Clerk Talk

Clerk Talk is the official podcast of Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers, offering timely conversations at the intersection of justice, governance, and public service. Featuring interviews with Clerks, newsmakers, elected officials, and key stakeholders, the podcast explores the issues, innovations, and insights shaping Florida’s courts and communities – straight from the voices on the front lines.

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Clerk Talk

Episode 4: Melvin Cox

March 30, 2026 • Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers

0:00 | 25:28

In this episode of Clerk Talk, Pinellas County Clerk of Court and Comptroller Ken Burke sits down with Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers (FCCC) and CiviTek Chief Technology Officer Melvin Cox.

Melvin shares insights from his career journey, highlighting the experiences that shaped his approach to modernizing systems and supporting Clerks across Florida’s 67 counties. Together, Ken and Melvin explore how technology is transforming the way Clerks serve their communities improving access, efficiency, and security in an increasingly digital world.

The discussion also offers a preview of two upcoming events: the Clericus User Conference and the CiviTek Tech Summit.

Clerk Talk is presented by Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers (FCCC).

FCCC is a statewide, nonprofit member association composed of Florida’s Clerks of the Circuit Court and Comptrollers. FCCC provides local government support services, technical assistance and accreditation opportunities for all members of the association.

For more information, visit www.FLClerks.com.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Hello, everyone, and welcome to our Clerk Talk. And we're very pleased to have one of FCCC's, which stands for Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers, uh, Melvin Cox, who is Melvin, are you the oldest employee there as far as years of service into the right now, Ken?

SPEAKER_00 0:28

I'm the second oldest.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Good to have you. And how many years have you been with FCCC?

SPEAKER_00 0:33

I've I've been with the FCCC 29 years. I started back in 1997 as a as a database administrator and a programmer and working on the child support system. My gosh. And how many employees were there at that time? So when I started, there were less than 20 employees in the association, and that includes the association staff and the IT staff. We probably had about seven or eight folks in the IT staff.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

And how many employees does FCCC have now?

SPEAKER_00 1:08

So uh we have had uh some really good growth over the last few years. Uh we have around 145 employees, give or take a few. Uh about 125 of those work in Civitech, which I know we're going to talk about. And about 17 work in the association side. So our growth in Civitech has been pretty consistent and steady. Uh, it's kind of uh evolved with the growth of our projects and our customers.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Melvin, maybe you could tell us how your job has changed in the 29 years you've been with the association.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Well, it's changed a lot, and technology's changed a lot. Uh from my career standpoint, when I came to the association, I was a very hands-on uh technologist. Uh I uh was a programmer, uh systems administrator, database administrator, uh supporting child support system, and and others other projects as as we grew. Over the years, then I transitioned into more managing the technical staff, uh project management, business development. And during that period is when we built our payment systems, our clericus case management system, uh the comprehensive case information system on the CCIS. It was an initiative started in the early 2000s by the clerks to uh provide a single login to all the court records uh in the state of Florida. A very ambitious project has been very successful over the years and still being widely used by over, I believe, over 40,000 active users.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

It's amazing, isn't it, how successful CCIS is built. I remember back in 2004 when it was first initiated, and um how far we've come in those 22 years since. Yes. For our listeners who don't know, um you mentioned um Civitech and how Civitech is really expanding. Tell us more about Civitech and what that is.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Yeah, so I've heard the story, Ken, uh, before I worked here, before you were a clerk, there were a group of clerks supposedly that went to a retreat and decided that they wanted to expand and grow our association. And they wanted to especially become uh more involved in technology. The the environment at that time, there were a lot of vendors, there were a lot of one-off vendors, and I felt, I think the clerks felt overwhelmed with how to manage their technology and the and and all the vendors and everything that was involved. Uh, so they created a subsidiary of the association. Uh, at the time it was referred to as the services group, but we'll call it's now established as Civitech. And over this period of time, Civitech has taken on a lot of projects on behalf of the clerks. Uh, our motto at Civitech, our mission is simply for clerks by clerks. Uh, and and what that means is we're Florida-based. We we only support the clerks of the court in Florida. So we're really focused on what clerks do. Civitech is not just clericus, and I know we're going to talk about clericus. Uh, we have a number of other projects and products that that clerks utilize as well. The best thing I like about Civitech is that we are aligned and accountable to our clerks who are our customers. And I like that relationship because uh it helps us do our job better because uh we're focused solely on the clerks.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

That's great, Melvin. I like what you said for clerks, by clerks. That's what Civitech's about. That's what it should be about. Let's talk about the state of Florida as a whole because we have 67 counties in our state. And we have some counties which are small, under 10,000 people, um Lafayette and Liberty. Um, and then we have a county which is 2.7 million people, Miami Dade. And then with the rest of us all fall in between those two, uh, those three counties. So tell us on what big projects do you need assistance from from all 67 plus the 68, because we have the comp troller in Orange County. Um, where do you need assistance?

SPEAKER_00 5:38

So, you know, Ken, everything, a short answer to that is everything we do really requires clerk engagement assistance. It's been my experience in working in Florida that all of our innovation usually starts locally. Uh and you can go back over the years and look at numerous clerks' office who took the initiatives to try a pilot, to try new technology. And when it was successful, um Civitech was then able uh to inherit that and make it available for a lot of other clerks as well. So we're always interacting with all of our clerks. As far as something that I uh that I was thinking about that encompasses all clerks and all of our projects, I would point out these items. One is we we always need to focus on data quality, and that's all clerks and Civitech as well, uh, because as custodian of the record, that's extremely important. And then the companion to that is is focusing on our clerks on security. Uh that's been a big issue for all of our projects, and we work in in partnership with the clerks to make sure that we have uh security for all of our systems. And then the last thing I would talk about that we really need with all of our clerks is continue to work on as best we can standardization across the state, because from Civitech's perspective, we're operating uh at a statewide view and we're interacting with multiple counties. The more standardization uh of codes and processes, uh, the better we can be successful at tying all that together. So uh I know our clerks have worked very hard on these items and continue to work hard on these items, but they really make a difference to Civitech moving forward with our projects.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Let me ask you about, and that first of all, that's certainly true of the security and standardization are just so important. Let's look to the future. Let's look to the next five years for Civic Tech and see where it should be heading. What are the big applications that you see Civic Tech being involved with?

SPEAKER_00 7:55

One of one of the things that that we're really focusing on right now is our CMS monetization project. And we can talk a little bit more about that when we get into clericus, but that's definitely a big part of our of our future. We're all challenged with right now with this new technology, artificial intelligence. You're right, Melvin. We certainly are. And in the next five years, I would like to see Civitech with our clerks create and implement an AI strategy and roadmap that lets us take advantage of this technology where it's appropriate. Uh and that's really important in the next years as well. And we're also looking at a lot of the clerk data and how we can utilize that data to the benefit of our customers, to the benefit, to the benefit of folks who need access to that data for things like public records, background checks, and uh the data that the clerk's house uh is needed by a lot of our stakeholders in the court system, and we're looking for ways to bridge that gap and provide that access and that data on behalf of the clerks.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

You mentioned clericus. Let's talk about clericus. Sure. Um, can you tell us where clericus is right now and where you see it going? Sure.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

So Civitech has been working in with case maintenance systems uh since the early 2000s. Uh originally we bought a company that that had a case uh maintenance system, and uh we bought the company and and we took that over for the clerks that were using that, and we started to add some other clerks. And in 2007, I think we had about 15 clerks on the old green screen system, and that's when we uh developed the first iteration of clericus, which was a more modern system. It had imaging, it was a Windows-based system. So it was it was uh uh using the technology that was available around the late 2000s. So moving forward now, we have 40 counties in Florida that are utilizing clericus. We have 36 counties that are live and using it, and we also have four counties that we're working on to convert. Uh so we're working with 40 counties right now. Um, in looking at clericus uh and and and and what it does for clerks, I think there's some things that make it unique, Ken. One is the system and the source code is owned by the clerks. So the clerks actually own this CMS, and then therefore they can help drive the product uh moving forward. Uh, it is totally Florida-based. There are national vendors that are in the CMS market that are very competitive, but these national vendors operate all over the nation, and as you well know, Florida can be somewhat unique in the court system and what the clerks need. Uh, and we're totally focused on uh a Florida-based type system. The other thing that I think makes it unique is that we operate on a single version. And what that means is all 40 customers on the same version of software. And you may ask, well, what benefit is that? Well, there's huge benefits, as I mentioned earlier, with standardization. I'll give you an example. A few years ago, we were applying uh uh we we were asked to uh provide data to the criminal justice data transparency system, and there was a very, very tight time frame to do that for all clerks. One of the advantages of clericas is for those for those 30 or 40 counties that are on clericas, we can then uh implement that very quickly because they're all on the same version. And then, hey, we got 40 counties already sending that data to to the system. So as a whole, it allows clerks throughout the state to be uh more agile as a whole, because those clerks that are on that system can make that happen very quickly.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Melvin, I'm gonna ask you a challenging question here. Yeah. Um, and clericus is uh certainly a product which is used mainly by smaller to mid-sized clerks. It's not used by the 10 largest clerks in the county in the state of Florida. Right. So tell us tell us where you see clericus going.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

Yeah, so that is a very timely question. Uh earlier this year, uh at the beginning of our governance year, our Civitech committee uh asked staff to begin the process of a CMS modernization project. And this is a very big project. But basically, looking at clericus, looking at the technology is getting to be about 20 years old, we now have an opportunity to build on that, modernize it. And in doing so, Ken, we're going to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of clericus and where gaps are that we need to improve. One of the ways we've done this is going around talking to our customers. Remember, I mentioned four clerks, biclerks. So that's a big part of what we've done. And we have identified several gaps that we can fill moving forward. And a lot of times it's new technology. I'll give you an example. When we built CMS systems uh uh 20 years ago, there was not a focus on our customers using mobile devices to access the system. It just it was it was it was a very um uh kind of a new innovation. I don't think the iPhone was even developed till 2007, 2008, somewhere in there, back when we were developing Clericus. Now our customers, and you know this, they demand that everything be mobile and everything be on their phone. And so we can modernize clericus and and address uh technology, AI, things like that moving forward. In talking with the larger counties, one of the one of the things, and we've had larger counties you know assess clericus and look at clericus. Uh they've added some some enhancements and some suggestions, and mostly it involves volume type processing, because a county the size of Pinellas, Hillsboro in your area, other counties like that, Miami Dade, Orange, the volumes are are massive. So Clericus would have to allow for more volume type processing for these large counties, and and we've identified several areas that we can enhance to make that happen. Um we know that the other 27 counties who aren't using the system are also you know possibly looking at in the marketplace for a CMS system. And we want to be a viable option for all 67 counties. And I don't think all 67 counties in in the foreseeable future will be on one system. But if we have a good option in Florida for all counties, it's going to make the decision uh a lot more competitive for those clerks. But I'll tell you, Ken, our clerks that are on clericas have a very simple goal for it moving forward. They always want it, and this goes back to when we started it, they always wanted it to be the best CMS in Florida. So that's our goal. It's a competitive goal. We're always striving to do it, and and I don't think it ever ends because of the technology and the advancements that we're we'll be required to do moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Melvin, that's a very noble goal. It would be great if we had one system um that all of us, all 67 counties, can use. Um, and I'm glad you're moving in that direction as much as possible. Yes. Let's talk about something else here. Let's talk about the clericus users conference and the civic tech tech summit, which are both coming up. Yes. Um, tell us what the meaning of each of those um are, what's going to happen at each of those, and who should attend?

SPEAKER_00 16:32

We are very excited about these two events. The clericus user conference is coming up in a couple of weeks in Gainesville. This is a training conference. We want deputy clerks who use the system. Uh, we want to be able to get them together, and there's really a couple of great benefits here. One is we have targeted training sessions throughout the conference where they can learn how to use the system more efficiently. There may be features to the system that they don't realize they can use, and they get some really, really good hands-on training during this conference. But the second value of this conference, which is, I think, is even more valuable, is the networking that the deputy clerks and clerks do at the conference, sharing uh how they do things locally, sharing ideas, making friends, making contacts, because our counties support each other. You well know this. And when they're when you're on the same CMS, you get a new employee. A lot of times a clerk will say, Call my uh neighbor clerk, and they're on clericus too, and they'll kind of help you through that. So it's a really great benefit uh to have that user conference uh and get those folks there. It's always a really good event. The Civitech Tech Summit is a totally different type of event. It's really not about Civitech products, it's about technology and new technologies and bringing our clerks. It's really focused on elected clerks and maybe senior uh deputy clerks, uh technology folks, operations folks. This year at our Civitech Tech Summit, we are focusing totally on artificial intelligence. We have several great presenters who are uh experts in the field of artificial intelligence. We're gonna have an opportunity to collaborate, to network, to brainstorm. And as I mentioned earlier, uh we're all, I think, trying to come up with our plans and roadmaps for how we're gonna use artificial intelligence. And I really think our Civitech Tech Summit will give us an opportunity to clarify some of those, some of those items that that we we wanna we want to latch on to moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

You mentioned that the clericus users conference is going to be in in Gainesville. Where's the Civitech Um Tech Summit going to be held?

SPEAKER_00 19:05

That is gonna be in uh Charlotte County at the Funseeker Resort. It's a new uh facility right there on the West Coast. Uh, we're very excited uh to be there in Clerk Eatons County. Uh he's looking forward to hosting us, and uh we're looking forward to a really good time.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

That's great. And that should be a very valuable summit. Let's let's let's change the topic completely and let's talk about you a little bit. Okay. How did you join FCCC 29 years ago?

SPEAKER_00 19:37

I was working in Tallahassee. I was working, uh I had worked in banking when I graduated college, and then I shifted up.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

And where'd you go to college, Melvin?

SPEAKER_00 19:47

I went to Florida State University right here in Tallahassee. And uh I am a big Seminole fan, as you are, and and and we talk about that quite often, absolutely. So I was working with a gentleman who knew someone who was working with the association, and it just so happened that the technology we were using at the state agency was the same technology that the child support system was written in, and they were looking for folks that could could work on that technology, and uh they got in touch with me, and I gotta tell you something, it's the best decision I've ever made. Uh, it's been a wonderful, wonderful, uh, blessed career to be working here with the clerks. That's great. And where were you born, Melvin? Well, you can probably tell from my uh accent, Ken. I I'm a native of North Florida. My father was from Gadsden County, my mother was from Leon County. We we lived in Gadsden County, but I kind of c claim both Gadson and Leon County as my home counties. I moved to Leon County uh over 40 years ago, and I've lived here ever since.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

And tell us about your family, please.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

Okay. Um, well, I have a wife, Laura, I have two kids uh that are grown. Um my daughter, Sarah, uh, my son Austin, and Austin's married to Maya. And I'm also proud to say that that both Sarah and Austin are proud graduates of Florida State University as well. So uh we we we're all we're all seminoles. That's very good, Melvin.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Melvin, what what advice do you have for our listeners?

SPEAKER_00 21:28

Well, I'd just like to say to all the clerks and the clerk staff uh who may be listening to this, uh I just I can't emphasize enough uh how valuable it is our interactions and the feedback we get from the clerks and the clerk staff. And my advice would be do never be uh shy or or avoid the opportunity to give Civitech feedback on how we're doing and how we're serving the clerks. Uh the more that they the clerks and the clerk staff engage with. Us, uh, the better we can we can serve you uh in our technology program. So we really look forward to that interaction and and and and hearing feedback, good and bad. And you know, sometimes in technology, the feedback may not be pleasant. Sometimes you may be having issues. Ken, I think you've had to call me a few times over the years. And and you know what? That's what we really appreciate because what if we know about it, we can we can work on it. And and the state's so big, we have a lot of customers. Sometimes we don't know what's going on, and we want to hear that feedback. So that's really the the best advice I could give our clerks and clerk staff is we're very open to working with you and hearing your feedback.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

That's great advice, Melvin. Thank you for that. And thank you for your work with the association. Um, I'm going to conclude by asking you a challenging question. Um, what is the greatest technology challenge yet to be resolved? And I know you mentioned several things. You mentioned um security, standardization, AI, all these types of things. What's the number one thing out there?

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Well, I've thought about this quite a bit, Ken, and I really think the technology challenges we have are can be attained. When I look at my experience working with with the clerks, I'll I'll say this the greatest challenge, and and I'll use that as an example. I could sum up what we've been doing the last 30 years as really changing a clerk's office from 100% paper based to 100 to trying to get to 100% digital based. We've been working on this since the since for 25, 30 years. We still have a lot of paper in our clerk's offices. And and and this is just an example of what I wanted to describe. Why, why is that? Because clerks don't operate in a vacuum. We're a hub for a lot of stakeholders: judiciary, legal, law enforcement. We're getting filings and and input in from those stakeholders, and then they they want to access our data. Well, I think the biggest challenge is not technical, is getting all of our stakeholders and partners to align and and and to support the same goals we have. So in in my paper example, if there is a um, if there's a PD or sheriff's office that's still paper-based, the clerk's going to be paper-based until that happens. So our biggest challenge, I think, we what we control, we're very good at. And I'll and I'll and I'll close by saying that also includes, unfortunately, a lot of times having adequate tech technical resources. And I'm talking about money and people to be able to support all of our technology. And I think the biggest challenges are working with our stakeholders and getting the adequate resources to support our technology. And I think if we have those two items, we can do anything.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

Melvin, you're right on target with that answer. Thank you for your interview today. Thank you for your dedication to FCCC, and we appreciate you.