Douglas County Clerk Asks If I Have "Pre-Approval" For Teleconference

I just called Douglas County Courthouse and asked for Jo Jackson and she was out to lunch still. The guy who answered, Beckam or something, asked me if I had "pre-approval" to attend the hearing by telephone.

I asked him what do you mean? I told him I've never had "pre-approval" and that I'd always just called up around the time of the hearing, and I was connected to the courtroom. I haven't heard of pre-approval before, and never had to do it in the past, and don't even know what he meant exactly but I started to wonder if all of a sudden someone from Wenatchee is going to tell me I can't even attend this hearing because I didn't get "pre-approval" to attend by teleconference.

So I asked him again what he meant. He didn't say much, and said I needed "pre-approval". I asked him if someone had told him to tell me that or if anyone had told him I couldn't appear by telephone and he said no.

So maybe everything is fine. He said to me that if Jo Jackson had just connected me in the past, that it was probably fine to do as I've always done and just call up around the time of dependencies, around 1 p.m. So I asked if I could leave a msg. for Jo and I did, just letting her know my phone number and that I'd called in prior to the hearing schedule and could she call me back. I said I'd call again, as well.

I've never had anyone ask me about pre-approval before, but I haven't talked to this guy before so maybe he's new. Or a new clerk or something.