Seattle Municipal Court leaders outline technology, staffing and diversion priorities

Presiding Judge Crawford Willis and Seattle Municipal Court Administrator Josh Sattler told the Seattle City Council Public Safety Committee on Feb. 11 that the court has completed a costly case management system implementation and is preparing for operational pressures tied to marshals, pretrial changes and potential traffic-camera evidence growth.

The update, delivered to the Public Safety Committee chaired by Councilmember Robert Kettle, laid out 2024 accomplishments and 2025 priorities and warned that marshal vacancies and new operational demands could strain court operations.

The court moved to a new vendor-based case management system last March after a six-year, city-funded project. "This was a 6 year 55000000 dollar investment, from the city," Court Administrator Josh Sattler said, adding the system went live on time and on budget but required deferred functionality to meet the launch date. Sattler said the system is now approaching its first year in production and is "pretty stable," though periodic outages for maintenance remain a pain point for staff and stakeholders.

Judge Crawford Willis described the court’s role and priorities and said her office will…