Third party to hear judges

City-court complaint under further review

By DAVID SKOLNICK

CITY HALL REPORTER

YOUNGSTOWN — The Ohio Supreme Court decided mediation must be attempted before it considers a complaint filed by Youngstown’s three judges requiring the city’s administration and council to provide the court with “suitable accommodations.”

The Youngstown Municipal Court judges filed the complaint May 13 with the state’s highest court.

The Supreme Court referred the case to mediation Friday.

“We welcome the move towards mediation,” said Mayor Jay Williams. “We’ve expressed from the beginning that we wanted this to go to mediation. Unfortunately, the judges were insistent on filing a lawsuit.”

Elizabeth A. Kobly, Youngstown’s administrative and presiding judge, said she hopes mediation is successful, and the judges will go into the process with an “open mind.”

If an agreement is reached through mediation, the two sides file a petition with the Supreme Court to dismiss the case. If a settlement isn’t reached, the complaint heads back to the court’s docket.

The judges ordered Williams and city council on Jan. 26 to provide a new court facility of at least 34,000 square feet with various other requirements. The mayor and council didn’t comply with the order, so the judges filed the complaint with the Supreme Court.

Williams agrees the municipal court’s current condition needs to be improved, but the cash-strapped city cannot afford the estimated $8 million for a new facility.

“We want a third party to look at this objectively,” Williams said.

Mediation may help the judges “understand the economic restraints we operate in,” Williams said.

Judge Kobly said she wasn’t surprised or disappointed with the justices’ decision to have this issue go to mediation.

“Having a third party involved will hopefully help us,” she said. “Mediation can be very successful. I’m excited about it. I’m certainly optimistic.”

Mediation could take several months, she said.

In a Jan. 20 letter to the municipal court judges about a new court facility, Steven C. Hollon, the Supreme Court’s administrative director, brought up the suggestion of a “professional mediator” to help resolve the issue.

Also, Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer of the Supreme Court has offered to oversee a meeting to discuss the municipal court’s facility and Williams’ proposal to overhaul Mahoning County’s lower-court system.

A meeting date hasn’t been scheduled, but Williams said he recently spoke to a Supreme Court official about having it shortly.

Williams wants to consolidate the county’s seven lower courts — four county courts and municipal courts in Youngstown, Campbell and Struthers.

That consolidation may never happen, the mayor said, but he is optimistic he can get a state law passed to reduce the number of Youngstown Municipal Court judges to two.

Williams and other city administrators point to data that show Youngstown judges handle less than half as many new court filings as the state average.

The reduction of one judge would save at least $200,000 annually, city administrators say.

The judges say the court filing numbers aren’t an accurate portrayal of what they do.

The judges also say the administration is trying to deflect attention from the real issue of an inadequate court system with talk of eliminating one judicial position.

The judges say the problems at the court facility on the second floor of city hall at 26 Phelps St. include a lack of cleanliness, inadequate heating and air-conditioning systems, not enough seating, no public restrooms or telephones, no waiting room for witnesses, insufficient space and lacking in security.

skolnick@vindy.com