Benton, Franklin court split gains momentum

Momentum is building to split Benton-Franklin Superior Court, one of a handful of joint judicial districts in Washington.

Benton County Commissioner Jerome Delvin confirmed Tuesday that Sen. Mike Hewitt, R.-Walla Walla, is willing to sponsor a bill to separate joint operations if four of the six Benton and Franklin commissioners support the concept.

Hewitt, whose district extends to Pasco, Benton City and Prosser, could not be reached about the proposal.

Delvin said all three Benton County commissioners will likely support separating the system that’s operated together for more than 65 years. If they do agree, he also would need at least one of Franklin County’s elected commissioners to support the idea.

But all three told the Tri-City Herald on Tuesday they will not endorse Delvin’s plan.

“Bicounty programs are in the best interest of all Tri-City residents. Of those we have, Superior Court is the shining example of what bicounty programs should be. It would be the last one that I would recommend dissolving,” said Franklin County Commissioner Brad Peck.

He said the two counties should look for more, not fewer, ways to consolidate operations.

Benton-Franklin Superior Court is the latest bicounty operation to come under scrutiny as Benton County raises questions about cost-sharing arrangements.

The Benton-Franklin Office of Public Defense dissolved Dec. 31, 2015. Negotiations to restore bicounty operations failed shortly after the new year, and Franklin County created its own system for providing indigent defendants with legal counsel.

Human services also are targeted for separation as Benton County considers contracting with private industry.

Delvin called the skirmish about the public defenders operation a “trial” leading up to the Superior Court system.

Benton County administers the seven-judge superior court system under an interlocal agreement with Franklin County. The counties have shared judges since 1951 and before that they operated a joint judicial system with several other Eastern Washington counties.

Under the present arrangement, the state bears a portion of the cost of salaries of the court’s seven judges. The judges, along with the bailiffs and court stenographers, freely move between the two counties, as assigned by a bicounty court administrator.

Each county has its own courtrooms, prosecutors, clerks and computer systems. Delvin said matters came to a head when Franklin County implemented a new state computer system.

His wife, Benton County Court Clerk Josie Delvin, wanted to delay adopting the system to give operators time to work out any bugs.

Delvin said that commissioners later learned Franklin County was relying on Benton County’s information technology department to do the work. He called it a larger pattern of Benton County bearing more than its share of the costs.

Other examples, he said, include Franklin County trials reportedly being held in Benton County courtrooms and administrative costs associated with the drug court. However, Delvin said he could not give any specific numbers on how much Benton County may be subsidizing Franklin County court operations.

“We know costs aren’t being fairly allocated,” he said.

Franklin County commissioners and County Administrator Keith Johnson have publicly stated that Franklin stands ready to bear its fair share of costs in any joint operations.

Delvin said questions about potential cost savings miss the point.

“The basic question is, can Franklin County stand on its own. You don’t need to quantify that,” he said.

But the presiding judge says separating the counties would be bad for the region.

Judge Robert Swisher said Benton and Franklin counties both benefit when they unite to apply for grants, such as the ones that fund the juvenile justice system.

Working together ensures its applications get greater consideration. A bicounty approach makes more efficient use of judge’s time as well, he said.

“With two county courthouses close together, it’s easy to shift assets back and forth,” he said. “The criminal defendants don’t know the distinction between the two counties.”

All three Franklin County commissioners told the Herald they’re baffled by the deteriorating relationship with Benton County.

Last year, the commissioners got legislation passed so they could legally meet together to take action on joint operations.

“We need to stick together. It’s just best. We do a good job together,” said Commission Chairman Rick Miller, who noted he won’t back Delvin’s pitch to the Legislature.

Commissioner Bob Koch said separating from Benton will put Franklin in the “terrible” position of contracting with Benton County for juvenile justice services. Juvenile court is a division of Superior Court.

“There’s no limit to what they would charge to house our juveniles,” he said.

Delvin acknowledged the proposed bill is unlikely to go anywhere in the 2016 session. But he’s eager to get a conversation going over costs.

“It forces the issue to be discussed,” he said.

This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Benton, Franklin court split gains momentum."