Judge Relents, Will Let Homeless in From Cold : Shelter: Midlam lifts his ban on using Vista Courthouse as a shelter but calls use ‘inappropriate.’

A Superior Court judge has rescinded his order banning the use of the Vista courthouse as an emergency homeless shelter Tuesday after receiving assurances from county officials about the building’s security.

Kevin Midlam reversed the decision he made last week after Norman Hickey, the county’s chief administrative officer, assured the judge Tuesday morning that the building will be secure.

“I still maintain, however, that the utilization of this facility (as a cold-weather shelter) is inappropriate, and I would hope they would take action to reconsider the policy,” Midlam said in an interview.

“It’s inconsistent with the whole use of the courthouse,” Midlam said.

About 45 homeless people were allowed to spend the night of Nov. 27 at the courthouse annex--a small building with two courtrooms, a coffee shop and administrative offices--as part of the county’s cold-weather shelter program.

The next day, Midlam learned that people were sleeping in the hallways outside his courtroom and issued an order banning people who are not county employees from the building after 6 p.m.

Midlam said the use of the courthouse as a homeless shelter poses security risks, including the exposure of confidential documents and the removal or destruction of evidence.

Midlam also was angered because no one had told him or the marshal that the annex would be used as a shelter.

“It isn’t ‘the judge versus the homeless,’ my concern is in having unauthorized and unsupervised personnel in this facility,” Midlam said.

“The things that could happen are so legion and so outweigh the benefits that are so minor in relation to the concerns of the homeless,” Midlam said.

County counsel, however, advised Hickey on Monday that the Board of Supervisors has the right to control access to all county facilities, including the Vista courthouse.

In an interview, Supervisor Brian Bilbray called Midlam’s initial order “kind of funny,” and labeled it “John Duffy-like confrontational politics.”

“If there was a lack of communication, that’s fine, and you say very sternly you don’t appreciate not being told about it and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Bilbray said. “But you give the system a chance to work, to correct the problem, before you start trying to burn the house down.”

Leon Williams, Board of Supervisors chairman, said in an interview that he was unsympathetic to Midlam’s position.

“It seems to me to be totally incomprehensible that such an issue would be raised, and there would be an attempt to limit the use of that building,” Williams said, “especially (by) a judge who’s getting a nice fat salary at the public’s expense.”

Midlam said that he has recommended to county staff that the policy on use of the courthouse be amended.

Hickey, who could not be reached for comment, stated in a press release that a security guard has been on duty when the Vista facility has been used as a shelter over the past three years and that “we will continue to ensure that the security of the courtrooms in that building is not compromised.”