City council again postpones vote on eliminating judge

By David Skolnick

A new report shows Youngstown judges’ caseloads are less than half of the statewide average.

YOUNGSTOWN — While the city administration and the municipal court judges spar over the need for three judges, city council postponed a vote 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 between all parties involved in the debate to be overseen by Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer. As of Wednesday, the meeting hasn’t been scheduled.

Council didn’t vote Wednesday on the resolution sponsored by Mayor Jay Williams just as they didn’t on June 3.

“Council did a wise thing by waiting,” said Robert A. Douglas Jr., one of the municipal court’s three judges who attended the council meeting.

A vote by council in favor of the resolution is essentially meaningless.

State Rep. Robert F. Hagan of Youngstown, D-60th, is waiting to introduce legislation seeking to reduce the judges from three to two, but both he and Williams support the reduction.

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.

“There are too many judges in Youngstown Municipal Court,” said Farris, who unsuccessfully ran against Judge Douglas for one of those seats in 2001.

The statistics were released last week by the Supreme Court. The 2007 report showed Youngstown at 6,872 per judge compared to the statewide average of 12,446.

Farris added the court also has too many employees — 64 — and the judges show no interest in saving money or being more efficient.

After the meeting, Judge Douglas said the numbers are a “distortion.”

If the city had more than one magistrate, the cases would be handled as fast as other courts with more magistrates, he said.

Also, “I believe there needs to be more thorough, objective and comprehensive information for council from the judges, the Supreme Court and the public before a vote is taken” on reducing judges, Judge Douglas said.

Eliminating one judge would save the city about $200,000 annually, Farris said.

Williams complained the judges want to increase staff while the city is looking to cut jobs, possibly through layoffs, because of its financial situation.

“There is no correlation between having more judges and less crime,” he said.

Also, council appointed former Councilman Rufus D. Hudson as its representative to Meander Water, which sells water in bulk to the city. The city then resells the water to its residents and to those in surrounding communities.

The job pays up to $2,400 a year — $200 a meeting with a maximum of being paid for 12 meetings annually.

Council also voted to eliminate a full-time assistant secretary job in the law department that paid $32,679 a year and create a part-time job doing the same work on a part-time basis at $26,143 annually.

Williams noted The Vindicator published a front-page article Wednesday about the city seeking to hire a “pretreatment administrative assistant” for its wastewater treatment plant with an advertised price of $50,827 annually.

Williams said the person hired for the job would probably be paid less than the advertised salary.

The city is considering layoffs to balance its general-fund budget while seeking to fill a job required under a court agreement it reached in 2002 with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The law department job going from full time to part time would save $8,536 a year in base pay. That figure is significantly less than the annual salary of the pretreatment administrative assistant even at a reduced pay level, city officials said.

skolnick@vindy.com