are more than 2 feet long by more than 18 inches wide.

Those books have been used for countless years to keep track of fines paid to the court, along with how the money received is disbursed to the state, county and city.

"This is 2007. It's time to streamline and upgrade city court (records)," Mayor Bruce Hosier, a member of the board of works, said Thursday to fellow board members Dolphus Stephens and Bob McCreery.

"We'll run paper books along with (the computer software) until we feel comfortable with it," Pensinger said.[[In-content Ad]]