City Judges Sherry Paty and Russell Bean on Tuesday told the City Council that a "plan" by Mayor Ron Littlefield to move City Court to across from City Hall is "a great setback for the city."
Richard Beeland of the mayor's office said there is no final plan to move the court operation to the former Water Company building at 10th and Lindsay, but he said the matter is under study.
He said one item on the table is cutting the number of city judges from two to one - or eliminating both and turning their duties over to the five General Sessions Court judges.
Councilman Jack Benson, saying the City Council no longer gets reports from the city judges, said, "One thought is to let the Sessions judges handle all this."
The judges said they are no longer over the clerk's office and the data is in that office.
Judge Paty, who earlier clashed with Mayor Littlefield over her handling of a case involving the McKamey Animal Center, said no one from the mayor's office had spoken with her about the move. She said she read about it in the newspaper.
She said the judges were advised that painting and remodeling is going on at the Water Company building and recently there was a $6,000 requisition "for cable and connecting cords." She said while the judges were recently off that someone was in their courtrooms and offices taking measurements.
Mr. Beeland said "routine maintenance" is going on at the Water Company building. He said he didn't know anything about the $6,000 requisition.
Judge Bean said he had called the mayor and had been given a personal tour of the Water Company building. He said an improvised courtroom that was used temporarily by Chancery Court is too small. He said it would make the city court of Chattanooga smaller than ones in East Ridge and Red Bank.
Judge Paty said if there is such a plan there needs to be a feasibility study.
She said the city had contributed $4 million to building the Courts Building downtown and she said its only expense of operation is to pay a share of the security, maintenance and utilities.
Judge Paty said there is security in place and a way to safely move prisoners at the Court Building.
She said it would be inconvenient for those coming to court, attorneys and others to have to go from one court building to another and have to repark. She said there was not enough parking around City Hall.
Judge Paty said Mayor Littlefield earlier was making a move toward combining the City Court Clerk's office with the Criminal Court Clerk's office, "then two months later he is moving away from the Courts Building. Which is it - consolidation or separation?"
She said City Court handled 112,976 cases in 2008 and that the amount of fines and court costs collected has gone up every year for the past few years.
Judge Paty said any change of court location should have to be approved by the City Council. She said, "Don't stand by and let one person single-handedly try to undo what is working well."
Judge Bean cited a legal case in which he said Davidson County was instructed to provide adequate facilities for its courts.
He said Mayor Littlefield "for two and a half years has not appointed a City Court Clerk because he wanted to consolidate the clerks' offices. Suddenly that has changed."
He said the City Court generates over $4 million per year, including $4.6 million last year, and makes a 75 percent profit for the city.
Judge Bean said, "This would be a travesty to the people." He said judges are entitled to "a dignified building to hold court in."
He said, "We've got Volkswagen and Amazon.com. We're a city on the move. Let's not go backwards."
Several council members cited "a failure of communication."
They asked for information from the staff about whether there was a plan to move City Court and no one present knew. The mayor was not at the afternoon committee meeting.
Dan Johnson, the mayor's chief of staff, said he had been advised that the move would save the city $50,000 a year.