Commissioners call for court consolidation

YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County Commissioner John A. McNally has joined his colleague, Anthony Traficanti, in calling for consolidation of the county courts in Austintown, Boardman and Canfield into one facility.

McNally said Friday the consolidated operation should be centrally located in one of those three suburbs, not at the county’s newly acquired Oakhill Renaissance Place, 345 Oak Hill Ave.

McNally opposed purchase of that building last summer, but Traficanti and Commissioner David Ludt supported the purchase.

Traficanti, who announced in June his support of county court consolidation, except for the far-away court in Sebring, into a single county-owned complex, said combining the courts would reduce the cost and inconvenience of transporting county jail inmates to court. He also said he favors use of video arraignment to reduce costly inmate transportation.

Traficanti said it is a financial burden on the county to have the courts scattered as they are. Ludt did not speak about court consolidation during Friday’s commissioners meeting.

Austintown resident John Paulette, who regularly attends the meetings, said the county and municipal courts could be consolidated at Oakhill — the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center — where he said there is plenty of space for them. The county plans to move its Department of Jobs and Family Services from rented quarters in Garland Plaza to Oakhill around June 1.

When Traficanti proposed county court consolidation in June, Judge Joseph M. Houser, county court administrative and presiding judge, said a cost-benefit analysis is needed before making any such consolidation decision.

He also said any central facility would have to be in the county court’s suburban jurisdiction, not in Youngstown, Campbell or Struthers, which have municipal courts.

The commissioners renewed Boardman Court’s Boardman Plaza lease for two years beginning March 1, with the 2007 rent remaining at $6,375 a month, but with a 2 percent increase to $6,500 in 2008.

They renewed Sebring Court’s lease for five years beginning Monday, with the 2007 rent remaining at $5,621 a month, followed by a 2 percent increase in 2008.

County Administrator George Tablack explained the Boardman renewal was necessary because the county wouldn’t be able to relocate that court in the very near future.