MEETING MINUTES

August 3, 2009

Attendance

Present were: Judge Brown, Judge Gray, Judge Elect McCoy, Judge Elect Lovecchio, District Attorney Linhardt, Kevin Way – Court Administrator, Richard Callahan, Roan Confer, Jr., Charles Greevy, III, Jennifer Heverly, William Knecht, Ed Mitchell, Clifford Rieders, J. Michael Wiley, and Jeffrey Yates.

Discussion included:

Judicial Assignments for 2010:

Judge Butts will move to Judge Brown’s courtroom. Judge Elect Lovecchio will be in Courtroom #4. Judge Elect McCoy will be in Courtroom #5. Judge Anderson and Judge Gray will be in their present locations. Judge Elect Lovecchio will be handling criminal matters and underage drinking court. Judge Elect McCoy will be handling family court. Judge Butts will have criminal court and orphan’s court. Judge Gray and Judge Anderson will have civil court and fill in where needed in criminal court.

Court Calendar:

The court calendar is expected to be published in early September. It follows the same basic format at the current calendar.

Criminal Court Backlog:

The backlog in criminal court is being reduced. There are less filings and more early guilty pleas. There are therefore fewer pretrial conferences and trials. There is an increase in DUI cases. DUI cases make up approximately 50% of the criminal court case load.

Jury Selection - Notification of Panels:

There was another request that the names or numbers of the prospective jurors who will be called for jury selection on each voir dire day be made available to attorneys prior to the day before selection. This will enable review of questionnaires to be conducted prior to jury selection which will expedite the selection process and reduce non-productive time in reviewing questionnaires for jurors who will not be involved in the applicable panel.

Children & Youth:

Termination hearings will be scheduled among all of the judges.

Pretrial conferences before master’s hearings have been successful in reducing the number of matters which actually proceed to hearing.

Future Meetings

The next meeting will be November 2, 2009.

Respectfully submitted,

C. Edward S. Mitchell, Chairman