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City-court issue precedes talks on county overhaul
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Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams
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Judge Elizabeth Kobly
Several of the judges don’t support a court consolidation.
YOUNGSTOWN — A meeting to be convened by the Ohio Supreme Court’s chief justice to discuss the possible overhaul of Mahoning County’s lower-court system is on hold.
The reason: the unresolved legal dispute between Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams and the city’s three municipal-court judges over court facilities.
In a letter to Williams, Steven C. Hollon, the Supreme Court’s administrative director, wrote: “After careful consideration, Chief Justice [Thomas J.] Moyer has concluded that it would be inappropriate for him to move forward with facilitating a discussion among the various parties with a stake in the resources and facilities of the Youngstown Municipal Court when most of those parties are named in the mandamus action now pending at the Supreme Court of Ohio.”
The chief justice’s decision didn’t come as a surprise to Williams or Elizabeth A. Kobly, administrative and presiding judge of Youngstown Municipal Court.
“There’s no other choice,” Judge Kobly said. “The chief can’t involve himself in a matter that’s in front of the court. It’s an absolute conflict of interest. The mayor put the chief in a position where he can’t intervene. It was just a matter of time before we got this letter.”
A July 28 mediation session lasted about 10 hours. A second mediation is expected to be later this month or September.
Neither side is permitted to discuss the mediation process while it is ongoing.
“When the issues [with the Youngstown courts] are resolved, there will still be a basis by which to pursue consolidation” of the county’s lower-court system, Williams said. “Then the Supreme Court could get involved in the larger issues.”
The Youngstown judges filed a complaint May 13 with the Supreme Court to compel the city administration and council to provide the court with “suitable accommodations.” The justices referred the matter to mediation June 26.
The administration and council agree that improvements need to be made to the court, located on the 2nd floor of city hall at 26 S. Phelps St. But they say the city cannot afford the cost of a new facility, estimated at $8 million to $10 million.
In an April 14 letter to the chief justice, Williams wrote asking him to lead a judicial summit to eliminate one of the city’s three municipal-court judges and to develop a plan for a “metropolitan court system” in the county.
Such a system has been discussed with no results for several years. There is one judge in each of the four county courts — Austintown, Boardman, Canfield and Sebring — as well as the municipal courts in Struthers and Campbell and three judges in Youngstown.
Several of those judges don’t support a court consolidation.
Justice Moyer generally has supported consolidations of lower-court systems in counties.
skolnick@vindy.com