MARCH 19, 2025|
Photo – Jury box in District Court – Bigfoot99 file photo
The Clerk of District Court in Carbon County will use the emergency notification system to alert residents about jury duty summons.
During Tuesday’s Board of Carbon County Commissioners meeting, Clerk of District Court Mara Sanger announced that her office will begin using AlertSense, the county’s emergency notification system, to contact jurors about upcoming trials. Sanger said the current system of phone calls, emails, and text notifications isn’t reliable. Additionally, mailed jury summons do not always arrive on time.
Clerk of District Court Sanger said AlertSense will provide a more reliable method for notifying jurors compared to the system currently being used by her office. Sanger added that AlertSense notifications will contain the county’s official seal, making the messages less likely to be dismissed as fraudulent.
Sanger said Laramie County has successfully implemented their emergency alert system, called Everbridge, in a similar manner. The clerk of district court said the number of jury trials in Laramie County made the previous method of alerting jurors inadequate.
Sanger said that AlertSense will automatically call, email, and text jurors. The system will allow the Clerk of District Court to see who has received their jury duty summons.
Commission Chairman Travis Moore expressed his approval of the AlertSense system which allows the Clerk of District Court to verify when residents have received a jury duty summons.
Sanger explained that Emergency Manager Lenny Layman trained her staff to issue the AlertSense juror notifications. While the system adds to their workload, Sanger believes the benefits outweigh the extra effort.
Clerk of District Court Sanger said under the current system, only about one third of people respond to their jury duty notifications. Sanger said she hopes AlertSense will be more effective.
