Courts in question

Donald Gillespie and Chip Phillips are running unopposed in Tuesday’s election for city court judge positions in Portland and Dunkirk respectively.
But, because of a change made this year to Indiana Code, if in the future Gillespie or Phillips choose to not to run for re-election, another mortgage loan officer or teacher couldn’t enter the race to take their place. Nor could a farmer, construction worker or business owner, unless he or she is also an attorney.
Indiana House Bill 1110, approved by the legislature in late April and signed by Gov. Mike Pence a week later, made a handful of changes to Indiana Code regarding courts, one of which is that now “a person selected as judge of a city or town court must be an attorney in good standing admitted to the practice of law in Indiana.”
The changes grandfather in all sitting judges, allowing them to continue to run for re-election as many times as they desire. But any other candidate would fall under the new guidelines.
That’s a cause for concern for many of the 75 city and town court judges, including Gillespie.
The issue is that under the new rules, the candidate pool for judges in small cities and towns becomes extremely small. And if no candidate runs for those positions, the courts would likely cease to exist.
“The concern is going to be the closing of city and town courts,” Gillespie said. “That’s my concern … (for) the smaller communities especially where the pay is not going to move an attorney into those positions and those cases would be moved into superior court.”
Pay for city court judges ranges from less than $10,000 in Dunkirk and about $14,000 per year in Portland to more than $100,000 in larger cities like Carmel.
“Honestly, once those two people give up those positions, I don’t think you’re going to get a local attorney who is going to do city court,” said Jay Superior Court Judge Max Ludy of Gillespie and Phillips.
If that were to happen, Jay Superior Court would become responsible for about 1,700 more cases each year.
That would require changes in the county courthouse, likely with the creation of a violations bureau in the clerk’s office. The extra work involved would probably require one or two more full-time positions, Ludy said.
While previously city and town court judges did not have to be attorneys, there was training. All such judges are required to obtain 36 hours of continuing education courses every three years.
A majority of the cases heard in city court involve traffic and ordinance violations. Gillespie also handles about 125 to 150 lower level misdemeanors such as public intoxication and disorderly conduct, which are likely to involve fines and informal probation rather than jail time.
“Most cases that come before me are cases that the common person can make a decision on. There’s not a lot of legalese back and forth,” said Gillespie. “If it becomes back and forth and I don’t feel that I can do the case, I dismiss myself and send it up to Max (Ludy).”
The benefit of having a city court to handle such issues, Jay County prosecutor Wes Schemenaur and Gillespie both said, is that it allows them to be taken care of in a less formal venue. It also takes some of the caseload off of an already busy county courthouse.
“It’s a way of dealing with them in a more expedient way than if they’d come through superior court,” said Schemenaur, noting that moving to trial, if necessary, can take six months or more in superior court compared to two to three months in city court.
The impact is different for cities and towns of different sizes, said Andrew Wells, a Portland native who is now city court judge in the Beech Grove on the southeast side of Indianapolis. He noted that his city, which has a population of about 14,000, would have more potential candidates than Portland, but that the pool would still not be particularly large.
If Beech Grove would lose its city court, it would result in its 5,000 cases per year moving to Marion County. That could be a strain on the police force, Wells said.
“Instead of having to spend a whole day at the largest traffic court in the state,” he added, “they now only have to spend about an hour in city court.”
The attorney requirement was not an original part of House Bill 1110, which was introduced by Rep. Steve Stemler (D-Jeffersonville) in an effort to appoint a third magistrate in Clark County. The provision was added via an amendment from Sen. Brent Steele (R-Bedford).
Prior to that amendment, the bill had passed the house unanimously on a pair of votes. Afterward, that margin slipped to 69-23 with Rep. Greg Beumer (R-Modoc), who represents Jay and Randolph counties and part of Delaware County, opposing the measure. Also voting against was Rep. Matt Lehman (R-Berne), who represents Adams County and is now majority leader.
“I voted against … the entire bill, but primarily because of the piece of legislation that we’re talking about,” Beumer said. “It has all the potential to kill rural city courts. It’s going to make it very difficult.”
Beumer noted the situation in Winchester, where three Republican candidates ran in the primary — before House Bill 1110 became law — to replace a retiring city court judge. A non-attorney won that race and then learned he would not be able to run in the general election.
Beech Grove had a similar situation, with Wells now running unopposed because the winner of the Democratic primary was also not an attorney.
Though nothing is certain, Beumer said it’s possible representatives from rural districts such as his could push to have the issue revisited during the 2016 legislative session.