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A RESOLUTION OPPOSING THE CLOSURE OF ANY SUBURBAN COURTHOUSE <br />AND REQUESTING RAMSEY COUNTY DISTRICT COURT <br />TO SHARE INFORMATION AND COOPERATIVELY EXAMINE <br />POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS FOR STATE FUNDING CUTS <br />WHEREAS, Ramsey County Chief Judge Mott has announced that the District Court was <br />considering closing the Maplewood Suburban Court in response to proposed state funding <br />decreases; <br />WHEREAS, Chief Judge Mott had budgetary or statistical information that he declined to share <br />with police representatives and city elected and appointed officials in written form; <br />WHEREAS, at no time has the leadership of the Ramsey County District Court involved the <br />suburban cities in a planning effort to analyze possible measures to absorb the anticipated budget <br />cuts; <br />WHEREAS, the closing of the Maplewood Suburban Court will result in the following: <br />• There will be much longer court calendars and overcrowding at the downtown <br />courthouse, which does not have the space to absorb additional defendants and the court <br />staff needed for the increased workload, <br />• Police officers will be off the streets for longer periods of time to travel longer distances <br />and to wait longer periods of time for overcrowded court schedules, <br />• Suburban police departments will incur increased costs to pay for longer waiting times, <br />parking costs, and additional officers to cover the longer absences, <br />• Suburban citizens will suffer major inconvenience from traveling longer distances and <br />waiting longer periods of time to be heard, <br />• Cooperation of civilian witnesses and crime victims with the prosecution will be lost, <br />particularly in domestic abuse cases, due to the remote location and increased waiting <br />time, and <br />• Prosecution costs will potentially increase if each city's cases are spread between more <br />courtrooms. <br />WHEREAS, suburban cities recognize the real need to cut costs at the district court level; <br />WHEREAS, suburban cities are themselves struggling with proposed cuts in their own state <br />funding; and <br />WHEREAS, suburban cities wish to cooperate with the District Court in analyzing other <br />alternatives that could avoid shifting the court's budget cuts to the cities. <br />NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of <br />, Minnesota that: <br />3 <br />