STRUTHERS — Mahoning County Magistrate James Melone says he is the right person to sit on the bench at Struthers Municipal Court. There’s just one problem: his opponent has a head start.

At the end of September, Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Poland attorney Jennifer Ciccone — Melone’s opponent in the race — to fill the remainder of former Judge Dominic Leone’s term.

Leone resigned from the bench after a visiting judge granted a civil protection order against him to Struthers Mayor Catherine Miller.

Since then, Ciccone wasted no time trying to make the most of her opportunity. In a recent interview with The Vindicator, Ciccone said improving case management efficiency is a top priority.

She said she wants the court to adhere more closely to the Ohio Supreme Court’s case management guidelines, and to have no more than 10% of cases exceed the prescribed timelines for adjudication.

To that end, Ciccone implemented evening court hours, starting Oct. 25, which she said will continue every Wednesday from 5 to 7 p.m. as long as she is in office running the court there.

Ciccone also wants to help Struthers court recoup fees from more than 1,700 warrants that have exceeded the statute of limitations. In addressing Struthers city council last week, Ciccone said she believes many defendants don’t pay their overdue fines because they fear going to jail if they surrender. Ciccone said she wants to roll out a plan to allow nonviolent offenders to surrender voluntarily and pay their fines so they can “go about their lives.”

Ciccone said she also wants to implement specialized dockets, including resurrecting Struthers’ drug court and adding a domestic violence docket.

“For drug court, we’d want to change a few things, but once we apply those changes, we’d then be eligible for grants through the Ohio Supreme Court and Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board,” she said.

Regarding domestic violence, Ciccone said she wants to implement the city’s first victims advocacy program.

“A lot of victims need a voice, so we would couple the domestic violence court with a victim advocacy program,” she said. “We would be able to get grants that way, and would probably use those to partner with Sojourner House.”

Ciccone said her experience and her plans qualify her to maintain the bench past November’s election.

“I’m the only candidate that has experience as a judge,” she said. “I’m the only attorney who’s practiced in this court in the past seven years, because he (Melone) has been a magistrate.”

Ciccone said she felt DeWine selected her to fill the vacancy left by Leone for all the right reasons.

“He thought my qualities made me the most appropriate for the job,” she said. “I’ve known what I would fix because I’ve been here and worked with the court staff.”

Melone has been a magistrate for Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony M. D’Apolito since 2017. Before that, he represented private citizens in criminal defense, domestic relations, bankruptcy, juvenile cases, and civil and business law.

Melone, of Poland, said his priorities include working more closely with the mayor’s office and city council.

“I will work to build positive relationships,” he said, “so that there is cooperation and an understanding that the three branches of government must work together so that public dollars are used in the most responsible manner.”

Melone said he also wants to revamp the community service program. He said he plans to invite groups in the court’s jurisdiction to notify the court when they will need community service assistance, and defendants sentenced to such service would sign up to work those events, as a court order.

The court’s jurisdiction includes Struthers, Lowellville, New Middletown, Springfield Township and Poland village and township.

Melone also spoke about creating a landlord-tenant mediation program.

“Nothing is more traumatic to a family than being displaced from their home,” he said.

Melone said he wants to restore professionalism and decorum to the court.

“Our system only works if people have confidence in our court system,” he said.

He said he also wants to create an environment where every person that comes before the court feels the court is listening to them.

“In my experience, litigants become frustrated with the court system because they often don’t understand the process and don’t feel as though they had the opportunity to be heard,” he said. “I have found that making sure the litigant feels heard and that (they) understand what was happening in court allows them to leave feeling justice was served.”

Correspondent Sean Barron contributed to this report.