Court’s No Homeless Shelter, Judge Asserts

A heated squabble over who wields control over the Vista courthouse complex has erupted after a judge became furious that courthouse hallways were utilized as an emergency shelter for the homeless on a recent cold night.

Kevin Midlam, supervising judge of the Superior Courts in Vista, has now banned the use of the courthouse hallways and lobby as an emergency shelter for the homeless, saying he was worried about the security of the courtrooms.

His ruling has angered county officials, who have pledged that as long as they pay the bills for the public building, the homeless will have access to it.

The brouhaha moved Monday to the county counsel’s office, where attorneys are researching the question of who has control over use of the building.

Until the issue is resolved, the marshal’s office and the county’s private security officers may go face to face over who can allow public admission into the courthouse after normal business hours.

The judge said he has told the marshals, who report to him, to not allow anyone who is not a county employee inside the building after 6 p.m. But county officials say they’ll unlock the building and allow the homeless inside, under supervision of the county’s own private security guards.

The judge said his order will stand, and that, if the county doesn’t like it, they can appeal it to a higher court.

The county says it pays the bills for the building and, if it gets cold again, the doors will be opened, thank you.

And so it goes.

“I hoped it wouldn’t come to this,” said Midlam. “They can play their games until the cows come home, but I did what I think is right, and that’s the end of it. This is ridiculous.”

Answered Bob Lerner, spokesman for the county’s chief administrative officer, Norm Hickey:

“The county of San Diego owns the courthouse, and the chief administrative officer, not a judge, is the individual in charge. That’s our posture.”

At issue was the opening of a small annex building to the main Vista courthouse last week, when temperatures went below 40 degrees and homeless persons, as is county policy, were invited to seek shelter indoors.

The Vista National Guard armory normally serves as an emergency homeless shelter, but, when it is not available, the Vista courthouse annex--a small building with two courtrooms, a coffee shop and administrative offices--has served as a backup.

Last Tuesday night, Lifeline Community Services, the agency that contracts with the county to provide inclement weather shelter in Vista, sent about 45 persons to the Vista courthouse annex because the armory was not available.

The next morning, Midlam learned that people were sleeping in the hallways outside his courtrooms.

“I was stunned,” Midlam said. “The problem I have is, this is a courthouse facility that, unless we’re in a national emergency or other extreme circumstances, does not lend itself to a boarding facility. I don’t understand how people would conceive of this as appropriate.”

Worsening the situation, he said, was that he was never made aware of the county policy allowing the courthouse to be used for emergency shelter, and he was not notified last Tuesday that the hallways would be opened that night to the homeless.

The county concedes that it forgot to notify Midlam, said Lerner. But longstanding county policy allows the use of both the Vista and El Cajon courts for emergency overnight shelters, he said. There have been no incidents or security breaches, he said.

On Monday, Hickey’s office asked the county counsel’s office--the county’s own staff of in-house attorneys--to “validate” Hickey’s decision, Lerner said.

“When there is any emergency situation existing in this county, the chief administrative officer serves as the ‘commander-in-chief.’ Under the county’s emergency plans, he’s in charge of everything, and that includes emergency homeless shelters,” Lerner said.

Last year--before Midlam was supervising judge--the Vista Courthouse was used three times for overnight shelter. Last week’s use of the building was the first this winter.

Pam Thompson, Lifeline’s director of social services, said she wasn’t overly concerned. “We’ll do what we have to do and await our instructions when the war is over between them,” she said.

Janet Sucro, director of Faith & Love Ministries that provides hot meals to the homeless in Vista, said, “Anyone who thinks the annex shouldn’t be open should sleep out one night when it’s 35 degrees and see how they like it.”