Edmonds Municipal Court outlines community court expansion, Blake administrative vacates and prisoner-cost trends

Edmonds Municipal Court officials briefed the City Council on March 20 about an expanding community court program, the administrative process for vacating convictions affected by the Washington Supreme Court's State v. Blake decision, new text-and-email notification pilots and recent trends in jail-related costs as court operations returned to pre-pandemic norms.

Judge Weiss (identified in council remarks as the presiding judge at Edmonds Municipal Court) told the council that the court has launched two complementary community-court paths: a therapeutic community court (team-based, opt-in, risk/need assessment and phased accountability) and a monthly "community court resource day" to connect people directly with social-service providers. "The community court still exists. It's a method of court interaction. It is not about a specific location," Weiss said, noting the loss of a neighborhood space but stressing the court's ability to operate the program in different venues.

The court described its…