Tickets increase

Portland Police Department dealt more than double the amount of traffic tickets last year than it did in 2018.

Police Chief Nathan Springer attributes the jump to several officers who were recruited in 2018 getting a better handle on their job in 2019. Overall, the number jumped from 311 to 670 from year to year.

Portland City Court Judge Donald Gillespie detailed the number of traffic tickets and more in his annual report to Portland City Council at its meeting Monday.
Council also heard an update from Mayor John Boggs on two parcels of land in the city which are in the process of being sold, something that was stalled last year because “nobody (from the city) executed,” he said.

Overall Gillespie had 1,634 cases filed to his court 2019, an increase from 1,342 in 2018, though that number may be decreasing this year since he announced that he will stop hearing misdemeanors. He decided that was a process best left up to the county courts amid his effort to reshape how the dwindling amount of city courts in the state will operate in the future.

“I think Portland City Court has its purpose here in the city,” Gillespie said to the council before reporting that five city and town courts closed last year.
Such courts, including Dunkirk City Court in 2017, have shut down over the last few years following 2015 state legislation requiring that judges be licensed attorneys. (Sitting judges were grandfathered in.)

There are 47 city courts and 28 town towns in Indiana, according to the state. Of those only three hear misdemeanors.

Gillespie said hearing misdemeanors could be a waste of resources if the cases are appealed.

Since city and town courts are not a court of record, those cases would have to be reheard at the county level if appealed, restarting the process.

Gillespie, who serves as vice president for Indiana Association of City and Town Court Judges, said he has never had a misdemeanor ruling appealed, but he wanted to lead by example so the other two city judges who still hear misdemeanors in Indiana would consider phasing it out as well.

Overall Gillespie heard 140 misdemeanors in 2019, which accounts for about 8.5% of the total cases in his court.

The move is supported by county judges Max Ludy (superior court) and Brian Hutchison (circuit court), who will now hear all of the misdemeanors filed in Jay County, and the prosecutor's office, Gillespie said. He also told the council that he’ll be traveling to Indianapolis to meet with Rep. Anthony Cook, R-Cicero, a Portland native who serves on the House Judiciary Committee, to discuss the future of city courts.

In other business council members Mike Aker, Michele Brewster, Dave Golden, Matt Goldsworthy, Don Gillespie, Kent McClung and Janet Powers:

•Were told by Boggs that city-owned buildings on Bridge Street (the Sheller-Globe south building) and Seventh Street are being assessed to make sure their lots can be sold, which was approved at Portland’s Board of Works meeting Friday.

The assessment will cost $5,500, something that could be reimbursed in part by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Boggs said. “It’s really on our shoulders to get this done as quickly as we can,” he said, adding that promises were made last year to get the assessment done but it never was.

•Heard that email accounts had been set up for each council member so they can communicate with one another and receive weekly reports from the city’s department heads.

•Amended the payroll ordinance for 2020 to account for the mayor's assistant, a position that was made full-time at the city’s last council meeting.

•Received an update from Boggs about data he was sent by Aim, the organization formerly known as the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, about employment wages and benefits of cities of similar size in 2019. Council requested at its last meeting to have an external analysis done in order to help with its budget process.

Boggs, who received a $42,000 quote from the same organization that conducted a similar analysis of Jay County’s employees, said he’ll request additional information from Aim dating back to 2015. He said he is unsure if those numbers could satisfy what the council was looking for so the city wouldn’t have to pay for an analysis.

•Heard an update from John Moore, treasurer of Jay County Trails Club, about the five-year park plan which expires at the end of 2021.