Westmoreland County seeks to cut judge's office
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Westmoreland County has recommended eliminating one of its 17 district judge offices -- that of Michael Mahady's office in Unity along Route 981 near Latrobe.
The proposal wouldn't take effect until Judge Mahady retires or reaches mandatory retirement at age 70, which would be in five years.
But Latrobe and Unity area officials are upset and plan to challenge the proposal.
Under the county's plan, Latrobe and part of Unity would transfer to District Judge Mark Bilik's office in Derry Township. District Judge Denise Thiel's Ligonier office would pick up Youngstown, and Judge Thiel and Hempfield District Judge James Falcon would add parts of Unity.
Every 10 years, following the U.S. census, the state court asks counties to submit redistricting plans for its lowest rung of the judicial system, the magisterial district judge courts. District judges -- previously called district justices and before that, district magistrates -- hold hearings for criminal and small claims cases and handle traffic citations and parking tickets, among other violations.
The state Supreme Court wants the county to reduce the number of district judge offices by 10 percent, said Paul Kuntz, Westmoreland County's district court administrator. County officials are hoping the state takes into consideration that four districts have been eliminated in the past 20 years through attrition.
Which district judge office to eliminate was the county's dilemma. A committee of judges, court personnel and district judges devised the new plan and considered population changes, geography and workloads.
"We're a large and rural and mountainous county," Mr. Kuntz said. "So we've tried to do this in a manner that is efficient but doesn't cause undue hardship in travel time for residents and police. Still, when you live in the mountains, there are some inconveniences."
Latrobe manager Alex Graziani said officials from Unity, Youngstown and Latrobe met informally with Judge Mahady and will submit a letter of opposition by the end of the month.
"We understand why the state wants Westmoreland County to eliminate an office," Mr. Graziani said. "Our county has less population, about 365,000 people, than it did in 1970. And the Eastern Pennsylvania counties -- York, Lancaster and Bucks -- have all grown. In 1970, York County had about the same population as we have but now has 150,000 more than we have.
"But our region is one of the few in Westmoreland County that is growing," Mr. Graziani said. "There has been a shift to growth along the Route 22 and 30 corridors. We have more businesses moving in here, and when you have more people and money, you have more crime. We think the county is ignoring this demographic information."
Losing Judge Mahady's office would mean longer drive times for Latrobe area police, businesses and residents to neighboring district judge offices.
In its new plan, the county seeks to equalize workloads among district judges, Mr. Kuntz said.
The state courts assign a number to the difficulty of a case to calculate a district judge's "workload." It considers the length of time it takes district judges to handle more difficult cases. A criminal case, with a lengthy preliminary hearing, takes more time than a parking ticket, for example, which also is a case.
There is a wide range of caseloads and workloads among the county's 17 district judges. A more urban area may have a large number of parking tickets, for example, while an office that covers a major highway may have a large number of traffic citations.
The average annual caseload based on the past three years shows Greensburg District Judge James Albert has the most cases at 7,338.Judge Mahady has 4,150 cases; Judge Thiel, 3,587; and Judge Bilik, the lowest at 3,399.
When you look at "workload" -- the difficulty of cases -- Judge Albert had a workload of 56,133 points, the highest in the county, according to the state.
Judge Mahady's workload totaled 36,768 points; Judge Bilik, 27,594 points; and Judge Thiel, the lowest at 20,972 points.
The redistricting plan would reduce the workload disparity among offices, with a projection that District Judge Frank Pallone in New Kensington would have the highest at 51,000 points, and Judge Thiel still would have the lowest at 32,000.
District judges earned $82,000 in 2011, paid through state taxes. They receive an annual cost-of-living increase.
The county pays for the office staff and rent, which averages about $2,000 a month, according to Mr. Kuntz. He said staff would not necessarily be reduced under the plan to eliminate an office because personnel would follow the caseload to other judges.
"In the last 20 years, we've reduced the number of district judge offices from 21 to 17, and this would take it down to 16," Mr. Kuntz said.
The last district judge office eliminated was in Vandergrift, when Bernice McCutcheon retired in 2010. That office then was combined with the Lower Burrell office of District Judge Cheryl Yakopec, and the office is now in Allegheny Township.
The county's redistricting plan also would:
• Remove Southwest Greensburg from the Greensburg office to reduce the workload.
• Transfer Donegal Borough and Donegal Township from Judge Thiel's office and put them back in District Judge Roger Eckels' Mt. Pleasant Township office, which previously handled the two municipalities.
• Move Hunker and New Stanton from Judge Falcon's Hempfield office to District Judge Charles Moore's Scottdale office.
The public is asked to submit comments on the plan by Friday. Mail comments to Westmoreland County Court Administrator's Office, 2 N. Main St., Greensburg, PA 15601, or email them to crtadmin@co.westmoreland.pa.us .
After comments are considered, the county will submit the plan to the Supreme Court for approval.
First Published January 26, 2012 12:00 am
