Ada County is starting its transition to a new iCourt electronic court case management system today, and officials are warning of delays between now and Aug. 8 when the new system will be up and running. The system first rolled out in Twin Falls County last summer; Ada County is the second county to be added. By 2018, all counties in the state will be on the new system.

Today, the current records system will be taken offline, the county announced. “During this time, services at the courthouse will be slower than normal,” according to a county news release. “Citizens should expect delays paying fines and fees and court services will also be impacted. During the conversion, the court will not be able to accept online payments, schedule criminal court dates or take new civil case filings, except emergencies.”

The county is asking people to avoid the Ada County Courthouse from today through Aug. 8 “if you do not have urgent business with the county.” However, those with court appearances already scheduled still will be required to attend. “If you need to pay a citation and it is not due until after Aug. 8, please wait to pay it until iCourt is launched.”

The new system is scheduled to go live at 8 a.m. on Aug. 8, but there still could be glitches. “With a project this large, we expect there will be a few challenges during the transition to the new system,” said Ada County Commission Chairman Jim Tibbs. “We are committed to doing all we can to help reduce the impacts felt by those who need to conduct business with the court.”

Eventually, the new system will connect all courts statewide, and will enable citizens to access full court documents for just a nominal fee, similar to the federal court system. However, that part isn’t starting yet. Once iCourt is up and running in Ada County, the county’s court records, excluding full documents, will be available at a new iCourt portal, as are Twin Falls County court records, rather than on the current Idaho Supreme Court data repository. Links to both are available on the Idaho Supreme Court’s website under “court record search.”