Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
I briefly reported last time about my visit to Ventura and to Mono. I first met with Judges
Eller and Magit and also with their executive officer Hector Gonzalez. Afterwards I spent
some time just speaking with Hector.
As with my visit to Ventura, and I know that Erica had the same kind of experience, it
was important to them that somebody from the Judicial Council cared enough to be there
and to sit down and talk with them. I found it informative, totally enjoyable and they
were as welcoming as they could possibly be. We had a wide ranging discussion about the
AOC and the various committees of the Judicial Council.
As with the other smaller courts, they’ve received needed assistance from the AOC for
human resources, legal, education, technology, and the Assigned Judges Program. They express
their concern about the budget and how it will seriously impact those services that
are provided to them. They pointed out in particular that they were in need of help
from legal; they apparently had a very important investigation which they could not have done
on their own and felt it was done in an excellent manner.
They believe CJER’s function is important to them, they cannot provide educational programs
themselves. However, they did comment that it was too bad that the Cow County program
was at the same time at the primary assignment and education program because they would have
preferred to have been able to attend those and not have the overlap.
The technology knowledge from the AOC assisted them in setting up their new courthouse. The
AOC sophistication was needed to help them with the servers and routers. They couldn’t
have done it on their own. They also commented that the AOC contracting services with AT&T
was most useful for them. Critical for them is the Assigned Judges Program. When they
have a long trial, the two judges there cannot handle it on their own. In fact, they have
a 30-day complex construction defect case coming up. Maybe we should transfer it to
Emilie and the complex courts in LA. They are going to need an assigned judge for that
case. They regularly need assigned judges when they have cases like that.
All three of them were very happy about the changes in RUPRO that we have instituted the
past few months. They're happy that RUPRO has reevaluated the need for rules and changes
and has revised the invitation to make it more user friendly for the courts.
One concern they have involves fines and fees distribution and they have asked for help
in this area. They said their CMS has a hard time keeping up with the changes and they
wind up getting assessed penalties. One last comment about construction of the new court
house which I mentioned last time is absolutely state of the art as far as security. Its an
excellent building. But they would just remind the office of court construction to be cognizant
of who the consumer is and to please be sure that local input is sought in these kinds
of projects. Bottom line, it was a pleasure spending the time with them and I look forward
to seeing them again soon.