Lights out on night court idea

For eight years, NBC broadcast the hit sitcom "Night Court," which chronicled the comic antics of eccentric judge Harry Stone as a host of unorthodox characters paraded through his Manhattan courtroom after hours.

That show was played for laughs. But many areas of the country do have night court to accommodate everybody from traffic ticket appealers to DUI offenders.

But it looks like the lights won't be turned on at night in the Hernando County government center anytime soon, even though judges are faced with a courtroom space crunch and despite an assurance from the clerk of the circuit court that overtime is not an issue.

County Commissioner Jeff Stabins said that saddens him.

Stabins said he brought up the option of night and weekend court in the past and the idea was "basically dismissed out of hand" by the judges.

"It just seems logical to me that we've got a courthouse that's sitting empty at least two days a week, Saturday and Sunday, not to mention nights," he said.

County Commissioner Dave Russell said the idea of night and weekend court has been broached in the past but both ideas were nixed by the judges as being logistically undoable and cost-prohibitive because of overtime costs.

"This is the position given me by (them)," said Russell, stressing it doesn't necessarily represent his own thinking. "I don't purport to question the judiciary's position as to when they hold court. I frankly don't have the full data that they have available (as) to the ramifications in terms of collateral costs to holding off-hour court," he said.

Circuit Judge Stephen Rushing said he would not be opposed to trying night court on an experimental basis to see if it works.

But he is concerned it would pose a logistics problem and conflict with judges' current schedules.

Night court works better in larger areas, such as Hillsborough County, because they have dozens of judges, he said.

Hernando County has one part-time and five full-time circuit court judges, along with two county court judges.

Rushing agrees night court would be convenient for working people who now have to take time off from work to come to court, he said.

"The problem is with the clerk's office with the overtime and scheduling," he said.

Rushing said it's not a question of inconveniencing the judges, who frequently find themselves working late hours because of extended jury trials.

In fact, each of the judges rotate weekends for first appearances at the Hernando County Jail, he said.

But night court "is just evidently not workable at this time," he said.

Nicolai: We can make it work

Circuit Court Clerk Karen Nicolai said the overtime problem is not an impossible hurdle.

She said her office could accommodate the judges and have clerks present at night court or on the weekend without necessarily incurring overtime.

Nicolai said she would just adjust her staff's hours.

For example, if night court were held every Monday night, she would schedule her clerks - who record the proceedings - to come to work later.

"We would be there no matter what," Nicolai said.

Pasco and Pinellas counties have had night court for traffic cases since 1994 and 1990 respectively, and it has run smoothly, said Ron Stuart, public information officer for the sixth judicial circuit, which includes those counties.

Night court has multiple sessions. For example, in Pasco County, it's two nights a month and they conduct four different sessions in one night. The first two sessions start at 5:30 p.m. and the other two at 7 p.m.

They are run by magistrates, or judicial officers.

"It frees up space and time for the judges," Stuart said.

During each night session, a clerk is present to record proceedings.

"As far as I know, the clerk's office has never complained," he said. "It's just been part of the system. It's something that's budgeted (and) planned."

Stuart said night court benefits the judges and the residents.

"It's mainly to facilitate the people going to court, but it's also a volume issue with us," he said. "We can't handle it all in the daytime sessions."

Starting March 24, Pasco County will add a fifth session one night a month because of the high volume, Stuart said.

Stuart said the magistrate tries to hear 40 cases per session and each session is scheduled for 90 minutes.

Building a new facility

Meanwhile, county commissioners this week unanimously approved the formation of a committee to explore design possibilities for a standalone judicial center.

Even though $19 million remains set aside in a reserve fund for the project, commissioners have been hesitant to go ahead with it because of the bleak economy.

But on Tuesday, they agreed to form a "scoping" committee to prepare design criteria for a proposed standalone judicial center and report back to the full board with recommendations.

While that progresses, the county plans to move ahead to install a temporary courtroom and jury assembly room in the existing government center to meet the immediate needs of the judges.

The cost of that renovation is $303,000.

Allowing the formation of a committee should not be construed that commissioners have changed their minds and are now firmly behind construction of a standalone judicial center, Russell said.

In fact, Russell said he would rather stay the course and renovate the existing government center.

"It's just to see what's out there," Russell said. "You can't just completely close the door. Who knows?"

Russell said the committee will "demonstrate to the judiciary we are interested in addressing their needs at some time."

Stabins said it makes sense to continue with the government renovation plan for the interim to meet some of the judiciary's immediate needs.

"But the board realizes that, in the long term, a facility will be needed," he said. "This committee will help move that process along and come up with an economical way of building a standalone judicial center."