Apr. 22—A bill to consolidate Ashtabula County’s Eastern and Western county courts had its first hearing in the Ohio House earlier this month, with State Rep. Sarah Fowler Arthur (R-99th District), the sponsor of the bill, testifying in support of it.

In addition to combining the Eastern and Western county courts, the bill would expand the jurisdiction of the Conneaut Municipal Court to include Kingsville, Sheffield and Monroe townships and the village of North Kingsville starting on Jan. 1 of 2025.

The bill would also have the part-time judge to be elected in 2028 a two-year term, from Jan. 1, 2029 to Dec. 31, 2030. After that point, a full-time judge will take over the county misdemeanor court.

In her testimony to the House Civil Justice committee, Fowler Arthur said in open forums, there had been no opposition from the public to the consolidation.

“The desire to consolidate was brought to my attention by the Ashtabula County Commissioners and our current judges, who have been in discussion for nearly two years about the caseload trends and respective judicial needs of Ashtabula County,” Fowler Arthur said in a statement released after she testified.

The Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners hosted a public meeting to hear input on the proposed consolidation.

At the meeting, Commissioner Casey Kozlowski said the process started in July 2022 with a letter to the Ohio Supreme Court asking about the proper number of judges for the county misdemeanor court. The study found the a the current caseload should not present challenges for a single, full-time judge and encouraged the county to consider reorganizing the misdemeanor courts.

While attendees at the meeting were not openly opposed to the idea, elected officials and administrators from the Geneva area raised concerns about where the consolidated court will be located.

Geneva Law Director Gary Pasqualone said the city of Geneva was in favor of combining the court, and keeping the full-time judge’s court located in Geneva.

The commissioners said at the time no location had been selected for the new court, and the bill under consideration in the house does not specify a location.