If you use the Osceola Clerk & County Comptroller website to request and track down public records, you’ll notice a refined look and a streamlined way to get them on Monday.
Osceola Clerk of Court Kelvin Soto announced Tuesday that a the PERCH Search — Public Electronic Records with Caring Hospitality — portal will debut on Monday.
The new portal, powered by JustFOIA, will allow for submitting requests for invoices, contracts, emails, court records and any other public document held by the Clerk’s office, all in one online spot: www. osceolaclerk.com/requesta- public-record/.
For those who need a little more guidance through the system, a companion public portal will be available at https:// osceolaclerkfl.justfoia.com/ publicportal/ or the “Submit a Records Request” under the “Records” menu of the office’s website. Additional pathways include using the “How Do I” and “Start Here” menus. Once submitted, requestors are generated a tracking number so that the requestor may follow the lifespan of the specific request.
According to the department, Deputy clerks may also correspond with the requestor if additional information or payment details are required to process a request.
The launch coincides with Sunshine Week, March 13-19, an annual initiative launched by the American Society of News Editors to “highlight the importance of open, responsive government.”
Soto said his office is taking advantage of how technology can modernize access to and the speed of making needed public documents available, without a call or trip to the courthouse being necessary.
“As part of our commitment to modernization that exceeds expectations, we invite our citizens and the media to better familiarize themselves with the vast amount of information available on our optimized website at no cost to them,” he said.
The goal, said Clerk & Comptroller Office Director of Government and Public Affairs Tyler Winik, is for constituents to find the documents they’re looking for quickly.
“‘Do I need to email a request for a copy of a court pleading? Is my marriage license available online?’ We’ve put all these search resources together on one page to help make the search a bit easier for them,” he said. “Instead of going multiple places to find the appropriate search resource—which can still be done—we have congregated them all together on one page with an explanation as to what to expect from each.”
