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Two coincidences: First, it happened that my scheduled conversation with Court Administrator Kevin Sutherland fell earlier in the day that he would address the City Commission re the court's budget. Second, as a member of the Charter Review Committee, I have been a participant in the effort to place on the November ballot a charter amendment which would remove the entire chapter dealing with a "Municipal Court," which has been replaced by a District Court. So it is that this conversation deals with Sutherland as a citizen and Sutherland as a court administrator. Kevin Sutherland has been administrator of the Royal Oak-based 44th District Court since 1984, when he was selected by Judges John R. Mann (now deceased) and Daniel Sawicki. Sutherland, 67, is married to Jennie, and they have a13-year old daughter, Anne Marie. He has lived in Royal Oak since 1960, taught at St. Mary's High School and Grosse Pointe High School, served as school administrator in Grosse Pointe. "I live in Royal Oak . . . work here . . . go to church . . . eat in the
restaurants . . . shop in the retail stores." Agreeing with others who have spoken with
me, Sutherland senses a measurable reduction in downtown foot
About the dispute over the Water Works Building, which is in "my neighborhood," Kevin contends. "I was surprised to hear that the structure had become a public issue and disappointed that the neighborhood hadn't been alerted." Told that nine residents showed up at a meeting of the Historic District Study Committee to support the building's removal, he added, "Well, there are houses on all four sides of the Water Works Building. Obviously, we weren't all reached." At any rate, he considers himself sort of a historical buff -- "The original building was erected in 1914, you know." But he acknowledges that the structure has been allowed to deteriorate, and he doesn't feel knowledgeable enough to take a stand on whether it should be razed. At another level, he and his neighbors did object when the City wanted to place a Quonset hut in the area. "It's bad enough having to look at old bleachers, stacked picnic tables, and blue trash cans along the north fence facing our homes." So, as a long-time resident and a bit of a traditionalist, what are his thoughts about condos and tall buildings going up in and around downtown Royal Oak? "I love Royal Oak. I'm still very comfortable with the city. I'm not going anywhere. The fact that I don't find condo-living attractive doesn't mean that those who do should be deprived of the opportunity -- and they are proving quite willing to buy what is being built." Similarly, although Sutherland shares with many long-time residents a preference for lower profile commercial buildings, he acknowledges that the new generation of architects, developers, and their prospective customers includes new traditionalists and avant garde advocates. "You have some businesses renovating and moving into historic houses and some opting for the tall mixed-use structures. There's a reasonable and suitable balance of residential and commercial." Earlier this year, Sutherland -- for an apparently unprecedented second time -- was named Court Administrator of the Year for the State of Michigan by the Michigan Court Administrators Association. He was again praised for voluntarily serving as tutor and advisor to court personnel around the state. Before discussing the 44th District Court/City of Royal Oak relationship specifically, I asked Sutherland to summarize the history which led from a municipal court to a district court. |
"Municipal courts handled primarily traffic fines for forty-plus years, and Circuit Courts handled all Juvenile, Domestic, Civil, and Criminal cases," Sutherland began. "During the Sixties, crime increased so much that the Circuit courts became overloaded, and the State established District Courts in 1968, assigning them broader scope. Factors like population and politics determined whether a District court serves one city, like Royal Oak's, or serves several municipalities, like the 46th District Court in Southfield which serves six communities or the 45B District Court in Oak Park which serves Pleasant Ridge, Huntington Woods, Royal Oak Township, and Oak Park. There are now over 100 District courts in Michigan and over 200 courts altogether in our state. "Before that time, for example, Royal Oak's Municipal Court could not have taken on the Dr. Kevorkian trial, at which Judge Sawicki presided." Sutherland went on to say that Sawicki is so highly respected for his criminal law expertise that he was called upon by the Michigan Supreme Court to oversee a difficult trial in another county a few years ago. It happened that shortly before our conversation, news reports out of Pontiac had that city's 50th District Court threatening to sue the City for operating funds because the Court was unable to pay invoices from vendors and court-appointed attorneys. The situation is so severe that Michigan Supreme Court administrator, Deborah Green, was called in and was quoted as telling Pontiac Mayor Payne that the court "has no obligation to generate revenue." Chief Judge Leo Bowman interjected, "My obligation is to be just and fair," not to raise revenue. That recent news out of Pontiac and the fact that Sutherland would be talking budget later that day at the City Commission's budget meeting led me to ask him about the overall City/Court financial relationship and to recall that a couple of years ago the 44th had been criticized for exceeding its $7,000.00 travel budget by $400.00. (To avoid even the appearance of impropriety, Kevin paid for my coffee and donut.) Not that the 44th operates at a deficit. For each of the last several years, the Court has put $600-700,000.00 into the city's general fund. There are some in Royal Oak, though, who feel that the Court should contribute more to the city during these troubled times. The suggestion falls into the pattern of asking the DDA to give more and of wanting to draw on the reserves of several non-general-fund city operations. To summarize Sutherland's overview: The constitutional role of a court is to provide to the citizens a fair and impartial place to air their grievances . . . Fines substitute for imprisonment when appropriate . . . The Court, not the City, is responsible, has the authority, to increase traffic fines . . . Funds to operate a court are appropriated by statute . . . Funds for city operations are allocated by the legislative branch (the City Commission) . . . The new courthouse was designed anticipating that several District Courts will some day be folded into Regional Courts. Sutherland sees little likelihood that the 44th will ever run in the red and need subsidy from the city. Even intangible and uncertain expenses -- like paying interpreters (17 languages last year), court-appointed attorneys, witnesses -- are unlikely to vary more than a few tens-of-thousands of dollars out-of-budget and can be accommodated by management of the court's $2,400,000 budget. Sutherland has one request: the court's need for a part-time accountant to handle the almost $5 million that flows through the court's cash register each year. -- FJV 23 June 2005
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traffic. "I
came down about 11 o'clock the other night; where I previously would see
thousands of people, I saw hundreds." Sutherland suggests that the city,
that Michigan in general, is feeling the "trickle-down effect of the
automobile industry's problems: the suppliers, then the tool-and-die shops, then
the restaurants and retailers."