Westmoreland advances district judge consolidation plan

Westmoreland County’s final redistricting plan will split caseloads from two shuttered district judge’s offices among four of the remaining 15 local courts, according to documents released Wednesday.

Court officials made what was described as minor changes to the proposal unveiled this month that closes court offices in Penn Township and Mt. Pleasant. The move will reduce the county’s district court system to 15 offices in 2022.

The amended plan splits the caseload from the Penn Township court of District Judge Helen Kistler between district judges in North Huntingdon and Export.

Cases from Manor and Trafford will be sent to the North Huntingdon-based court of District Judge Wayne Gongaware. The Export court overseen by District Judge Charles Conway will receive cases from Penn Township under the plan.

Kistler’s court averaged more than 2,200 cases annually over the last four years, the county said.

Conway’s office was to have received all cases from the Penn Township court in the first draft of the redistricting plan.

Conway, in public comments submitted in June and reiterated on Wednesday, objected to the plan that he said has significantly slashed the system over the last two decades. The county operated 21 district courts in 2000.

“The population of Westmoreland County has not decreased by one-third in that same time,” Conway wrote. “The Constitutional Convention of 1968 brought us into the modern era by eliminating justices of the peace in each and every small community. Districts were fashioned to combine resources in a way that recognized a community of smaller towns grouped as one to reflect the boundaries of school districts.

“There are 17 separate and distinct such school districts in the county. Why are we not also combining school districts?”

Kistler, who previously announced she would retire at the end of 2021 and not seek a fourth term in office, also objected to the court closing.

Through as staffer on Wednesday, she said she would submit an additional response to the revised plan.

The redistricting, if approved by the state’s Supreme Court, will make permanent the closure of the district court in Mt. Pleasant that was shuttered in April following the retirement of Judge Roger Eckels, who was hired as the chief deputy to county Sheriff James Albert.

Eckels’ cases were split between courts that operated in East Huntingdon and Latrobe and will continue under the revised plan.

County court officials said the two courts targeted for closing had 40% fewer cases for the last four years than other district courts.

“It strains reason and would be unfair to the taxpayers of Pennsylvania to permit these courts to remain open when doing so does not serve efficiency and wastes taxpayer money,” according to the county’s redistricting plan.

Court Administrator Amy DeMatt said the plan was the county’s final redistricting proposal and described the changes as minor. No additional public comments are being sought, she said.

“Typically, public comment would only be sought if changes to the petition greatly changed what had been proposed initially,” DeMatt said.