Supervisor Wants to Make Better Use of New Courthouse

Ventura County Supervisor Vicky Howard on Thursday proposed live video arraignments, telephone conferences and other measures to help make up for a lack of judges at the new county courthouse in Simi Valley.

“One of my primary concerns as a supervisor is to get that courthouse filled up and all the courtrooms working,” Howard told members of the East Ventura County Bar Assn. at a luncheon in Simi Valley.

Because of a shortage of state funds, Howard said, it will probably be at least two years before the county is able to get any of the four judges needed for the Alamo Street courthouse.

In the meantime, she said, she wants to make better use of the $11.1-million facility that is now nearly vacant.

Opened in March, the courthouse has five courtrooms, no judges and only one court commissioner. Monday through Wednesday, Commissioner John Paventi hears traffic, misdemeanor and small claims cases. He spends the rest of the week presiding over the same types of cases at the county’s main courthouse in Ventura.

Howard said she plans to ask the Board of Supervisors next month to approve a proposal to hire a full-time commissioner for the east county courthouse by the end of the year. She said the county is also moving forward in sponsoring legislation that will give commissioners more latitude in the kinds of cases they can hear.

The supervisor plans to meet next week with officials from the district attorney’s and public defender’s offices as well as the Sheriff’s Department to discuss using video cameras to conduct arraignments in the east county. She said Sheriff John Gillespie has already expressed support for the proposal.

The plan calls for cameras to be set up in a judge’s chambers in Ventura and in the east county sheriff’s station where prisoners are held. Arraignments would be conducted via live television transmission.

Howard said such a procedure would save time and money for attorneys and their clients as well as for the county court system and the Sheriff’s Department, which now transports east county prisoners to Ventura for arraignments.

Howard said that perhaps attorneys and their clients can use empty space at the east county courthouse to hold telephone conferences with judges in Ventura concerning minor legal matters. She asked members of the bar to offer other suggestions to her on how to better utilize the courthouse.

Gordon Lindeen, vice president of the East County Bar Assn., said he was pleased with Howard’s proposals and is confident that his group can come up with other uses for the courthouse.

Lindeen said one possibility is to conduct continuing education courses for attorneys at the courthouse. He said that the bar association contracts with the University of California to conduct classes in other areas of the county.

“I think that Supervisor Howard is really moving in the right direction,” he said. “We’ve got this $11-million facility in the east county that is almost entirely unused. It is critical that we get it in full operation.”