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District and justice courts request modest increases for security, legal resources and courtroom technology
Summary
District Court and Justice Court officials told commissioners they are operating at heavy caseloads and asked for small increases for the law library, court security and technology; judges and court staff also discussed Zoom, JAVS and court hours.
Judge Tom Stockard and Justice of the Peace Ben Trotter told the board the courts are handling a heavy caseload and requested modest budget adjustments focused on security, legal research and equipment.
Judge Tom Stockard said the district court completed a full conversion to a new case-management system and migrated court data into Amazon Web Services to address security concerns. He said Churchill County processes about 1,700 cases per judge per year on a per-judge basis and described how prior budget cuts disproportionately affected the district court because several positions had been classified in services and supplies rather than salaries.
Stockard asked for a $2,100 increase to restore court security funding, citing ongoing contracts for X-ray screening, metal detectors and camera licenses. He also said the law library request is to restore a prior funding level — a $1,500 increase — driven in part by a multiyear contract for online legal research with LexisNexis.
Justice of the Peace Ben Trotter described installing Zoom capability in the upstairs courtroom and said the justice court used existing audiovisual equipment that is no longer serviced. He said he plans to apply in July for an Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) grant for up to $50,000, which carries a 30% local match if the county pursues it; the match would be roughly $15,000.
Judges and staff discussed courtroom audio-visual systems, noting some courts use JAVS (judicial audio-visual systems) while others are implementing Zoom; Stockard said JAVS carries ongoing maintenance costs and the county will evaluate options before moving to a new courthouse. Commissioners and court leadership also discussed hours of operation and the possibility of creating a shared department of court clerks to improve coverage and reduce gaps between district and justice-court hours.
Stockard and other court leaders asked that the draft budget be submitted as presented and that the commission allow further work on cross-court scheduling and clerk-pool proposals before the final budget is adopted.
