Proponents testify in favor of court consolidation bill
May 9—The Ohio House of Representatives' Civil Justice Committee heard testimony from proponents of the consolidation of the Eastern and Western county courts on Tuesday.
Judges Harold Specht, of Eastern County Court, and Casey O'Brien, of Western County Court, both spoke in favor of the bill, along with Ashtabula County Commissioner Casey Kozlowski. Conneaut Municipal Court Judge Nicholas Iarocci, who was unable to attend, submitted a letter in support of the bill.
In addition to combining the Eastern and Western county courts, the bill would expand the jurisdiction of the Conneaut Municipal Court to include Kingsville, Sheffield and Monroe townships and the village of North Kingsville starting on Jan. 1 of 2025.
The bill would also have the part-time judge to be elected in 2028 a two-year term, from Jan. 1, 2029 to Dec. 31, 2030. After that point, a full-time judge will take over the county misdemeanor court.
Specht said the bill would cut costs and manpower by eliminating the need to transport prisoners to Western County Court for appearances.
"The legislation is the culmination of the work and planning by the sitting county court judges, the Conneaut Municipal Court judge, and the Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners, and the Ohio Supreme Court," he said.
Specht said all of the involved judges support the bill, and the Ohio Supreme Court highly recommends moving forward.
O'Brien testified that caseloads have declined recently, and the need for two local courts and two venues has been offset by the benefits of combining the courts.
"While many of the local citizenry, staff and public officials would rather not see the change that moves the Ashtabula Western County Court out of its present location, many feel the time has come for the combination to occur," he said. "It will be up to the Ashtabula County Commissioners to determine where the new court will be physically located."
Kozlowski testified he has spearheaded the effort to combine the courts.
"It's estimated through our county administrator that we would yield annual savings of about $250,000," he said.
He cited the conclusion of a report from the Ohio Supreme Court, which was supportive of the changes included in the legislation.
In his written testimony to the committee, Iarocci said the change to his court's jurisdiction would make it similar in make-up to the Ashtabula Municipal Court, which oversees Saybrook, Ashtabula and Plymouth townships.
"Regionalization is absolutely necessary for the effective and fair administration of justice in Ashtabula County, the most expansive county in Ohio," Iarocci said in the letter.
On Wednesday, Kozlowski said he believes the hearing went well.
"I think, at the end of the day, the legislation is pretty cut and dry, and it just makes sense," he said.
Kozlowski said he hopes the bill is voted out of the committee at some point after a hearing next week.
"If there's any opportunity to move that bill in the house or senate, we're going to kind of work [those] angles now, and see if we can get this done by the end of the year," he said.
Kozlowski said everything is coming together as well as it could be for the bill.
