Members in attendance:

Jan Michels, Co-Chair
Judge Pat Burns	Judge Rich Fitterer
Judge Robert Harris	Judge James Heller
Nancy Jewett	Kirk Johns
Ron Miles	Sharon Paradis
Janet Sweeney	Marianne Walters

Staff: Yvonne Pettus

Welcome and Introductions

The meeting was called to order. Jan Michels introduced herself and asked other members to introduce themselves. The notes from the February 11, 2003 meeting were amended to add Kirk Johns to the attendee list.

Review of Work Group Charge

The group reviewed the work group's charge. Kirk emphasized the expectation that the work group come up with a balance sheet of what court funding is needed. The Funding Alternatives Work Group will focus on the funding structure and procedure for funding. The work group's report should identify the current funding, needed funding, sources of funding.

Review of Materials Received

The group reviewed the problem statement submitted by the work group members. The courts are in the business of serving the public. The funding issues are not yet impacting the public in many courts. Members voiced the need to triage cases and services. Some times it takes more time to deny service than it does to provide it. In superior courts, the court has to postpone civil cases which means the litigants can either find private dispute resolution alternatives or wait for the court to resolve their cases.

The mission of the courts has changed. Courts tell society how to behave. Society has become more litigious. Issues that would have previously been resolved privately are now before the courts for resolution. Courts are more under attack by legislative authorities. There are fewer attorneys who serve either in the legislature or on county or city legislative authorities. Consequently, there is less knowledge about the courts and more concern about efficiency and collection of revenue.

Brainstorm Court Functions

The group brainstormed court functions. Attachment A lists the functions developed by the group.

Report Outline

The group discussed the content of the report. A report outline was developed, see Attachment B. Writing assignments will be emailed to work group members.

Future Meeting Dates

The following meeting dates were set: March 27; and April 10. All meetings will be held at Two Union Square, Suite 1606 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Attachment A

TRIAL COURT MISSION COMPONENTS

Record keeping	Judicial Support staff
Evidence	- bailiffs
Electronic filing	- judicial administrative assistants
Adjudicate cases	- trial record keeping
Criminal	- law clerks
Felony	Sufficient judicial positions
Misdemeanor	- commissioners
Civil	- magistrates
Infraction	- pro tems
Domestic relations	- probable cause (weekends)
Juvenile court	Sufficient clerical support positions
Offender	- calendar clerks
Infractions	- file clerks
Truancy	- case managers
Dependency	Accessibility to public - counter, telephone
At-risk youth	Interpreters
Children in Need of Services	Infraction processing - send notices, summons, hearings by mail
Collection of money	Failure to appear or pay
Judges	Scheduling, case management
Sharing of information – JIS	Judgments & sentences
Community/public information – court web sites	Adequate prosecution?
Reviewing judgments - sentence reviews (enforcement)	Adequate defense?
Training	Adequate indigent civil defense?
Judicial	Alternative Dispute Resolution?
Administration	Arbitration
- Human resources management	Mediation
- Statistical gathering	Settlement conferences
- Budgeting, auditing	Public Relations
- Purchasing	Specialty courts?
- Working conditions	Mental health courts
- Planning, research	Drug courts
- Emergency planning	DV courts
- public relations	Unified family courts
- training	Data dissemination - appropriate
Adequate facilities	Calculating jail time
- Courtrooms	Courthouse facilitators
- support staff	DV advocates/facilitator
- chambers	CASA
- maintenance and upgrades	GAL programs
- jury deliberation & assembly areas	Archiving, record retention
Security	Court reporters
Warrants	Orders of protection
Probation - CLJ	Injunctions
Probation - DOC	Family court services - investigators, parenting classes
Probation - Bench	Electronic home detention
Accounting - revenue remittance	Law libraries
Jurors	Pre-trial services
Witnesses	Supervised visitation
Probate/guardianship, minor settlement auditing	Forms development
Jail Transport	Mitigating risk (quashing warrants, FTA adjudication, jail releases)
Family court	Juvenile detention facilities
Forms management & sale	Passports

Attachment B

Report Outline

1. Introduction (Burns, Michels)

   Anecdotes
   Other state’s experience – are heading in this direction?
   Statewide identity
   What are courts?
   Role of the courts in society

   
   Third branch
   Compel societal behavior
   Social contract with justice – civilization
   Responding to the evolution of society

2. Risks Associated with Inadequate Funding (Heller, Sweeney, Walters)

   What is at risk?

   
   Other systems of justice – world view
   Checks and balances
   Anarchy
   Triage – how does this impact the public?
   Public safety
   Confidence
   Access to the courts
   Public service

3. Mission of the Trial Courts (Harris, Miles, Paradis) (Move up?)

   How the courts perform the core functions
   Court structure – civics 101
   Minimum standards
   Best Practices
   Performance Audits

4. Current Inadequacies (Amram, Fitterer, Jewett)

5. Cost of Core Functions (Johns)

   Existing costs
   Future (what should be?)

6. Balance of Funding (Pettus)

   Current funding sources

   
   Local – county, city
   State – general
   
   Court generated revenue - User fees/user penalties (JIS, PSEA)
   Future funding sources