Doing some research, it looks as though Ohio might be the only state with mayors courts.  In reading some more about them, I'm finding that numerous people have been critical of the courts, and the potential conflict of interest they present with a mayor making a decision on a case that affects his city's coffers.  What I'm seeing is that a number of these tiny municipalities (in Cuyahoga County and around the state) rely on money made from these courts to stay afloat financially.

 

Are you familiar with mayors courts?  Do you think these are a problem?  If so, what can/should be done to eliminate them on a statewide basis?

The legislature should take a hard look at whether these municipalities ought to continue existing.  New Rome is a great example.  It was simply terminated, and reverted to being part of the township and county from whence it came. 

You're right, in all honesty, mayors courts are really a symptom of the larger problem we have here with the existence of so many individual municipalities.  I don't think the state government has the guts to make these tiny villages merge with their neighbors, so attacking the legality of mayors courts may be a way around that, without committing political suicide.

I only have knowledge of Cuyahoga Cty. Are you talking about Mayor's Courts AND Municipal Courts? I have been to a few Mayor's Courts in Cuyahoga County and I have never seen an actual mayor on the bench, it tends to be a magistrate in Mayors court.

 

Further they handle low level cases-ones that do not involve jail time. If a case if more serious, but still a misdemeanor they send it to the local court in it's jurisdiction.

 

For example- if you get in trouble in Broadview Heights, and it can be resolved there via paying a fine (generally things like a speeding ticket where you plea no contest) it will be, if it is more serious but still a misdemeanor ie theft and you enter a not guilty plea, then it is sent to Parma to be heard by a Judge. Many communities use the Parma Muni Court.  Of course if it is a felony than it goes to Common Pleas downtown.

 

 

In Cuyahoga, a lot of adjacent communities share one muni court (ie Rocky River Court serves Bay Villiage, Westlake, the Olmsteds, Fairview Park, and part of the Metropark). I can assure throughout Cuyahoga the Muni courts are often busting at the seams most days so they are not collecting dust.

 

Many of the muni jails are no longer housing inmates that have been sentenced (still house them after arrest though). They are sending them to county jail which I sure is saving some money. This has been a rude awaking for low level misdomenants in outlying burbs who may be used to rocky river jail and find themselves downtown with the big boys.

I'm talking about the mayors courts, not the muni courts.  In my only experience in mayors court in Beachwood, the mayor indeed presided over the session and decided on cases.  This isn't uncommon for such "courts." It's a money grab for these communities, plain and simple, even if it's not the mayor sitting on the bench.

Municipal Courts actually have judges so there's not much comparison. 

 

Mayor's Courts may seem clunky and below the standards of credibility that we like to hold our courts up to; however, one of the ongoing battles of our legal system is to conduct the business of the law in a timely and cost effective manner and if possible more convenient to the people.  It's better to think of the Mayor's Court as a relief valve on the system.  Otherwise we have to be prepared to bear the costs of hiring more highly educated personnel to take care of what really are mundane legal tasks.

Hire educated people, who don't have conflicts of interest?  Perish the thought!  It's sad when moral issues take a back seat to expediency.  Mayor's courts cheapen the very concept of law, causing people to lose (more) faith in it.  That cost should be accounted for somewhere.  There are plenty of other ways to save money.

I see no reason to spend the money, time, and resources it takes to process the types of cases heard in a Mayor's Court in a Muni Court.  Mayor's Court only handle basic cut and dry cases where the accused pleas "guilty" or "no contest" and the mayor levies a fine or community service.

 

For example, there is a Mayor's Court on Put-in-Bay.  People with minor misdemeanors who need to appear go there.  I was there once for "Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle".  I plead No Contest and was given 50 hours of community service by the then Mayor.  Saved the village a bunch of money by not having to spend money to send their officers over to the Port Clinton Municipal Court.  Kept the Port Clinton Municipal Court from having to waste its time having to listen to me explain how I came home one night from the bar, saw this golf cart in my front yard that clearly should not have been there and decided to go drop it off in town rather than have my parents question me about how exactly this random golf cart got parked in the middle of our lawn. Of course, as it turned out the golf cart had been reported stolen and I happen to pass a cop on my way into town.

 

It's not like the Mayor is interpreting law or anything; they're basically reading off a chart to decide punishments for people who admit to doing what they have been accused of.

You must not have been jailed in New Rome, Ohio due to the corrupt mayor and his cronies. Their "jail" was a locked room in their trailer.

I was merely handcuffed to a church pew in said trailer, for a traffic violation.

You guys aren't the only ones who hated New Rome. 

 

From: http://www.newromesucks.com/

 

Check out the archives too: http://www.newromesucks.com/main.html

 

I doubt New Rome had anything on Lindale as far as speed traps are concerned.

Or Steubenville, which had to sign a decree with the Justice Department (only the second city at that time to do so) because it was running illegal speed cameras and red light cameras, and adjusting the timing of the signals. It had also posted speed limits grossly under what the road was engineered to be, just to increase revenue.

I just know that Linndale has less than 1000 ft. of highway and rakes in a cool $1 million per year.  It has any many 'patrol' cars as it does streets to patrol.  The General Assembly has tried to take away the authority to ticket the way Linndale does along the highway, but the Courts came down on the side of local government in that case.

It had also posted speed limits grossly under what the road was engineered to be, just to increase revenue.

 

This is prevalent throughout northeast Ohio.  The difference from other parts of the state is somewhat striking.  For example, US 422 in Geauga County is a 4-lane divided federal highway set at 45, with constant radar patrols by the sheriff's dept.  Many 2-lane county farm roads in that area are 55, but not US 422.  No no no.  Another example is that massive boulevards which would be 50 in Toledo are 35 in Cleveland.  Freeway traffic in Columbus is typically 10-20 mph faster than in Cleveland.  This one may be more of a cultural thing.  New Rome did so "well" because the rest of Columbus isn't that way at all, so everybody was like WTF.

there are industrial parts (no residential and rare pedestrians) of the near eastside where they set up unmanned cameras on Superior and St Clair. I got one where St Clair is SIX lanes and the speed limit is 25.  Ridiculous. and don't get me started about East Cleveland.

I see no reason to spend the money, time, and resources it takes to process the types of cases heard in a Mayor's Court in a Muni Court.  Mayor's Court only handle basic cut and dry cases where the accused pleas "guilty" or "no contest" and the mayor levies a fine or community service.

 

For example, there is a Mayor's Court on Put-in-Bay.  People with minor misdemeanors who need to appear go there.  I was there once for "Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle".  I plead No Contest and was given 50 hours of community service by the then Mayor.  Saved the village a bunch of money by not having to spend money to send their officers over to the Port Clinton Municipal Court.  Kept the Port Clinton Municipal Court from having to waste its time having to listen to me explain how I came home one night from the bar, saw this golf cart in my front yard that clearly should not have been there and decided to go drop it off in town rather than have my parents question me about how exactly this random golf cart got parked in the middle of our lawn. Of course, as it turned out the golf cart had been reported stolen and I happen to pass a cop on my way into town.

 

It's not like the Mayor is interpreting law or anything; they're basically reading off a chart to decide punishments for people who admit to doing what they have been accused of.

 

It's not as if we're talking about big cities that are using these sham courts.  We're talking about mostly small villages and towns that are setting these up as a cash cow, prosecuting "crimes" that may not have even been violations if these cities didn't need the money so badly.

 

I have a hard time believing that with some expansion the municipal courts couldn't handle the extra workload, especially if we're taking away the incentive for these little fiefdoms to create silly traffic laws and instructing their police officers to be extra aggressive.

 

By the way, Cuyahoga has the most municipal courts in the state of Ohio, by far.  Do we really have that much more crime here?  I know that we are the largest county, but we have 14 of them, while Hamilton and Franklin each only have one.  What's going on here?

 

One final thought.  When I was at the Beachwood mayor's court, the mayor (who doesn't have a law degree, mind you) was most certainly subjectively assessing each case, including dismissing cases and lowering/raising fines as he saw fit.

Isn't Mayor's Court unconstitutional because it combines the Judicial and Executive branches? Since a mayor an be a high school or even elementary school dropout, their law background may not be very strong.