Haste could make waste with court reorganization

Given the questions that have been raised by Mahoning County Administrator Gary Kubic and the concerns expressed by county Clerk of Courts Tony Vivo, state Sen. Robert Hagan should postpone the introduction of legislation aimed at revamping the county's four area courts.
While we generally support the elimination of the part-time county judgeships, we agree with Kubic that an analysis of the cost of replacing the current four positions with three full-time ones is warranted. We also support his call for public hearings on the issue.
Not only should the taxpayers be given an opportunity to express themselves on this proposal, they should also be invited to participate in a discussion about the creation of a countywide metropolitan court system to replace all the courts below the common pleas level.
Hagan of Youngstown, D-33rd, has agreed to shepherd the legislation that is required to implement the changes proposed by the Mahoning County Corrections Planning Board, which has voiced concern about the part-time judges being allowed to maintain private law practices.
Buddy system: There isn't any way to stop a county court judge, in his role as a lawyer, from handling a case in the courtroom of a judicial colleague. Such a buddy system adds to the public cynicism about the judiciary in Mahoning County.
But as we've argued in the past, the creation of three full-time judgeships is a small step in the right direction.
More than 10 years have passed since the idea of creating a metropolitan court system was first discussed publicly. And while numerous proposals have been developed to address the concerns of the judges and court employees who would be affected, the plan is no closer to becoming reality today than it was in the 1990s. Why? Because municipal court judges in Youngstown, Campbell and Struthers don't want to give up their power and aren't eager to lose control of all the jobs that their courts sustain.
They contend that the people of Mahoning County would be inconvenienced by having to appear before one of the six or seven full-time metropolitan court judges and that justice would not be served.
That's a specious argument, but it seems to have struck a chord because not even the Mahoning County Corrections Planning Board is inclined to tackle this politically explosive issue.
But now there seems to be a sliver of hope seeing as how the push to revamp the county's four part-time courts has been temporarily halted.
State review: As Vivo, the county clerk of courts, noted in criticizing the planning board for not seeking input from his office, a final report from the state auditor's office on the operation of the county courts is due this summer.
That report, Vivo says, is expected to address the issue of court consolidation.
Given the state's review, Vivo's concerns and Kubic's questions, it's time the taxpayers had a say.