Supporters, however, believe mayor’s courts are becoming better because of training for mayors and magistrates and because of oversight by the Ohio Supreme Court.
Clark County has six mayor-run or magistrate-led courts: Catawba, Donnelsville, Enon, North Hampton, South Charleston and Tremont City.
Of those, two — Donnelsville and Catawba — have a true mayor’s court while the others hire lawyers, called magistrates, to serve in their place.
A municipality with a population of 100 or more may establish a mayor’s court in which the mayor acts as judge. They can hear traffic cases and other violations of state and municipal laws with certain limits.
The state has 320 mayor’s courts, according to the 2010 Mayor’s Court summary provided by the Ohio Supreme Court. A mayor need not be a lawyer, but may appoint a magistrate.
The money collected by the mayor’s court goes into the village’s general fund, and can be used for village needs, like police staffing and road work.
“It’s not tracked from there,” said Enon village administrator Kristy Thome. “It could be used for anything.”
Local leaders believe the courts keep residents from having to make a trip to the Springfield Municipal Court and allow the mayors or magistrates to spend more time on cases. They also believe the money should stay in their municipality.
Generating revenue doesn’t mean they’re breaking even, some said.
“It’s a losing proposition, and it has been since I’ve been mayor,” said Donnelsville mayor Bob Cornwell.
While there have been efforts over the years to abolish mayor’s courts around the state, they’re still going strong — and will for the foreseeable future.
“Mayor’s courts are the law in Ohio, and the reality is that there does not exist a majority consensus among policy makers to eliminate mayor’s courts altogether,” Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Conner said in a statement. “We have made some progress in improving their functioning and accountability in recent years through the enactment of the reporting requirements to the Supreme Court of Ohio. As with any function of government, we can always do better. I believe that where we should focus our energies is on examining mayor’s courts, how they function and where they can be improved.”
Some municipalities’ mayor’s courts make more money than others.
Since 2007, North Hampton’s magistrate court has made $759,856 for its village, almost double what those of bigger villages like South Charleston and Enon made combined.
In 2011, the court generated $135,697 in revenue for the village’s general fund, making up over 60 percent of North Hampton’s $213,865 general fund.
That’s more than the total of the mayor and magistrate courts in Enon, South Charleston, Catawba and Donnelsville.
Throughout Clark County, village leaders said that without police departments, safety would become an issue, both with crime and traffic in the village. According to North Hampton Mayor Emory Harrod, a lifelong resident of the village, the mayor’s court is vital to help keep its police department running.
“If we’re going to have police department, it’s going to have to be available,” Harrod said.
Even with the large amount of revenue generated by the magistrate court in North Hampton, the village operated at a loss last year; the village spent $183,909 on its police department and found itself $9,711 in the red.
Without a police department, Harrod said, they’d have to wait for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office to respond to calls in the village. He believes the police department is essential in keeping the village safe.
“They pick up a lot of drunk drivers, keep drugs off the street and keep guns off the street,” Harrod said.
According to the 2010 Mayor’s Court Summary, produced each year by the Ohio Supreme Court, North Hampton ranked first in the county in overall caseloads with 1,250, followed by Tremont City (615), Enon (520), South Charleston (320), Catawba (88) and Donnelsville (40).
Harrod said he’s worked for years to shed the “speed trap” image in North Hampton.
“If you’re not speeding, you don’t get stopped and get a ticket,” Harrod said, “and it’s not the only thing we do.”
Helping citizens
Local leaders believe the mayor’s courts are a service to citizens.
Enon began its court in 1999 as a way to keep residents from having to take a day off work to go to downtown Springfield. Officials discovered the court saw more people from out of town than village residents.
Village leaders believe if an incident happens in their village, the money should stay in the community. “If the incident occurs in Enon, why shouldn’t Enon benefit from it,” Thome said. “Why should Springfield or Clark County benefit from it?”
Recently, North Olmsted, a city of more than 30,000 in Cuyahoga County, announced it would create a mayor’s court beginning in 2013 that would generate more than $250,000 per year. The city now falls under the jurisdiction of nearby Rocky River, but officials are aiming to keep the money local for about 7,500 traffic citations and misdemeanors that officers write each year.
Thome said Enon doesn’t see the court as a money maker. The court generated $54,444 in 2011, while the village’s general fund was over $1.1 million, thanks to carryover and grant money awarded to the village for a paving project. In 2010, the court generated 14 percent of the village’s general fund of $414,404.
The police department in Enon is also funded through a police levy.
“(The court) does bring in money, but that’s not what we’re here for,” Thome said. “We’re not hammering anybody.”
The courts are required to give part of their revenue to the state of Ohio. Over the last five years, the state has collected more than $290,000 from the county’s three biggest mayor’s courts — North Hampton, Enon and South Charleston.
For example, North Hampton collected $175,929 from the magistrate court in 2011; however, $38,045 of that was remitted to the state, which supports law enforcement funds such as the drug law enforcement fund, indigent drivers alcohol treatment fund and indigent defense support fund.
How it works
Mayor’s court is held once or twice a month around the area, typically in the evenings.
Donnelsville’s Cornwell and Catawba Mayor Mark Skiba both preside over the courts in their villages, while magistrates handle the other four courts. Stephen Hume, a London resident, serves as magistrate in both Enon and South Charleston. Springfield attorney James Griffin serves as the magistrate in North Hampton, while another Springfield attorney, Al Stewart, serves as the magistrate in Tremont City.
Area magistrates said the mayor’s court format is more personable and allows them to spend more time on cases that municipal judges may not have with higher caseloads.
“It allows us to look at the individual cases that come in front of me a little bit deeper,” Hume said.
Municipal officials also believe most people’s views on mayor’s courts are changed once they sit down with the magistrate. Hume said it’s understandable for people in a small town to have a negative view of the court.
“If they have a distrust of the police officer, the mere fact that you call it a mayor’s court puts a distrust of the court system in a small community,” Hume said.
On Monday, Lauren Morrow, 20, of South Charleston, went to the court in her hometown for the first time for a speeding ticket. She said the judge was fair and she felt comfortable with the setting.
“It was very precise and very clear,” Morrow said. “I was definitely nervous, but the (magistrate) was very understanding.”
Daniel Ward, 18, of South Charleston, also went to the mayor’s court for the first time Monday. He said his experience was better than a previous experience at the Springfield municipal court.
“I’ve been there before and it took way too long,” Ward said. “It wasn’t too crowded (in South Charleston).”
Mayor’s courts are also non-recorded, meaning if a citizen wants a new trial at a different court, he can get one at the municipal court.
“Anything I say or do, it’s ignored,” Griffin said. “You get to start all over again.”
Griffin said the court in North Hampton sees 20 to 25 people every two weeks, but said just as many people pay the fine to not come to court.
Cornwell, who has served the court in Donnelsville since 2007 and is in his second term as mayor, said he sees his job as more of a mediator than judge. “It’s a matter of sitting down and talking with the people and working it out,” Cornwell said.
Better training
Mark Skiba understands a thing or two about how mayor’s courts work — and how problematic they can be in some circumstances.
Skiba lived just outside the limits of New Rome before moving to Catawba in 2005. The 60-resident New Rome was said to have a speed trap near West Broad Street, pulling over thousands of motorists and raising nearly $400,000 from speeding tickets and other offenses such as improperly tinted windows. In 2003, after a bill was signed disbanding mayor’s courts in cities with fewer than 100 people, the village ceased to exist due to a loss of funding through the court.
“That’s what gave mayor’s courts a bad name,” Skiba said.
When he became mayor of Catawba on Jan. 1, Skiba admitted to being a bit nervous to serve as a judge.
“I wasn’t sure what it was really like,” Skiba said.
He spent time with Catawba’s former mayor, Bud Addis, during court sessions to get a feel for handling simple traffic cases in the village. Skiba said there is no need for a magistrate because only traffic citations are being handled.
“That’s all I do,” Skiba said. “Anything that’s more complicated, we send it to Clark County municipal court.”
In the early 1990s, Ohio began training programs for mayors and magistrates who preside over mayor’s courts. The Ohio Municipal League operates the annual training, which consists of six hours for a first-time mayor or magistrate and three hours of continued education each year.
In 2004, the Ohio Supreme Court began recording the number of cases in mayor’s courts each year. The courts register annually and file statistics quarterly to the Ohio Supreme Court.
Ken Brown, director of public and media relations for the Ohio State Bar Association, said the organization was against mayor’s courts for a time, but he believes the training and quarterly reporting are a step in the right direction.
“The training component and the oversight by the court seem to be handling some of those issues,” Brown said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0366 or Michael.Cooper@coxinc.com.
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