Judicial
James McLaughlin Responsibilities
The City Council appoints the Municipal Judge and the City Manager appoints the Court Administrator. James McLaughlin serves as both in his role as Municipal Judge. The Municipal Judge is tasked with supervising a Clerk/Assistant Court Administrator and four other magistrates, as well as administering the municipal court system. The Municipal Court meets on Tuesday and Thursday of each week and is open to the public.
Background
Many years ago, most municipal courts, including Auburn's, were administered by the local police department. This was changed across the nation by a federal court ruling that municipal courts must be separate and distinct from municipal police departments. Subsequently, the Judicial Department now operates independently of the Public Safety Department.
The Judicial Department has the following employees: a judge/administrator, an assistant administrator/clerk, an administrative assistant, and three magistrates. In addition, there are part-time contractual assistants, including a Court Referral Officer and a Spanish interpreter.
Cases
The majority of the court's work involves the processing of arrest warrants, traffic citations and parking tickets. In addition to the court cases itemized below, the Municipal Court processed 6,172 parking tickets during FY 2014.
| Breakdown of FY 2014 Court Cases | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DUI | Other Traffic | Sub-Total | Non-Traffic | Grand Total | |
| Filed | 347 | 18,078 | 18,425 | 3,887 | 22,312 |
| Disposed | 431 | 19,079 | 19,510 | 4,019 | 23,529 |
| Appealed | 2 | 3 | 5 | 21 | 26 |
| Total Fiscal Year 2013 Cases 25,698 |
Total Fiscal Year 2014 Cases 22,312 |
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| Between FY 2013 and FY 2014, the number of court cases decreased 13.1% | |||||