Wichita County begins implementing new jury duty management system

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - At the March 13 Wichita County Commissioner’s Court meeting the county agreed to buy the Enterprise Jury Manager system from Tyler Technologies.

This software system allows citizens selected for jury duty to submit their answers from the comfort of their homes, rather than waiting at the MPEC with hundreds of others.

“When you get the postcard in the mail, usually, you open it and fill out the little questionnaire and then you bring that with you when you come to your jury summons, now there will be a QR code that you can scan, and you can answer all the questions online and get qualified or disqualified before we even get to that point,” said Wichita County Clerk, Leslee Mannon.

County officials say they’re looking forward to the positive impact this new system will have on citizens’ attitudes toward jury duty.

“It’s very seldom that the Commissioner’s Court gets to impact the public in a positive manner in such a way as this,” County Commissioner Precinct One, Mark Beauchamp said. “Where we’re one, saving money, and two, making our experience much more pleasant for the public. This is a home run.”

The county approved an initial cost of up to $78,000 for purchasing the software and any upgrades the county may require, but the county expects the recurring cost to be much lower.

“We think it’s going to be more along the lines of... this first year at 60-62,000. A lot of that is first-time start-up costs, new licenses to purchase, and things like that. The ongoing cost or recurring cost will be a lot lower than that, between 10 and $15,000 a year after that,” said Wichita County Judge Jim Johnson.

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