Editorial: Serving the public

Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007 | 7:17 a.m.

Clark County administrators are trying to find courtroom space for six new judges who will take the bench next year. They and District Court Chief Judge Kathy Hardcastle have proposed a $14.7 million plan to build new courtrooms and offices for the judges and their staffs.

Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani has proposed the courts instead look at holding sessions in the evenings and on weekends to help ease the space crunch. Judges sharing courtrooms, working different shifts, such as four 10-hour days a week, or presiding over night courts would certainly help ease the space crunch, but those ideas have run into resistance from judges and county administrators. They say there will be problems with finding staff and attorneys to work outside the traditional courthouse hours.

The reality is they just don't want to work nights or weekends, even though such a schedule could save the county money and eliminate the need to immediately build courtrooms.

The space crunch will be in Family Court, where five of the six new judges will be assigned. Family Court already runs a night court, although it is limited to a monthly two-hour session to hear uncontested cases. Judges and county officials question whether expanding that program to weekday nights and weekends would save money.

There are unseen costs for litigants in Family Court that should be factored in as well - many people have to take time off work to attend hearings, which can be a sacrifice to many in the system.

People don't often think of courts as a public service, but that is exactly what they are. Court administrators in Phoenix added night and weekend hours to the court calendar this year - not to save courtroom space but to better serve the public.

That is an attitude those in Clark County's court system should remember.