State law will allow courts to consolidate

NEW BOSTON — While long-awaited state legislation is now in place to enable the Tug Hill towns of Harrisburg, Montague and Pinckney to consolidate their courts, officials say it still will take time to work through logistics and gain ultimate approval of the move.

"We're kind of in uncharted waters," said John K. Bartow, executive director of the Tug Hill Commission, which is assisting the towns with the project. "We want to get it right."

"There are a lot of unanswered questions," said Judge David S. Gideon, the Fifth Judicial District's special counsel for town and village courts.

A proposed amendment to the state Uniform Justice Court Act that would allow two or more adjacent towns with a single town justice to use a single court facility as well passed twice in the Senate, most recently in March, but has yet to come to a vote in the Assembly.

However, a similar provision was quietly included in state budget legislation adopted in early August, although local officials found out about it only a few weeks ago, Mr. Bartow said. "We clearly have got a piece of legislation that has been passed and signed by the governor," he said.

That legislation apparently requires that the towns develop a court-sharing plan, enter an intermunicipal agreement, then request specific home rule legislation from state lawmakers to implement the plan, Mr. Bartow said.

While that could take well into next year to complete, the end product should be worth the time and effort, he said.

"I think it's great to have an opportunity to make this happen," Mr. Bartow said. "I think it preserves the sense of home rule and achieves greater efficiency and practicality."

In fall 2007, the three towns, along with the Lewis County Legislature, requested state legislation to allow creation of the state's first truly combined town court.

Montague, through a series of temporary orders from the Fifth Judicial District administrative judge, has shared a justice with Pinckney since 1998 because no Montague residents have been interested in the job. Terry A. Brownell, a Pinckney resident, served as justice for both towns until stepping down in late 2007.

When no potential replacement came forward, Harrisburg Justice John B. Woods was allowed by temporary order to serve as justice for Pinckney and Montague as well. Since then, Judge Woods has essentially served as a circuit judge, holding court in three different locations each month.

The towns plan to use the Harrisburg town hall, built in 2002 on Cobb Road, as the primary court facility because it is relatively new, spacious and centrally located and has free wireless Internet service.

Mr. Bartow said the next step in the process is to work with state Office of Court Administration and Board of Elections officials to determine what information should be included in a court-sharing plan and how future justice elections would work.

The ideal scenario would be to set up four-year terms for a combined justice position and have the towns enter a five-year intermunicipal agreement, he said. That would allow the towns to see how the initial election goes before deciding whether to extend their agreement as is or make alterations to it.

A consolidated Tug Hill court could serve as a pattern for other rural areas throughout the state, Mr. Bartow said. However, even if the effort here is successful, state law probably should still be changed to simplify the process, he said.