Sunday, September 12, 1999
Judge's new bench on easier street
Mayor's court likely a 'pleasant change'
BY SARA J. BENNETT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FOREST PARK - For nearly 10 years, Deborah K. Gaines handled divorce and child custody cases as a judge with Hamilton County's harried domestic relations court.
Now, as Forest Park's new mayor's court magistrate, she'll spend one day a week dealing with folks accused of traffic violations and other minor crimes.
Talk about a change of pace.
Mrs. Gaines has been chosen to replace Forest Park Mayor Wayne Coates as head of the city's mayor's court. She starts work Oct. 7.
“I think it'll be a real pleasant change and quite a relief,” said the 53-year-old Amberley Village resident who lost her judgeship in last November's election. “The rat race of court and going through campaigns — this has been the most wonderful year being off the bench.”
Mrs. Gaines' appointment reflects a statewide trend toward taking mayors out of mayor's courts and replacing them with magistrates. The trend is a response to a June ruling by a U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals questioning whether mayors, who help control spending, hiring and other community operations, can be impartial as court judges.
“It was felt that maybe it might be a good time to go ahead and make the transition because many of the other communities are going to magistrates,” said Mr. Coates, who selected Mrs. Gaines. “And even though we attend mayor's court training on an annual basis, there's been a lot of discussion that people who sit on the bench should have a little more formal legal background.”
That background is what made Mrs. Gaines attractive, Mr. Coates said.
She and her husband conducted a private practice for 16 years before Mrs. Gaines took up the gavel in the county court's domestic relations division.
When her term ended in January, she decided to take time off, caring for her home, visiting her three adult children and helping care for her five grandkids.
Then, a friend told her about the position in Forest Park.
“I thought it would be interesting, and it wasn't a full-time commitment,” she said. “It's an area of the law that I think is very interesting and very challenging. You're dealing with people's problems, and I came from a people court dealing with domestic relations.”
To qualify as a mayor's court magistrate, Mrs. Gaines attended training sessions in general court operations and handling DUI cases. Her contract, up for city council approval this month, proposes a $14,000 yearly salary with additional compensation of no more than $270 per month for special tax courts.
Most of the cases Mrs. Gaines will hear concern traffic and parking tickets or violations of municipal ordinances.
Both she and Mr. Coates see benefits in moving Forest Park from a mayor's court to a magistrate system. Future mayors wouldn't be saddled with the responsibility of presiding over court, Mr. Gaines said, and the city can eliminate any appearance of a conflict of interest.
“I think this will raise the level of confidence that many people have in the mayor's court to have a magistrate who has to be a lawyer,” Mrs. Gaines said. “I would think certainly my having been on the bench almost 10 years would give me the ability to be disinterested so they don't think we're raising money for the community.”
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