County may add fourth District Court judge

By NICHOLAS LEDDEN/Daily Inter Lake

Court officials met this week with Flathead County commissioners to discuss the logistics behind adding a fourth District Court judge.

State funding to pay for the additional judge most likely won't materialize until at least mid-2009, but preparations for the expansion have been under way for some time, Flathead County District Court Administrator Bonnie Olson said.

Flathead County commissioners have set aside about $15,000 to renovate the Justice Center to include a fourth courtroom.

"We want justice to be meted out as efficiently as possible, and we understand that it has to be paid for," Flathead County Commissioner Joe Brenneman said.

The new courtroom will go in the space currently shared by the law library and the Pro Se Self-Help Center, which will move to another office on the Justice Center's third floor.

Office space for a fourth judge was created during a 2004 renovation to the District Court's jury rooms, said Olson, who expected the renovation to require only limited modification to some of the District Court office's interior walls.

The meeting Monday between District Court officials and county commissioners confirmed that "the minimum structural requirements to accommodate the judicial expansion are still on board," Flathead County District Court Judge Katherine R. Curtis said.

Individual counties are required by statute to provide office and courtroom space to District Courts, while the state is responsible for paying a District Court judge's salary and support staff - an arrangement worked out after District Courts were assumed by the state judiciary in 2002.

Flathead County District Court officials also asked the county commissioners Monday to use their influence to support legislation funding the additional judge.

The incoming Legislature is expected in January to consider a bill to fund five additional judges for District Courts in Flathead, Lewis and Clark, Cascade, Yellowstone and Gallatin counties.

The Montana Supreme Court's Office of the Court Administrator is expected to ask the 2009 Legislature for up to $3.6 million, depending on whether counties have the facilities prepared to receive the additional judges and whether the new judges will be appointed in the upcoming biennium or elected in the next.

"It's in a state of flux right now because the counties have to figure out what they need to do from a facilities standpoint, and that of course will drive what they do with the new judges," Curtis said.

The bill also is expected to authorize funding to solve staff shortages that have gone unmet since the state judiciary's assumption of the District Courts, Curtis said.

A workload study conducted in 2006 by the National Center for State Courts found that, statewide, District Courts were short by more than 13 judges.

The study concluded that Flathead County needed a minimum of two new District Court judges to stay abreast of its existing caseload, but officials will ask the Legislature to fund one additional judge and a standing master.

Standing masters, who have duties similar to that of a magistrate, can oversee arraignments and hearings in family law cases. They make less money and require a smaller staff than judges.

"If we could get the judge, we would drop the standing master if that's what we needed to get it passed," Curtis said.

The caseload coming through Flathead County District Court has been steadily increasing, making it one of the two judicial districts in Montana most in need of an additional judge.

"It's going to happen, sooner or later," Flathead County District Court Judge Ted Lympus said. "There's no question about it."

Flathead County's caseload, minus marriage licenses and other paperwork that never cross a judge's desk, increased 49 percent between 2000 - when the third judge was added - and 2007, according to data from the Clerk of Court's Office.

Criminal cases have increased 53 percent, civil cases have increased 46 percent and family law cases - including divorces, parenting plans, adoptions and paternity cases - have increased 16 percent during the same time period.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com