Monticello Live

After an email was sent by Monticello Mayor Allen Maxwell to city council members, that e-mail found it’s way to the courthouse.  A meeting was called Wednesday morning, to “air out” the issues pertaining to the ongoing battle over the Juvenile Court’s use of the MEDC / District Court building.

This long-running soap opera earlier led to the “back door” sign being posted on the MEDC / Court door; the front court room door being locked; and most recently to City Hall’s “No Public Restroom” policy, which in turn led to an “old fashioned outhouse” being placed on the City Hall yard, outside of the Mayor’s window.

Wednesday’s meeting was attended by Mayor Maxwell, Circuit Juvenile Judge Teresa French, Judge Damon Lampkin, Sheriff Mark Gober. County Clerk Lyna Gulledge, and County Treasurer Shirley Hancock.

Judge French told the group that her court only uses the courtroom twice each month, and that cases are now staggered throughout the day, to reduce the number of people waiting at any given time.

Specific issues that were addressed were: the conditions and maintenance of the building’s restrooms (which led to more usage of the city hall restrooms), people loitering on the steps and foyer, trash and cleaning, and expenses. 

When asked if the court served the city or the county, Judge French responded, “both,” adding that there were actually more city cases than county cases, due to population.

Judge French continued, saying that there are 5 circuit judges using the couny courtrooms, with only five days per year that the main courtroom is vacant (not including juvenile cases).

The question about the duties of the court’s 2 bailiffs was answered with multiple tasks, including; one is ALWAYS in the courtroom; the other may be waiting with a juvenille (who is being picked up by a youth facility), calling the next court case, and crowd control.

Courtroom seating was discussed, with someone asking  why there are “around 60 chairs for District Court,” and far fewer for Juvenille Court.

Judge Lampkin showed the group invoices where the county pays from 50% to 75% of many of the facility’s supplies and expenses.

The condition of the restrooms was also covered with “no tissue and urine all over the floor.”    Maxwell asked that the bailiffs check and maintain the restrooms.  Sheriff Gober replied, “I didn’t know that I was supposed to change the toilet paper, over there.”  Gober also commented that he had given his cell number to the MEDC staff, so that they could call him anytime they had any issues where he could assist them. 

When trash and clean-up were mentioned,  Maxwell told Judge French, “Now, I’m not saying that you should take out the trash.” French responded, “I have, ”  She later commented that she (and her staff) usually brought tissue and other supplies from home to the Monticello courtroom.  She later added she, her staff, and an occaisional community service  worker, usually remove the trash and straighten the courtroom, at the end of the day.  It was also mentioned that she had even held court in the building’s foyer, to help with people waiting, but that area is not cooled like the rest of the building.   Maxwell told her that she had been “very co-operative.” 

There were no formal decisions made at the meeting, but at least the only scheduled to be posted will be showing directions to the courtroom and 3 restrooms in the building.

It should be noted that there are two public restrooms in the building.  There is a third restroom inside of the court clerks’ office, but public use of that toilet could cause problems, due to users passing through the office where fine money and confidential, personal information is kept.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 16th, 2012 at 10:07 pm and is filed under City, County, Court. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.