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Trumbull County: Study court consolidation
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Trumbull County commissioners have asked the Ohio Supreme Court to conduct a feasibility study of the proposed consolidation of the county’s Eastern District Court in Brookfield and Central District Court in Cortland.
Commissioners Frank Fuda and Paul Heltzel say they support the consolidation as long as the Supreme Court doesn’t find a problem with it.
Heltzel said the high court has expertise in this area, and its review could suggest that the driving distance for users of the court might become too great, for instance.
“We’re asking them to check it against their parameters,” Heltzel said.
Commissioners asked for the study in a Jan. 3 letter to Maureen O’Connor, chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court.
Fuda said Wednesday the three commissioners support the consolidation because of the savings that would result from having one full-time judge in Cortland instead of one part-time judge in Cortland and one part-time judge in Brookfield.
The current part-time judge in Cortland, Tom Campbell, a Republican, wrote to the Supreme Court on Jan. 18 to report that the Trumbull County Bar Association had supported the consolidation in a 36-8 vote.
He said in the letter he was still awaiting word from the county commissioners as to whether they supported the consolidation.
Judge Campbell would like to be the full-time judge if the consolidation takes place, he said.
Eastern District Court Judge Ronald Rice is expected to fill a vacant common pleas court seat early in 2012, leaving the Eastern District seat open.
Judge Campbell is in the second year of a six-year term. He has said it is unlikely the state Supreme Court will approve the consolidation without the support of the county commissioners and local bar association. The consolidation also would have to be approved by the Ohio Legislature.
Campbell said he has asked the county commissioners six times in the past three months to take a position on the consolidation.
“I have repeatedly informed them of the very limited time opportunity available to move this proposal forward, and of the obvious financial advantages it offers to Trumbull County,” Campbell wrote in his Jan. 18 letter to the Supreme Court.