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Muni court complaint settled and dismissed
YOUNGSTOWN
At the request of the Youngstown Municipal Court judges and city council, Ohio Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor has dismissed the municipal court’s 6-year-old complaint against council regarding provision of new municipal court facilities.
The dismissal request, filed in Columbus with the Ohio Supreme Court by Atty. John B. Juhasz on behalf of the municipal court judges and city Law Director Martin S. Hume on behalf of council, said the parties have achieved a settlement.
The chief justice dismissed the case Thursday.
“I was very pleased that the Supreme Court was able to provide mediation assistance through the work of a master commissioner to help the parties resolve the court facilities dispute amicably for the benefit of the parties and, ultimately, for the citizens of Youngstown,” the chief justice said Monday.
The municipal court judges filed their complaint at the state’s top court in May 2009, demanding an improved local court facility.
The judges, council and the city administration have agreed to a $7.1 million renovation of the City Hall Annex at 9 W. Front St. to accommodate the municipal court.
The court is to move from Youngstown City Hall at 26 S. Phelps St. to the annex after annex renovations are completed.
The municipal judges have long complained about cramped, unclean, unsafe and uncomfortable conditions the court endures on city hall’s second floor.
The municipal court lacks public restrooms and telephones and a waiting room for witnesses.
Security problems were accentuated by a July 2010 brawl in the court hallway between family members of a suspect and those of a murder victim.
The written agreement that settles the dispute generally describes the features that must be included in the new court facilities at the annex, including separate public and court staff restrooms, jury deliberation rooms and a holding area for prisoners.
It says the city is responsible for the cost of the new court facility, but the municipal court will help pay for it through court funds.
The court initially will pay $2.7 million of the $3 million it collected in special assessment fees for construction costs.
Additionally, it will pay 90 percent of what it receives in those funds annually Jan. 31 between 2017 and 2036 to offset the costs, and that amount is expected to total about $2 million.
The city intends to borrow money for the new court over a 20-year period.
“It just officially puts that litigation to bed,” Mayor John A. McNally said of the settlement.
“You had all three branches of government finally realizing that six years was enough time to get us back to the original starting point, which was to use the City Hall Annex,” the mayor said.
“It’s going to be done according to the specs that the judges have requested,” Hume said of the renovation.
Work toward the new court will begin with an annex roof replacement this fall, which is expected to cost about $280,000, and for which bids will be opened at noon Friday at the city finance department.
Built in 1932, the annex has served as a post office and federal court building and, more recently, as a city office building.
Interior renovation for the municipal court’s new location will begin next year.
“It’s going to be appreciably better than what they have right now,” said architect Paul J. Ricciutti, the city’s project manager.
“I’ve been wishing ever since 1981 that we would have an improved Youngstown Municipal Court,” said Hume, who has been a lawyer since that year. “The fact that we’re going to get one in about a year from now is very good news for our community.”
The top court tried unsuccessfully to resolve the dispute through mediation in April 2010 before returning the complaint to its docket and appointing a special master, Andrew J. Campbell, to handle the case.
The parties began working on a settlement after the special master conducted a March 2014 hearing.