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Officials consider combining Trumbull district courts
By Ed Runyan
The Trumbull County commissioners likely are to vote soon on whether to consolidate Eastern District Court in Brookfield with the Central District Court in Cortland after Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor of the Ohio Supreme Court endorsed the idea.
“I am pleased to express my support for the proposal and offer our assistance in obtaining favorable legislative consideration,” Justice O’Connor wrote in a letter received by commissioners Monday.
O’Connor cited the results of a feasibility study in making her recommendation, saying she not only supported combining those two courts but also the idea of reducing judgeships in the future among the county’s four municipal courts in Warren, Niles, Newton Falls and Girard.
The study showed the two area courts and three of the four municipal courts in Trumbull County handled fewer cases than the Ohio median in 2010. The exception is Newton Falls Municipal Court, which was just above median.
The Eastern District and Central District courts had case loads well below the median, the study said.
The area courts are served by part-time judges — Thomas Campbell in Cortland and Ronald Rice in Brookfield, who is running unopposed to take over for Judge John M. Stuard of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in early 2013.
Judge Campbell has been pushing for consolidation of the part-time Eastern and Central courts into one court in Cortland and has said he would like to be the new full-time judge for both.
Combined, Eastern and Central courts handled 4,450 cases in 2010, which is less than half of the median number of 9,592 for municipal and area courts statewide, the Supreme Court said.
Girard Municipal Court handled 8,053, Newton Falls handled 9,898, Niles handled 5,130, and Warren handled 7,812 per judge. Area courts and municipal courts are similar.
Justice O’Connor noted that Trumbull County’s population dropped 6.6 percent between 2000 and 2010, and forecasts call for continued reductions in the next decade.
Judges Campbell and Rice currently earn about $65,000 each, according to the Supreme Court website. If Judge Rice becomes common pleas judge he will earn about $121,000. If Judge Campbell becomes full-time county court judge, he would earn about $114,000.
The consolidation would reduce the amount the county pays for judge salaries by $10,000, the Supreme Court said.
Campbell estimates the move would save the county $150,000 annually by reducing the number of buildings from two to one, reducing utility bills and reducing salary and benefits.
The Supreme Court said in order for the consolidation to be done according to the Ohio Constitution, one of the courts would need to be abolished Dec. 31, 2012, with Judge Campbell becoming full time through Dec. 31, 2017.
The position would be up for election in November 2017 and take office Jan. 1, 2018.
Frank Fuda, Trumbull County commissioner, has said in the past that he and his colleagues would support the consolidation of Eastern and Central courts as long as the Supreme Court doesn’t object.
Fuda said Thursday the commissioners “will probably vote on this,” but he declined to estimate when.
The Ohio House and Senate must both approve legislation to allow the consolidation to happen. Generally, the Legislature approves such a move as long as the Supreme Court supports it.
All that is needed now is for the county commissioners to put their support in writing, Judge Campbell said in a letter he hand- delivered to the commissioners Wednesday.
“There should now be no further reason for the Trumbull County commissioners to resist formally endorsing this proposal,” Campbell said in the letter, adding that the supreme court has informed him that its comments regarding other consolidations “were not intended as alternatives” to the Eastern and Central consolidation.
Atty. Randil J. Rudloff of Cortland filed recently to be a candidate in November to fill Judge Rice’s seat at Eastern District Court. The deadline to file is in August.