Woodville, Clyde look to one court

COLUMBUS -- A plan to consolidate municipal courts in the communities of Woodville and Clyde into a single Sandusky County Municipal Court is headed to Gov. John Kasich's desk after experiencing a detour.

The original bill, sponsored by Rep. Rex Damschroder (R., Fremont), ran headlong into the political process when similar language affecting courts in Trumbull County was added to the bill in the Senate. While the Sandusky portion had local support, the Trumbull language became mired in local partisan politics.

In the end, Mr. Damschroder found himself asking his own House colleagues to oppose his own bill.

"I'm going to support a nonconcurrence vote because it would effectively kill my bill if we vote today," Mr. Damschroder said.

The Sandusky County-only language was later added to an unrelated bill in the Senate. House Bill 509 won final unanimous approval in the House Wednesday.

The county commissioners believe having a single judge in a new municipal court rather than two part-time judges in the two communities would save up to $20,000 a year. The plan would extend Clyde Judge John Kolesar's term by a year with the intention of holding an election for the new judgeship in November, 2013.