Dunkirk to consider abolishing city court

DUNKIRK — City officials will consider abolishing Dunkirk City Court after its judge resigned in the wake of criminal charges against him.

Dunkirk city attorney Wes Schemenaur suggested council think about eliminating the court, as finding a new judge with a law degree who lives in the city could prove difficult.

At Monday night’s meeting, city council also approved a new insurance policy, decided to purchase two new computers for city departments and discussed a downtown demolition project that will leave city hall closed for two days.

Schemenaur explained that a 2015 state law established the requirement that all new city judges be licensed attorneys. The law grandfathered in judges that were already sitting who didn’t have a law degree. That was the case with former judge Tommy D. “Chip” Phillips, who resigned April 28 after pleading guilty to a battery charge stemming from an Aug. 16 incident at Dunkirk Police Department.

Because of the new provision, Dunkirk City Court will now have to have an attorney living in the city serve as its judge. Schemenaur said the new law led to city courts around the state being closed down, and cited examples of counties with no city courts at all like Blackford and Wells counties.

“It’s definitely a dying institution, city and town courts,” said Schemenaur.

Mayor Gene Ritter said he’d like to try to fill the position, to avoid forcing citizens to make a longer drive to pay or challenge their tickets.

“It’d be nice for the citizens, that way they don’t have to drive all the way over to Portland to deal with an infraction,” Ritter said.

Council decided to table the decision, and will see if any Dunkirk residents are interested in the vacant judge seat.

A new insurance policy was approved by council after a brief discussion about the possible need for adding a cyber liability policy.

Council members decided to table the cyber liability policy and consult with an information technology expert on the security of the city’s computers, and voted to approve the rest of the one year policy from Barnum Brown Insurance at a cost of $70,537.

Council also passed a pair of proposals to purchase new computers for the city’s fire and water departments. Council member Bryan Jessup showed council a Dell computer that is on sale for $899.99 at Staples, and suggested it would be a good model for the price to purchase for the two departments. A power surge at the city water department left the current computer inoperable.

Councilman Jack Robbins also briefed council on the expected demolition of the building that formerly housed Second Chance Bar. Rock Fuqua is planning to tear the building down, but power lines that connect to city hall are too close to the structure to be left up during demolition. Council members Tom Johnson, Jesse Bivens, Lisa Street, Robbins and Jessup were informed that the work is expected to start on May 18, and will force city hall to be closed for two days.

In other business, council:

•Heard an update on pool work from Johnson, who said concrete work will begin this week and is expected to be complete in three weeks. Johnson also said the pool is still seeking employees for the summer.

•Addressed a complaint from Amendi Willoughby about difficulty helping her husband, who has health problems, into their home without parking her car on the side of the street that forbids parking. Council said it will work to find a solution.

•Approved $340 to sponsor a hole and field a team at the Kiwanis Golf Tournament in Portland on Sept. 9.

•Voted to pay $623.60 to U.S. Aggregates for three loads of stone used in alley maintenance and $1,552 for Randy Turner to seal asphalt cracks and repaint parking space lines at the fire department.