Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Courts And Justice topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Probate judge warns of unsafe courtroom, requests budget fixes and full‑time staffing
Summary
Judge Singleton told council his probate courtroom is too small and lacks secure exits; he urged converting a long‑running temporary StaffMart position to county full‑time and asked council to restore $15,900 removed from his budget.
Judge Singleton told the committee he has one of the county’s smallest courtrooms and described it as an "extreme safety issue," especially given the court’s heavy mental‑health caseload. "There is no exit for a judge to leave," he said, and asked council to visit the courtroom to see the space constraints for themselves.
Singleton presented case workload numbers — including more than 550 mental‑health cases filed last year and inventories with roughly $67 million in assets under court oversight — and argued those volumes make courtroom and security improvements urgent. He also asked that a StaffMart position that has been filled by contract personnel be converted to a county full‑time job; he said $35,000 is currently budgeted in professional services that now pay that temp role and that a modest increase would cover a full county salary and benefits.
The judge also said $15,900 of items in his proposed budget were removed without his knowledge after first reading and asked that council restore funds to support a yearly mental‑health summit, IT replacement, travel and other modest items or otherwise provide contingency funds to cover the shortfall.
Council members committed to discussing storage reallocation and possible renovation options and asked staff to meet with the judge and building maintenance to review feasible remedies.
