'Asteroid' to hit short-staffed Thurston County court, judge warns. Updated October 28, 2026 1:48 PM Gift Article Thurston County District Court needs to hire about 17 more staff over two years to mitigate significant slowdowns to court operations, court officials said on Tuesday. Presiding Judge Brett Buckley introduced the topic during a Board of County Commissioners meeting with an apocalyptic metaphor. "When you look up into the sky, we see this asteroid aiming at District Court, and it's going to crash down on us and create a giant hole," Buckley said. The challenges stem from current workload demands outpacing staff capacity as well as a looming change to a new case management system in 2027, Buckley said. The dire warning came as the county is facing a $22.3 million structural deficit in its general fund, the county's primary operating budget. To address the deficit, county leaders plan to spread out various cost-cutting measures over three years and take $1 million annually from its $4 million rainy day fund, according to county documents. Given these circumstances, Buckley said he felt "very uncomfortable" about requesting "a lot of money." The court needs almost $1.9 million to bring on 17 more staff, court administrator Frankie Peters estimated. That includes $965,000 from the county and $890,000 from the cities that contract with Thurston County District Court, Peters said. The court has an expenditure budget of about $8.5 million for 2026 and has about 50 employees, Peters told the board during a budget exercise in September. The board did not make a decision in response to court officials' presentation on Tuesday. In March, the board directed budget staff to exclude "new policy funding or additions, positions or reclasses" that would impact the general fund in the 2026-2027 biennial budget midterm adjustment, which the board will vote on Dec. 15, according to county documents. As a court of limited jurisdiction, District Court hears criminal misdemeanors, gross misdemeanors, traffic and non-traffic infractions, civil cases for damages up to $100,000, anti-harassment protection orders, name changes and small claims cases of up to $10,000. The court also operates a mental health court and veterans court, two deferral programs with a therapeutic approach for people suffering from mental illness. If the court's needs aren't met, the court system would slow down, increasing backlogs and delays, Buckley and Peters said. The court may stop processing infractions, staying action on failures to respond or pay tickets, no longer sending cases to collections, greatly delaying civil filings from months to years and further reducing counter and phone services, according to the court's presentation. However, Peters said some of these actions would also deprive the county of revenue, which could create further challenges. The asteroid Buckley referred to is Enterprise Justice, a new case management system provided by the Washington State Administrative Office of the Court. The new system replaces a decades-old system developed by the state in the 1980s, according to a blog post from Washington Courts. The new system improves data access and sharing, electronic filing functions and financial transaction processing, per the blog post. It also features a probation management system. Tacoma Municipal Court became the first jurisdiction to adopt the new system in 2023, the blog post states. Since then, the system has expanded in phases. Thurston County is part of a group of 18 jurisdictions that's slated to adopt the system in October 2027, according to the Washington Courts project website. The state procured the system from Tyler Technologies and configured it to meet the needs of dozens of courts of limited jurisdiction. However, Peters said this one-size-fits-all approach is challenging. "The driver is making it fit as many needs as possible, but it's not going to fit everybody's, especially when you talk about bigger jurisdictions that are more advanced in technology and more kind of forward or progressive in how they're doing things, such as us here in Thurston County." As a result of the new system, Peters said Thurston County District Court will see higher case and proceeding counts, higher staffing needs and broader responsibilities. Peters said he and staff have timed how long it takes to do various tasks with the new system versus the old system. For many tasks, the new system is simply slower. "So, what we've done is we've gone through many, many, many of these lines of business and started calculating these out, which gets us to an estimated increase of about three times what our current workload is, just because of the time it takes to now enter into the new system," Peters said. Peters said he's cross-referenced his findings with other courts that have implemented the system a year ago or more than a year ago, so his calculations factor in efficiencies that build up over time. For example, Peters said the new system requires four times the workload or time to issue a warrant. Assuming 100% current capacity, he said that would result in a backlog of 562 warrants to be issued after only two months. That also would result in delays of up to 32 days from the initial order of a warrant, according to the presentation. The 17 positions he said they need include one new judge, four court support specialists, six judicial support specialists, two civil court clerks, one court financial specialist, a calendar coordinator, a new records coordinator and a judicial aide, per the presentation. The court is alerting the board to these needs now because it will take up to two years to fill those 17 positions, Peters said. That's because most of the positions are specialized and require extended training and onboarding, he said. This story was originally published October 28, 2026 at 9:53 AM. The Olympian Martín Bilbao reports on Thurston County government, courts and breaking news. He joined The Olympian in November 2020 and previously worked for The Bellingham Herald and Daily Bruin. He was born in Ecuador and grew up in California. Support my work with a digital subscription

JJ Olson says he has the experience to change the Thurston County Assessor's Office for the better. JJ Olson in a photo provided by his campaign. Posted Friday, October 9, 2026 4:14 pm By Emily Fitzgerald / [email protected] With longtime Thurston County Assessor Steven Drew retiring at the end of the year, JJ Olson thinks his 11 years of experience within the Thurston County Assessor's Office makes him the most obvious choice to take on the mantle. "It'd be difficult to find a person that has that breadth of experience from rez commercial values to setting the taxes," Olson said. "I have that experience, have the education, and I am a leader." Olson has led by example within the Thurston County Assessor's Office for the last 11 years, earning his coworkers' trust and support in the process. "I have felt the love for my office in being able to get to where I am today, and I want to return that and support my office and to give that back to not just them, but my community as well," Olson said. Aside from the upcoming leadership change, the Thurston County Assessor's Office is undergoing major internal shifts. Six key employees are retiring and the office is transitioning to a new software system, all while dealing with the ongoing county budget crisis. While those changes will be difficult to navigate, Olson believes there's an opportunity to change the Thurston County Assessor's Office for the better. "I know where we want to be," Olson said. Specifically, Olson wants the software change to be completed under budget and in a reasonable timeframe, so that taxpayers don't experience any hiccups in accessing their property valuations. Once in place, the new software system should dramatically improve online data access and make the online system more user-friendly. Olson also intends to welcome in new employees with nontraditional experience that he said will help provide a new perspective for the assessor's office. "I can morph outside people with skills to work inside this office because I've had those roles. I know the skills that are needed for each role," Olson said. Another big priority for Olson is ensuring that assessors are safe out in the field, while simultaneously protecting homeowners' privacy. He hopes to expand use of aerial imagery and partner with other county agencies to allow assessors to do as much of the assessment work as possible remotely. That would decrease the number of potentially dangerous interactions between assessors and homeowners who don't want a government worker on their property. Other items that may interest you