Bartelme helps make sure court can keep operating at a distance

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Phil Bartelme has been at the forefront of helping the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin find ways to continue operating during the pandemic.

With Bartelme, director of information technology for the district, leading the court’s efforts to permit remote work, employees were able to begin teleworking within a day’s time. Bartelme also helped find plexiglass, gloves and masks and build barriers and install cameras in courtrooms to allow for remote viewing.

“The shift to conducting business was the biggest challenge,” he said. “Thankfully, we had put a number of things in place prior to the pandemic, which made things a lot easier. An example was deploying laptops to many of our users and encouraging sporadic telework.

“This paid off as we were able to shift the bulk of our workforce to telework quickly as everyone had experience working remotely — there was very little learning curve.”

Chief U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper said that Bartelme has served on the court’s recovery committees, helping to resolve questions about social distancing.

“He has spent hours with lawyers, helping them figure out how to use technologies like Zoom,” Pepper said. “The court could not have continued to function during the pandemic were it not for Phil and his outstanding IT team. Phil truly is an unsung hero.”

Bartelme has worked for the court for about three years and previously spent time in the private sector at a document-management company. Bartelme said he prefers working in the public sector.

“I appreciate being a small part of a big picture working alongside many talented and intelligent individuals,” he said. “We are all working together as a team to fulfill the court’s mission and the role it plays in our government. It is a rewarding job, and I look forward to coming to work each day.”