Youngstown council postpones vote again asking for elimination of city judgeship
YOUNGSTOWN — While the city administration and the municipal court judges spar over the need for three judges, city council postponing a vote today for a second time on a resolution urging the state Legislature to pass a law eliminating one of the judicial positions.
City council members expect to wait to vote until a meeting takes place between all parties involved in the debated to be overseen by Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer. As of today, the meeting hasn’t been scheduled.
“Council did a wise thing by waiting,” said Robert A. Douglas Jr., one of the municipal court’s three judges who attended today’s council meeting.
Speaking to council on behalf of the administration, Anthony J. Farris, the city’s deputy law director, said there aren’t enough cases for three judges.
Farris pointed to recent data submitted to the Ohio Supreme Court by municipal judges for 2008 that shows Youngstown judges handle less than half as many new court filings as the state average.
Youngstown’s caseload was 5,878 per judge compared to 12,948 for a typical municipal court judge in the state. Even if there were two judges, each would have handled 8,818 cases each, still well below the state average.
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