Housing Court Insider
Anthony Crespo likes to tinker. So when the Deputy Bailiff for Cleveland Housing Court saw his colleagues struggling with a new computer system, he took it upon himself to write a 22-page manual to help them.
On April 4, Cleveland Municipal Court switched to a new case management system called Odyssey. “A lot of the tools we were given for Odyssey didn’t work,” said Housing Court Deputy Chief Bailiff Shannon Devine. “So Mr. Brainiac, Mr. Crespo, took it upon himself to take our process and try to figure it out, because we couldn’t do a lot of things. ... He said, ‘I got this. This is how we can do this and do that.’”
Crespo became the Bailiffs’ point man on the new system. “He really enjoyed it, he likes these types of things, and one day, he actually said to me, ‘This is so fun, Shannon.’ I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah.’”
Crespo modestly describes how it unfolded. “This is truthfully how I feel, I care about them in the office, and I just want them to be on the right track, and I know not everybody is able to figure it out as quickly, so I wanted to be there for everybody else. And I have a skill for it, so I figured I’d throw myself out there and do it and see how it turned out. It makes me feel like I’m fulfilling a purpose, I guess.”
Before joining Housing Court in 2019, Crespo, 30, worked in the Municipal Court’s Criminal Division as a Records Management Clerk. “Growing up, I was always using the computer, social media and all that stuff,” he said. “So it was kind of natural for somebody my age to be able to operate them, but in the Criminal Division, I was doing the same thing, I was creating manuals for them, I was training people, I was documenting processes and everything, so I kind of grew to have a liking for it, and I have an attention for detail, so I thought that was a good idea.”
Housing Court Chief Bailiff Yusef Russell was impressed. “As he always does with any assignment or anything we give him to do, he goes above and beyond the call,” Russell said. “That’s what he does. He really enjoys doing it and making sure that everyone around him has the same knowledge that he was able to learn. He’s been a great asset, to say the least.”
Crespo has attended Ohio State University, Cleveland State University and Cuyahoga Community College and has two associate’s degrees. The Garfield Heights native changed his major five times, most recently to Creative Writing. “So I was in college for maybe like six years,” he said. “I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do, though.”
His indecision is Housing Court’s gain. Crespo’s manual includes detailed pictures and graphics. “I’m glad he took the extra responsibility,” Devine said. “I don’t know what we would have done without him.”
