Council won’t pay for judges’ attorney

By David Skolnick

The general fund is facing a deficit of about $3 million this year.

YOUNGSTOWN — If the municipal court judges are going to sue the city over new court facilities, they’re not going to pay their attorney with money from the city’s general fund.

That’s the decision made Wednesday by city council after receiving a legal opinion from Law Director Iris Torres Guglucello on where the money to pay a private attorney to represent the judges would come from.

The judges had requested council approve legislation allowing them to spend up to $25,000 from the city’s general fund to pay John B. Juhasz, their attorney, to potentially sue the city to require a new court facility.

Instead, council and the city administration decided that the money should come from a special fund established by the judges for a new court facility. The money for that fund comes from a $14 fee on various court documents and has about $1.4 million in that account.

The city’s general fund is facing a deficit of about $3 million this year.

The judges couldn’t be reached late Wednesday to comment on council’s decision.

But they have been adamant that no money from the special fund be used for Juhasz’s legal fees.

“The money [in the special fund] doesn’t belong to the judges,” Mayor Jay Williams said. “We’re trying to close a budget gap. There’s $1.4 million for a new court. Why dig another hole when that money is there? This is not their money. It’s the city’s money. It’s a rationale approach.”

The judges filed a journal entry Jan. 26 in their court ordering Williams to “provide suitable facilities for the operation” of the court immediately.

On Feb. 4, Judge Robert P. Milich, one of the city’s three municipal court judges, told the mayor and city council they had 30 days to reach a deal on “suitable facilities for the court” or the judges would go to the Ohio Supreme Court to demand a new courthouse.

Guglucello and Juhasz have had some discussions on the issue, but no resolution has been reached, Williams said.

The judges say the current court facilities on the second floor of city hall on the corner of South Phelps and West Boardman streets are in poor condition and are “unsuitable for justice.”

Williams agrees the current court conditions aren’t suitable, but the city simply doesn’t have the money for a new courthouse.

The judges recently suggested relocating the court to the city hall annex on the corner of Front and Market streets. New court facilities would cost between $8 million and $12 million.

skolnick@vindy.com