MILLERSBURG — Since being sworn into office as Holmes County’s Municipal Court Judge in November, Andrew Hyde said “things are good.”
He updated the Holmes County commissioners Monday on the operations of the court.
Hyde was appointed to the position by Ohio Gov. John Kasich following the death of longtime Judge Jane Irving.
Managing costs
Hyde said he’s committed to working within the budget appropriated to the court by the county commissioners.
Only last week, Hyde said, the court disposed of the last remaining case with which he had an outstanding conflict, dating to his time as a defense attorney. That, he said, will translate to a decrease in the cost of paying a visiting judge to preside over such matters.
Operations
Cases are moving through the system at a better pace.
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“It helps with the more instantaneous research,” said Hyde, who said he will continue to find and secure grant funds for improvements to the court.
Software issues
Hyde said new software seems not to be fully working and appears to be impeding, among other things, distribution of local fees collected from defendants.
In an attempt to expedite distribution, Hyde said he has instituted local changes which would allow local money to be distributed before fines are sent to the state for distribution to others.
But, he said, “There’s no way to get that into the software.”
Similarly, he said, the software does not seem to allow for an option that would allow him to convert unpaid fines to community service obligations, out of which defendants also may pay their way.
“The software is not working well with the software we were using before,” he said, adding included instructional hours were fully exhausted on the clerk of court’s staff, making it necessary for Hyde to educate himself or pay for additional hours to receive instruction from the software