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• CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS Date: August 27, 2003 Resolution number: 03-15 A RESOLUTION OPPOSING CLOSURE OF THE RAMSEY COUNTY SUBURBAN COURT AND REQUESTING RAMSEY COUNTYDISTRICT COURT TO SHARE INFORMATIONAND COOPERATIVELYEXAMINE POSSIBLE SOL UTIDNS FOR STATE FUNDING CUTS WHEREAS, leadership of the Ramsey County District Court has announced that it will consider closing the Maplewood Suburban Court in response to proposed state funding decreases; WHEREAS, Court leadership may have options for alternative revenue sources, such as case fees, and cost-savings due to alternate staffing models and technology improvements; • WHEREAS, the closing of the Maplewood Suburban Court will result in the following: • There will be much longer court calendars and overcrowding at the downtown courthouse, which does not have the space to absorb additional defendants and the court staff needed for the increased workload, • Police officers will be off the streets for longer periods of time to travel longer distances and to wait longer periods of time for overcrowded court schedules, • Suburban police departments will incur increased costs to pay for longer waiting times, parking costs, and additional officers to cover the longer absences, • Suburban citizens will suffer major inconvenience from traveling longer distances and waiting longer periods of time to be heard, • Cooperation of civilian witnesses and crime victims with the prosecution will be more difficult, particularly in domestic abuse cases, due to the remote location and increased waiting time. WHEREAS, suburban cities recognize the real need to cut costs at the district court level; WHEREAS, suburban cities continue to provide their communities with services at lower staffing levels as a result of state aid cuts;