Madison County District Court relied on a single court clerk for eight months after the Huntsville mayor prohibited two additional clerks from working for the court as part of a dispute over its funding, which is shared by the city and county.
The long absence of two deputy clerks caused a backlog of cases and for hundreds of cases to be continued because the single clerk couldn’t accept payments from defendants or set up payment plans for them to pay fines.
One deputy clerk is back full time and the second isback part time after Madison County District Judge Dale Ramsey ordered them to return to work in early January, saying the reduced staffing created an emergency situation. Ramsey took office Jan. 1, replacing former District Judge Orville Clift.
The backlog of cases will take months to resolve, said Michelle Bohannan, chief court clerk, who was the only full-time clerk for the court during that time period. Ramsey signed the order on Jan. 8, and the clerks returned to the court Jan. 10, Bohannan said.
The judge’s action stems from a year-long dispute between Huntsville and Madison County over the funding of county dispatch services and the Madison County District Court. The city stopped paying the county for dispatch services, and the county responded by reducing its contributions to the district court.
In May, city off icials reacted by removing two deputy clerks from the court, though one of those clerk was allowed to assist part time with civil cases and small claims cases. As city employees, the deputy clerks were assigned to other duties. During the eight months, the court couldn’t accept payments or set up payment plans fordefendants’ fines and court costs, Bohannan said. If defendants had outstanding fines, the judge would set another court date, leaving hundreds of cases unresolved, she said.
The court continued 500 cases and another 600 are awaiting trial. Trials were set for five and six months after arraignment, instead of in the two- to three-month time frame when the court had three clerks, Bohannan said.
The Madison County District Court handles mostly misdemeanor and traffic cases, primarily occurring in the county and Huntsville.
“We’re quite a ways behind,” Bohannan said. “We did get a lot of complaints. Most of it wasn’t very nice. It’s upsetting. We want our court to be recognized as a very good court.”
Ramsey’s order noted problems created by the reduced staffing, including the court’s inability to enter violations into a state driver’s license database for more than six months. The court was unable to do bond letters or issue warrants whendefendants did not appear in court, the order states.
Monthly collections through the district court were reduced in half, resulting in lost or deferred revenue for the state, Madison County, city of Huntsville and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, the order states.
In the order, Ramsey said the state constitution gives the court the power to take action if one of the other three branches of government “fails to fund a court.” This is the only order Ramsey has issued since taking office Jan. 1, and he wanted to take action on the issue as soon as possible, he said. Huntsville Mayor Kevin Hatfield said the city complied with Ramsey’s order and the court is back to full operation. The city continues to pay a disproportionate amount of tax dollars for a court that serves the entirecounty, he said.
“Do I agree with the order? The answer is No,” Hatfield said. “I don’t think a judge has the right to order employees paid by the city to work. I also agree the court’s in trouble. It’s behind. I think the city made its case that the funding of the court was justly unfair.”
Ramsey said the law is ambiguous concerning the funding of the district court, but the problem is one for the Legislature to solve.
The City Council will decide Tuesday whether to continue to obey the order or whether to appeal to the Circuit Court, Hatfield said. The temporary reassignment of two clerks brought the issue to the public’s attention, but the issue did not result in a public outcry, he said.
Hatfield will recommend the council obey the order.
“I think we’ve exhausted every avenue,” Hatfield said. “We’ve got to get the court back in operation. Let’s move on.”
If the council follows with the mayor’s recommendation, no further action will be taken, Hatfield said.
In 2011, the city and county evenly split the district court costs, each paying about $78,000.
As a result of the dispute, Madison County Judge Frank Weaver reduced the amount the county paid toward court operations to what the law requires, half of the judge’s salary and half of the chief clerk’s salary. That amounted to $28,761.75 in 2012, County Clerk Faron Ledbetter said.
During 2012, the city paid half the cost of the judge’s salary and benefits, half the cost of the chief clerk’s salary and benefits, as well as day-to-day costs of operating the court, including the utilities and office equipment and supplies, Hatfield said. The city budgeted $130,279.88 for those costs in 2012.
The city also no longer pays about $35,000 annually to the county for dispatch services.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 01/26/2013