Superior Court asks board to fund settlement pipeline, keep court security and continue tech shift

Presiding Judge Ted Reed told the Board of Supervisors the Superior Court’s most effective recent progress in reducing a pandemic-era backlog came from expanding settlement conferences and alternative dispute resolution, not by adding another full trial division.

Reed said judges using settlement conferences and in‑house civil arbitrations — supported earlier by ARPA funds and temporary staffing known as Division 7 — cut backlog criminal cases from more than 100 in 2020 to about 19 at the end of 2024. “Only about 2% of our cases go to trial,” Reed said. “What happens to the 98% is the availability of attorneys to work the case, come up with settlements, and when they can’t, to get them into a settlement conference.”

Nut graf: The court asked the county to replace a planned new trial division with a smaller, cheaper Auxiliary Judicial Services (AJS) package that funds settlement conferences, limited pro tem judges and operational support so the court can keep clearing cases without the recurring cost of an added full judicial division.

Reed and Court Administrator Sharon Yates described three related budget pressures and requests:

- Auxiliary Judicial Services (AJS): the court proposed a one‑year, lower‑cost package to fund settlement conferences, civil arbitrations and flexible judicial coverage for probation revocation calendars. Reed said AJS preserves the expanded settlement capacity established with ARPA funds and the prior temporary Division 7 work that drove the backlog reduction.

- Court security officer: Court administration warned that an ARPA‑funded court security officer position will expire in June. Yates said the Flagstaff Justice Court agreed to continue funding that post for at least one year; without it the Superior Court would drop from six to five officers and “we would only be able to run one jury trial at a time,” Reed said. Court security officers also perform bailiff duties and jury management, the court said.

- Court reporters and digital transcription: Reed and Yates said certified court reporters are in short supply nationwide and the court has been transitioning to digital recording and vendor transcription. Reed described the risk if a recording system fails: a month‑long jury trial could be reversed on appeal. The court asked to redeploy two vacant court‑reporter salary lines toward settlement conference work and to pilot recording‑to‑transcript technology that links clicks in a transcript to audio playback.

Reed and Yates emphasized tradeoffs. A full Division 7 (a permanent additional trial division) would restore a dedicated trial judge but would consume funds that the court believes generate larger returns when invested in settlement and arbitration capacity. “What we had learned is there’s a secret sauce for resolving these cases,” Reed said. “We have to be able to do trial, thus the court security officer, but only about 2% of our cases go to trial — the settlement and ADR pipeline resolves the rest.”

Court staff provided concrete operational details: the court currently staffs six security officers (two funded by the City of Flagstaff), uses senior commissioners and pro tem judges for auxiliary calendars and supervises a collection of specialty dockets (recovery court, mental health court, veterans court, family treatment). Yates said one court security officer post funded with ARPA ends in June unless another funding source is found.

Ending: The court asked the board to approve the AJS package and the recurring CPI adjustment already recommended by county management; the board and county manager signaled they will weigh those priorities in the final budget cycle. Reed closed by asking the supervisors to maintain the settlement and specialty‑court constellation that the court said delivered measurable reductions in pending cases while preserving treatment‑focused outcomes.