Regional Chamber endorses cuts for courts

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Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams

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Regional Chamber President Thomas Humphries

The chamber’s vote for a smaller municipal court leaves one city judge almost speechless.

By David Skolnick

YOUNGSTOWN — “Extremely significant” is how Mayor Jay Williams describes a Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber board of directors’ vote in favor of a plan to consolidate Mahoning County’s lower court system and to eliminate one of Youngstown Municipal Court’s three judges.

“The private sector, the business community, understands the economic struggles we face better than anyone,” Williams said. “This vote shouldn’t be ignored.”

Elizabeth A. Kobly, Youngstown Municipal Court’s administrative and presiding judge, is significantly less impressed by the vote.

“I don’t even know what to say,” Judge Kobly said. “I don’t know their criteria or their agenda or what they do or who they are. I don’t know if they’ve been to our court to see what we do.”

The chamber polled the 25 members of its government affairs council by e-mail asking if they support the reduction of one of Youngstown’s three judges and the development of a county metropolitan court system that would consolidate courts, said Matthew Blair, a Niles attorney who heads the council and serves on the chamber’s board of directors.

Because he doesn’t live in Mahoning County, Blair didn’t vote on this issue.

Only one person on the government affairs council voted against the resolution, and no one on the board of directors voted against it, said Tom Humphries, the chamber’s president and chief executive officer. He declined to say who voted no on the council.

There were some members of the council and the board, such as Blair, who opted not to vote.

The chamber’s board consists of a number of prominent local business officials including: Robert Shroder, president and chief executive officer for Humility of Mary Health Partners; Anthony Cafaro Jr., vice president of the Cafaro Co.; Walter Pishkur, Forum Health’s president and chief executive officer; Michael Broderick, CEO of Turning Technologies; John Donahoe, manager of the Lordstown General Motors complex, and regional presidents of four local banks.

“The Regional Chamber board generally supports consolidation or sharing of services that result in more efficient and effective government,” Humphries said. “We believe that in the midst of declining population and significantly reduced government revenues in the Mahoning Valley this would be a good time to pursue court consolidation in Mahoning County.”

The votes were cast without talking to any of the Youngstown judges.

“The committee was looking to cut costs,” Blair said. “By reducing the number of judges from three to two reduces costs. Reducing costs would be positive, given our economic climate.”

Wednesday’s announcement by the chamber comes a few months after Williams publicly announced he wanted the state Legislature to pass a bill reducing the number of municipal court judges from three to two.

Williams also wrote Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer of the Ohio Supreme Court on April 14 about consolidating the county’s seven lower courts — four county and three Youngstown Municipal Court judges.

The chief justice offered May 5 to oversee a meeting to discuss this issue. But no meeting has been scheduled.

Lower court judges in Mahoning County have previously said court consolidation wouldn’t save money and doesn’t best serve the people.

skolnick@vindy.com