Thursday, Feb. 28, 2002 | 11:05 a.m.
Henderson officials are expected consider a plan this spring that would put a third municipal court judge in the courthouse by July 2003, citing high caseloads that are expected to get worse.
John Provost, chief municipal court judge for Henderson, says courtrooms are crowded and will grow more crowded with the city's explosive growth. He says defendants deserve adequate time to plead their case.
"People who come to court deserve their time in front of the judge," Provost said. "They deserve to be treated fairly and to have a chance to say what they feel they need to say."
North Las Vegas Municipal Court Judge Warren Van Landschoot, who last year handled two-and-a-half times more criminal cases than the Henderson judges, supported the move, saying that the long lines outside his courtroom keep testimony clipped short.
Las Vegas municipal court administrator James Carmany, however, said that even in a city where each of its six judges handled 7,169 new criminal cases in 2001 -- three times that of Henderson judges -- "defendants have ample opportunity to plead their case." In 2001, Provost and and Municipal Court Judge Ken Proctor each handled 2,357 criminal cases. They plowed through another 24,008 traffic and parking tickets.
"Calendars have quadrupled since I've been here," Provost, who signed on in 1996 as Henderson's second municipal judge, said. "It's becoming unmanageable. We've given up in certain areas and were not serving as well as we should. If we don't get a third judge in 2003 and have to wait until 2005, we'll be in over our head."
Van Landschoot, who handled 6,204 cases last year as the lone municipal judge for North Las Vegas, said he is already struggling to stay afloat. He said he'll have to manage until 2005, when his city completes a $30 million courthouse with room to hire two new judges.
"They're smart to get ahead of the game in Henderson and not wait like we did," Van Landschoot said. "In a couple of years they'll be slaughtered with the caseloads. I know. North Las Vegas wasn't prepared for this explosion. Or not so much that. We just didn't have the money to keep up."
In May, the Henderson City Council will vote on a $944,000 proposal that will pave the way for a new judge. The proposal includes money for added courthouse staff and money to renovate the city attorney's offices.
While the city attorney's office is expected next year to ask for up to 10 attorneys to work in the new courtroom, the rest of the courthouse expenses are expected to pay for themselves, city officials said.
The four new positions, including two clerks and two marshals, would require $255,342 in annual salaries, Provost, said. By July 2003, when the third judge would take office with an annual salary of $99,000 and join a court staff of eight, the annual bill would rise to $609,684.
Provost says the first four proposed hires will dedicate themselves full-time to collecting outstanding warrants, and eventually generate close to $1 million annually, or $390,000 more than annual department salaries. Today, the city is owed $8.5 million in outstanding fines, he said.
Provost is modeling this pitch on a collections program started last fall by Van Landschoot, of North Las Vegas.
In its first five months, a 2 1/2-member team earning about $50,000 in salaries for that timeframe has collected $206,871 in outstanding fines, Van Landschoot said.
City Manager Phil Speight, one of 18 department heads on the budget committee, explained the probable funding this year of the first four court administrators with one word: "Caseloads," he said. "It's just caseloads."
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