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High court wants public input on reducing number of judicial districts (UPDATE)

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//January 17, 2018//

High court wants public input on reducing number of judicial districts (UPDATE)

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//January 17, 2018//

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court wants the public to weigh in on a plan that would reorganize the state’s judicial administrative districts.

Randy Koschnick, director of state courts, recently filed a petition for a Supreme Court rule-change that proposes reducing the number of the state’s judicial districts from 10 to nine. It was the first petition Koschnick has filed since starting the job on Aug. 1.

The judicial districts now divide the state’s 72 counties into 10 areas that are overseen by a chief judge, who is appointed by the Supreme Court and manages the administration of the district. The chief judge is helped by two employees of the Office of the Director of State Courts, a district court administrator and a court management assistant.

Koschnick is proposing to dissolve the Sixth Judicial District and redistribute the 11 counties in that district to five of the remaining districts.

The Sixth Judicial District includes Clark, Wood, Portage, Juneau, Adams, Waushara, Marquette, Green Lake, Columbia, Dodge and Sauk counties.

Koschnick’s would redistribute those counties to other districts by adding:

  • Dodge County to the Third District;
  • Green Lake, Marquette and Waushara counties to the Fourth District;
  • Sauk and Columbia counties to the Fifth District;
  • Adams, Clark and Juneau Counties to the Seventh District; and
  • Portage and Wood counties to the Ninth District

According to a memo filed with the petition, the change comes at an opportune time because the Sixth District chief judge, Wood County Circuit Court Judge Gregory Potter, is ending his term in July; the district administrator, Ron Ledford, is retiring in the spring or early fall of 2018; and the lease for the district’s office space will be up in September. Eliminating the district will also cut down on the court system’s administrative costs, according to the memo.

It is estimated that the change would cut costs by $250,000 annually, based largely on savings in salaries, fringe benefits and office leases, wrote Court Information Officer Tom Sheehan in an email Wednesday.

The justices, during a closed conference on Tuesday, voted to let the public to weigh in with written comments. They will then decide if they will hold a public hearing on the plan, said Supreme Court Commissioner Julie Rich. She said a notice would be released later this week.

 

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