Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Staffing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council approves adding a fourth legal assistant to law director’s office to handle court doc transfers
Summary
Mount Vernon council adopted an ordinance to create and fund a fourth legal assistant in the law director’s office after municipal court changes will require the law office to accept and retain police reports and other documents previously held by the court.
Mount Vernon City Council on Jan. 27 adopted Ordinance 2025-02 to add a fourth legal assistant in the law director’s office, funding a position the administration said was already budgeted.
Law Director Benjamin (last name in transcript rendered as Boren) told council the court is changing docketing systems from CMI to CourtView because the Ohio Supreme Court will require electronic filing; Judge Thatcher has opted to stop serving as the repository for police reports and some court documents. “Judge Thatcher has decided that he no longer wishes to be the repository for those documents, and he is not legally required to do that,” the law director said. The law department will now accept and permanently retain those documents and needs staff to process, scan and move files to arraignment and subsequent hearings.
Boren said his office prosecuted roughly 2,000 cases last year and that each case generates between five and 10 pieces of paper that need to be organized, scanned and carried to hearings. For that workload, he requested a permanent fourth legal assistant; staff said funds were budgeted for a full year and had been held pending the court’s schedule.
Council discussed the timing for hiring; staff said hiring for a legal assistant typically takes 4 to 6 weeks and that the court expects to begin implementing the new electronic system in June or July, with full integration possibly by October. Councilwoman Woods moved to suspend the rules and adopt; the ordinance passed on the night’s vote.
The law director said the position will support the transition to CourtView, help with the permanent retention of documents that previously were maintained by the municipal court, and address the daily operational work of moving case files for arraignment and hearings.
No salary or job-grade numbers beyond ordinance text were discussed in detail at the meeting; staff said the position had been budgeted in the prior year’s plan and that the money is available.
Votes at a glance: Ordinance 2025-02 — Adopted; motion to suspend rules and take to third reading carried and ordinance adopted the same evening.
