County prepares for July addition of third court

While it was up to the State of Indiana to approve the addition of a third court in Putnam County, the job of making it work now falls to county government.

Since the approval of a third court and magistrate last spring, judges Matt Headley and Denny Bridges, along with the Putnam County Commissioners, have been planning for the addition of the third court.

For the two judges, perhaps the most important matter was the choice of who will fill the magistrate position once it is funded as of July 1.

While Headley and Bridges are publicly elected to their respective Circuit Court and Superior Court positions, it is their job to appoint the magistrate.

To fill the void, the judges have selected Melinda Jackman-Hanlin. Bridges informed the Putnam County Commissioners of the selection during their second February meeting earlier this week.

A veteran local attorney, Jackman-Hanlin has filled in as judge pro tempore in local courts on a number of occasions in the past.

However, the new court will also need space. With the magistrate set to handle more routine matters to free up Headley and Bridges, a small third courtroom on the third floor of the courthouse should be sufficient.

However, office space will also be an issue. With the county microfilm department no more, there will be a vacant office on the fourth floor, but it may not be so simple.

Instead, one plan is for the juvenile probation department to move from their third-floor location to the old microfilm office. This would open an office for the magistrate on the same floor as all three courtrooms and the other two court offices.

Bridges also delivered a piece of potential bad news to the commissioners on Monday. When the third court was proposed two years ago, he and Headley said that since the new court would lighten their caseloads, they could simply each move one of their staff members to the magistrate’s staff.

The commissioners and county council liked this plan, as the magistrate will be paid from state funds, therefore no additional salaries would be needed.

“It appears I may have misspoken,” Bridges said, saying that caseloads are up even more. “We still have way too many cases, more than we’ve ever had.”

Commissioner David Berry asked where funding for additional staffing would come from, with Bridges saying he had not looked that far yet.

Other matters to be considered between now and July are office furniture and equipment for the new office, as well as remodeling whatever office space the new court inherits.

In other business:

• Bridges also requested the ability to hire a new employee early who will replace longtime Superior Court employee Judy Irwin.

Irwin will retire on March 29, but Bridges was hoping to have a replacement start at the beginning of the month.

The judge said that since the new employee will come in at a lower pay scale than Irwin, with her 30 years of experience, the money is available in his budget to cover the time of extra staffing.

The request was approved unanimously.

• The commissioners approved a freeze-thaw ordinance, which allows the county to enact weight restrictions upon roads damaged by the changing weather of late winter and early spring.

By state law, a county can choose 90 days each year in which to enact such regulations.

The 90 days began with the passage of the ordinance on Monday, Feb. 18.

Highway Supervisor Mike Ricketts said some attention has been given recently to patching potholes. However, the combination of snow, ice and rain that has marked February has made for extremely soft gravel roads, so they have kept their bigger trucks out of certain areas unless necessary.

There are also roads torn up by the weather in unanticipated spots.

“The freeze-thaw has really hurt us this year,” Ricketts said. “Our road list that we had planned (for 2019), some of that has to be redone.”