Urban Issues Forum holds court

By Jason King
Information and Communications Specialist

No county official wants to spend local tax revenues to fiscally support state responsibilities. But that’s just what many local government officials fear will happen with the state’s criminal justice system, which by most accounts is overburdened and under funded.

Mecklenburg County Chair Parks Helms addresses attendees – including Henderson County Commissioner Chuck McGrady (at right of Helms), Manager Bruce Shell and commissioners Nancy Pritchett and Bill Kopp of New Hanover County, and Buncombe County Commissioner Bill Stanley – at the inaugural NCACC Urban Issues Forum at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center. (Photos by Jason King)

Roughly 25 county officials attended a Jan. 13 meeting of the North Carolina Metropolitan Coalition in Charlotte that dealt with court system issues. The coalition is a subset of the N.C. League of Municipalities representing large city interests. Afterward, representatives of 10 counties met in the inaugural Urban Issues Forum to discuss what role the Association could play in alleviating the judicial system’s problems.

A panel made up of a chief district court judge, a police chief, a district attorney, a Durham business leader, and the deputy director of the Administrative Office of the Courts offered bird’s-eye views on what ails the court system and what can be done to improve it. Their observations shared familiar ground: The system needs more money.

“We can only do the job if we’re given the tools to do it with,” said Gary Franks of the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys. “It’s very difficult to make a case to try someone as a habitual felon when you know you’re going to tie up court for a week.”

Chief District Court Judge Elaine Bushfan told attendees that court dockets are filled to capacity. Some days, she said, more than 500 people are awaiting their turn in court.

“Am I herding cattle, or am I imparting justice?” Bushfan asked. “The way that we are being funded – it’s not right.”

Franks said 120 additional assistant district attorneys are needed across the state, and that a starting salary rate of less than $33,000 has caused critically high turnover in the prosecution arena.

City of Fayetteville Police Chief Tom McCarthy said prosecutors weren’t the only professionals battling salary deficiencies – police officers are being paid at a salary level that dates back to 2001. He added that the transition of mental health care to communities and the lack of funding distributed to Local Management Entities have forced many citizens who need treatment into the streets. Law enforcement officers are having to deal with the mentally ill, and they’re not trained to do so, according to McCarthy.

Panelists also bemoaned the almost “third-world” technology in use in the court system.

Paul Meyer of the NCACC leads a group that included Henderson County Commissioner Chuck McGrady (left), and Buncombe County Commissioner Bill Stanley (center) and Manager Wanda Greene (right) in a table-top discussion on ideas and strategies for improving the court situation.

“We need to be funding the court system as if this was 2006 – and not 1975,” McCarthy said.

After moderated dialogue from attendees, moderators divided the room up into small groups for table-top discussions in which participants were asked to generate ideas to improve the situation and strategies “to make it happen.”

Among the ideas called for was a re-examination of the Medlin Report, issued in 1996 by the North Carolina Commission on the Future of the Courts; a decentralized court system budget; increased fees to support a dedicated revenue stream; an integrated system of technology that allows across-the-board communication; more responsiveness from regional state labs; and a collective lobbying effort in the Legislature.

County officials also discussed development of the Urban Issues Forum within the framework of the Association.

“We never intended this to be for urban counties,” said Durham County Manager Mike Ruffin. “We want to caucus around urban issues.”

Henderson County Commissioner Chuck McGrady agreed, saying that his county doesn’t view itself as urban in nature despite ranking 16th among North Carolina counties in population per square mile.

“The issues are what pull us in,” he said.

The group requested that Association staff work with the Metropolitan Coalition to develop a comprehensive platform on urban issues to be considered by the NCACC membership.

The Urban Issues Forum is open to participation from all counties – large or small. The group discussed holding monthly conference calls and face-to-face meetings each quarter.