Will Ortonville lose its courthouse.

Subject: March 4, 2009 Tue Mar 03, 2009 9:14 am

Did we dodge a bullet? Time will tell. See www.startribune.com/politics/state/40640392.html?elr=KArksUUUU

All around the area people are talking about regionalization and how this will effect those communities that are not part of the plan.

Close to home, reliable sources close to the judiciary are saying the next round of cut backs will be announced tomorrow.

Counties included in the potential cutbacks include Traverse, Big Stone, Lac Qui Parle, Yellow Medicine and Lincoln.

We should hae some answers by tomorrow.

By the way, would it be possible to have court administration run by the county?

Power Poster Number of posts : 721 Registration date : 2008-05-15

Please review the next round of budget cuts. Contact your legislator to have your voice heard.

Dear MSBA Member,

In July, we sent you initial information about the work of the Judicial Council’s Access and Service Delivery-2 Committee (ASD-2 Committee) with a request for your feedback. Thank you to those of you who sent comments in reply to the earlier message, those comments were shared with the MSBA’s liaison to the ASD-2 Committee, Paul Carlson of Kennedy, Nervig, Carlson & Van Bruggen in Wadena, MN.

Since that time, the ASD-2 Committee has been continuing its work exploring possible ways to cut costs in court administration around the State. The need to have this discussion about possible administrative cost savings is necessary since, over the next two to three years, it has been estimated that the courts can expect to receive up to 16 % less funding. While no definitive changes to court administrative processes, procedures or structure have yet been identified for recommendation to the Judicial Council by the ASD-2 Committee, here are some of the additional cost cutting ideas that have been suggested for discussion and evaluation by the ASD-2 Committee for possible inclusion in its anticipated report and recommendations to the Judicial Council:

· Administrative changes – suggested for consideration by the ASD-2 Committee is the possibility of consolidating county attorneys into a district attorneys office handling multiple counties; a multi-district Chief Judge; and consolidation of other management functions to cover larger areas;

· Various possible options for redistricting;

· Structural changes – suggested for consideration is a proposal for the possible creation of 22 regional trial centers (which need not necessarily be based upon county boundaries or judicial districts but each being located so as to be no more than 60 miles from current courthouse locations);

· Greater use of Referees (volunteer) to hear conciliation court matters; and whether interactive video conferencing might be used to conduct such hearings in outstate Minnesota; and

· Possibly redirecting implied consent hearings to the Office of Administrative Hearings to be heard by administrative law judges.

The ASD-2 Committee will continue to meet to discuss these suggested options, as well as other suggestions for possible cost savings in court administration and structure. The next meeting of the ASD-2 Committee will be later in September. It is anticipated that the ASD-2 Committee is likely to complete its work and make its advisory report to the Judicial Council sometime in December of this year for its consideration and further possible action, if any, upon all or some of the advisory recommendations of the ASD-2 Committee.

Our continued thanks to Paul Carlson for his ongoing service as MSBA liaison to the ASD-2 Committee. We will send out further updates in the future as new developments occur.

With kindest regards,

Leo

Leo I. Brisbois
President
Minnesota State Bar Association

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