Common pleas court seeking to add administrator post

LANCASTER – Fairfield County Common Pleas Court judges are asking county commissioners to add a new position of court administrator to their offices starting next year.

Common Pleas Judges David Trimmer and Richard Berens wrote to the commissioners that, with the retirement of Magistrate Susan Eyerman, expected to be in the fall, the time is right to restructure the position.

"Most common pleas courts have administrators, and we believe that it is now necessary for us to get one in order to advance the interests of the Court," they wrote. "We want to hire a court administrator in January, 2016. The starting salary for the court administrator position will be approximately $55,000 plus benefits."

For Trimmer, who was elected last November to the common pleas court from a judgeship in Fairfield County Municipal Court, hiring a court administrator is a priority.

The municipal court has had a court administrator since before he had become a municipal court judge.

"Jackie Long, who is the court administrator in municipal court, really helped move the court to a much higher level of competency and professionalism," Trimmer said.

Trimmer said the problem the judges have is they have rigid deadlines to meet with both criminal and civil court cases and must be on the bench a great deal of the time. While they are on the bench, they can't be attending meetings with other officials and dealing with administrative matters.

If a court has an administrator, that person can attend those meetings to represent the court and deal with administrative tasks while the judges concentrate on cases and the law, Trimmer said.

Fairfield County Commissioner Stave Davis said the commissioners would review the request and make a decision later as part of the 2016 budget process.

cburnett@lancastereaglegazette.com

740-681-4346

Twitter: @CarlBurnettJr