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Mahoning needs more full-time judges, study urges
YOUNGSTOWN
Mahoning County needs full-time judges in its lower courts, according to a preliminary draft report from the organization that is performing a lower-court-consolidation study for the county bar association.
“The professionalization of the judiciary in Mahoning County dictates full-time judges who work full time, if not today, then tomorrow,” the National Center for State Courts said in its Mahoning County Court Consolidation Study Framework Report.
The study’s purpose “is to provide an objective analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of consolidating the limited-jurisdiction courts in Mahoning County,” according to NCSC’s draft report.
Without elaborating, the report also cited “real or perceived problems of conflicts of interest of individuals who are judges one day and attorneys on another day.”
NCSC is a Williamsburg, Va.-based independent, nonprofit court-improvement organization, whose researchers will be here between Jan. 24 and 28 to collect information.
“I don’t think it [report] dictates full-time judges. I believe the judges that are part-time judges now are all very professional,” said Judge James R. Lanzo of Struthers Municipal Court. He became a judge in 1994.
“If you look at the judges we have in Mahoning County, they’re highly professional, and I would not know of any incident” of unprofessional conduct, said Judge Scott Hunter of the area court in Canfield.
“We run very effective, very efficient courts that handle a significant caseload,” he said of the area courts. Many Ohio counties have part-time judges and achieve salary-cost savings by doing so, he added.
Judge Hunter said he is disappointed that NCSC already has announced some conclusions in its draft report before completing its study.
Judge Lanzo said he believes the workload in the four Mahoning County area courts, which collectively handled almost 31,000 cases in 2009, justifies four full-time judges. He also said a full-time judge likely would be justified to serve Campbell and Struthers courts if those two municipal courts are combined.
The study will examine the feasibility of consolidating 11 lower courts in Mahoning County, namely the municipal courts in Youngstown, Campbell and Struthers; the area courts in Boardman, Canfield, Austintown and Sebring; and the mayor’s courts in Poland, New Middletown, Lowellville and Canfield.
The four area courts and Campbell and Struthers municipal courts each have one part-time judge. Youngstown Municipal Court has three full-time judges.
“At this early stage, NCSC believes and recommends that the Mahoning Bar Association should support at least a limited and tentative consolidation of administration, governance and processes upon which enhancements are built over time,” the center said in its draft report.
The center said, however, full court consolidation “if it can be achieved at all, will take many years.”
Judge Lanzo said it would be a good idea for all the county’s courts to share a common computer system.
Atty. Scott Cochran, immediate past president of the county bar association, agreed that such a system, which would be linked to the Internet, could save time and money and avoid lawyer-scheduling conflicts. Installation of such a system could be accomplished without closing any court locations, he noted.
Judge Hunter said the area court spent $1.2 million from its court-cost collections toward establishment of the county’s Courtview computer system for the common pleas and area courts, which is available on the Internet.
“The county court judges will be cooperating with the study to the fullest extent possible,” Judge Hunter said.
The NCSC study, which began in October and is scheduled to end in May, is being headed by Ingo Keilitz, the center’s principal court research consultant. Assisting him will be NCSC senior staff members Chang Ming Yeh and Nail Raaen.
The court-consolidation study is funded by a $50,000 grant from the State Justice Institute, $15,000 in staff time donated by NCSC, and $5,000 in local money donated by bar association members.
“We want the best answer by somebody who’s not got a stake in this,” Cochran said, explaining why he wanted the independent national center to perform the study.
Based in Alexandria, Va., the State Justice Institute was established in 1984 by federal law to award grants to improve the quality of justice in state courts.